Let the UFO Wrangling Begin!

 After listing all my UFOs (well, as many as I could lay my hands on fairly comfortably in the last couple of days) I decided that perhaps I should actually,  you know, maybe start doing something to them?

Does taking their picture and blogging about them count? I hope so--at least, it's provided a wee bit of motivation!

These two quilts are listed on the UFO list on the sidebar as "red white and blue" quilts, but they have some history to them.  If   you've been following this blog for a while, you may remember my "quilting doctors" from several years ago. Both retired--he was a pediatrician, she a pediatric nephrologist--they'd taken up quilting as an activity they could both enjoy and do as a team. It sort of worked out that she sewed, he cut and pressed and pinned. I "consulted." 

After Hurricane Katrina, moved by the plight of the displaced dialysis patients, they began making quilts to send down to their colleagues in the affected areas.  A group of us would get together and team-sew, producing a lot of quilts out of our "ugly fabrics"--lots of scrappy Log Cabins and 9-patches and Yellow Brick Roads. 

These were a couple of the last quilts they worked on together. When they knew she was dying, they passed their fabric and projects along to me. Both of these quilts were already pinned and ready to be quilted, so of course they moved to the top of the list. I took them with me to Asilomar last year for the machine quilting class I took with Sue Rasmussen, and got quite a bit of quilting done on both of them. 

The top one was a surprise--I hadn't opened it up, had just seen the back and could tell it was pinned and ready so when I did finally unfold it and saw t he wonderful Yukata cloth bands, I was delighted. I think those bands will lend themselves to some nice free-motion work. Well, we'll see how nice my free-motion quilting can get--it's been a while since I did much, although during that week I found that yes indeed I still remember how to do it!

So that's project #1--you probably can't tell, but I have sewn the binding onto it already, since the edges are all quilted. It mainly just needs the free-motion work on the Yukata, and of course sewing the binding down.

Here's #2--also in red/white/blue though quite a different feeling to it!

 If you look at the picture in a larger version,  you'll see that the binding is about 1/3 sew down and there are binding clips holding it in place. I love these little plastic clippies--no more punctured fingers from pins, no more pins falling out all over the place for the cats to chase and bat and hopefully not eat!

I took a close-up so you can see the cute print and the stripey blocks.  I guess it's a variation on a Rail Fence, and the striped border fabric is mitered. I started by quilting this in the ditch along the block lines (which is what I was doing with the other quilt as well), getting it anchored down. I'll probably do something with the print, maybe echo-quilt the little wagons and bikes and cars and things.

  

So, thanks to Anna at Woolie Mammoth for the inspiration/encouragement to get busy on these quilts!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go sew some binding tonight. I haven't forgotten about the little sweaters; the lime green one--Abby's--is only about 4 loooonnnggg rows from being done with the knitting. Then some hand finishing, buttons, and on to the next one. It's just that it's kind of a chilly night and the thought of sitting under a quilt to keep me toasty while I sew is very appealing!