UFO Update

Short report (at least that's the current plan!) on the state of the UFOs. I'd like to say the pile is dwindiling, but some days it doesn't feel that way. This is turning into The Year of Finishing Stuff. Not too bad a goal!

So here's a status update--the sidebar has been updated too. First one in progress is the tile quilt that's destined for my daughter's wall. As I write this, I've got one side and part of two others done--I'm sewing down the binding. My TV-watching twitch!

What's more boring than pictures of binding being sewn on?

Maybe a picture of quilting in progress??

At least I do have something finished to show you! This is the 2014 Quiltville Mystery Quilt, aka Grand Illusion. I guess I can say that this one never quite got out of WIP status though, because it was begun in November over Thanksgiving weekend. So having it done by the summer solstice isn't too bad.

Finished!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a pile o' pillowcases to work on this weekend. I'm looking forward to getting them done and on their way!

Pinwheel Project Completed!

 

It's been a long time coming--but the quest for a Pinwheel Star quilt of my own has come to a satisfactory conclusion!

If you've been following this saga, you will already know the story, and can now skip to the end, sort of.

If you don't know the story, here goes. Several years ago, a couple of my friends *Sandy and Louise, to be exact* made this quilt in a class at Bearly Stitchin'. Sadly, I don't remember who taught the class, except that it wasn't me, and I wasn't in a position to be able to take it, or tackle the quilt.

That didn't stop me from wanting one, of course. So fast forward a few years later, and I found a picture of Sandy's quilt and posted it to Facebook with a comment that I wanted to make one. Didn't have the pattern, but when has that ever stopped me from doing something?

Noodled around with graph paper and pencil and decided that a 10" block would be the right size. And I know how to make HSTs and even QSTs, so I rounded up my stash of 30s fabrics and cut a bunch of squares.

Have I mentioned that math is not my best talent? Well, it's not. I figured out that 50 blocks would make the right size quilt, and cut out a couple of hundred squares and started piecing. Once I had pieced all thoseHSTs (half-square triangles) I cut out a whole lot more squares and started putting them togeher to make those hybrid squares.tate

 Then I ran out of squares and still had a whole lot of HSTs to go. Oh yeah--I forgot that each set of fabrics made two HSTs and I'd need twice as many squares. This kind of thinking led me to finally doing a count and realizing that I had a whole lot more than I needed to make one quilt. Oh well. 

At this point I had to pack everything up so I could sell the family manse and move myself and the cats to a smaller but more convenient (as in one-story) place. Marinating in the process didn't improve things much. 

But finally I got busy and realized that I was very close to having enough blocks to make not just one or two, but actually SIX of these things. I suppose the wise thing to do at that point would have been to say oh well, extra blocks, and make my quilt. Nope. More fabric turned up in the garage (funny how that happens!) and I did a whole lot more cutting (sashings and conerstones) and sewing, getting the tops pieced one at a time.

Very long story short, I was finally able to send them all off to be longarm quilted (the state of my spine doesn't allow me to wrestle with this big a quilt myself), they came home, I put bindings on them and as they were finished they were distributed to various of my kids who'd expressed an interest. Plus one for me! 

Giant sigh of relief every time I see this quilt on my bed! The cat definitely approves, too!