Quilter's Accountability Report

Last time I posted for Quilter's Accountability, I set myself some very modest goals. So, let's see how I did:

Turn charity blocks into a quilt top? Nope, although I did get the center pieced.

Get borders on my version of the quilt from As Time Goes By? Nope, didn't even touch it.

My goals for this next week are to finish what I didn't get done in the last FOUR weeks (that's how long it's been since my last QA post, which was also my FIRST QA post). I'm really going to make an effort to be more consistent in posting my Quilter's Accountability progress, because if I'm not doing the posts, it can't possibly be motivating me, right?

There are some other things I'd LIKE to get done this week, and just for kicks I'll list them all and see how far I get.

1. Finish charity top from blocks made by mystery guild member (from previous QA post and above).

2. Add borders to As Time Goes By quilt, make backing and binding (from previous QA post and above).

3. Make top for this month's UFO for the Judy L UFO Challenge project. I'm 0 for 3 so far, so I'd really like to get the April UFO done.

4. Finish the Winterscape top (January's UFO Challenge project), make backing and binding.

5. Make the backing and binding for the TB Goose in the Pond (February's UFO Challenge project).

6. Finish the Bargello top (March's UFO Challenge project).

7. Quilt the Oak Leaf and Reel quilt that I have loaded on the machine. (See the picture, admittedly not a very good one, on last week's Monday's Design Wall post.)

8. Quilt and bind the Quilts for Kids quilt (which can also be seen on last week's Monday's Design Wall post). This should really be #1 on my list, and I think it's the thing I'll tackle first.

That's going to be a very full week for me, but I'll give it my best shot! At least by making a list of what I hope to get done, maybe I won't spend all week just spinning my wheels.

Thanks for coming by to play. Check out Bari's blog to see how others are doing on their Quilter's Accountability. Come back again soon.

Neither Quilting nor Knitting, but Crafty

So the other day I finally got around to a couple of "chores" that I'd been meaning to do for a while. In February, I bought these two pairs of earrings that are made from flatware handles. But they were on fishhook wires, which I don't care for. Also, just in briefly wearing them over the weekend when I bought them, one of each pair came off the wire. So I had to either reaffix them to the fishhook wires, or do what I did, which was to change the findings to leverbacks, which I much prefer. Now I can actually wear them ;-)

Then I had some earrings I'd made last fall, when my mother and I were at a Crafty Creations Weekend at Trout Lodge (a YMCA of the Ozarks facility near Potosi, MO). But they didn't have roundnose pliers, only needlenose, and I didn't think I could make nice loops that way, so I just put the beads on eye pins and brought them home that way. I haven't gotten around to actually finishing them, so while I had the findings and tools out to fix those other earrings, I decided to finish these as well. Now they're ready for their close-up, Mr. DeMille.


Yes, there's a bit of a blue and green thing going on -- that's mostly all I wear, and they're my favorite colors generally, so of course those are the beads I'd be drawn to. More additions to my earring wardrobe.

One Way to Reduce the UFO Count...

Right near the end of last year (2010), I learned of the existence of Gladys. Gladys lives in Des Moines, sews like the wind, and has a knack for taking the orphans, UFOs and other unloved or incomplete quilty items of others, and turning them into wonderful quilts. In January, I sent her a box full of things -- blocks from swaps that were never going to become quilts in my house, a false start on a serialized project from Quilter's Newsletter from about 15 years ago, a Round Robin top I just never did feel the love for, and other things. Yesterday, I put together another box to send her. There's a quilt top that one of my water aerobics instructors gave me, that I told her I'd finish and donate, a small top I started in a Mary Ellen Hopkins workshop back in 2000, some orphan block-of-the-month kits from a shop owned by a friend in Ohio from when she was cleaning up her back room, and four quilt tops.

This first one is a pattern called "Pandora's Box," from Pam and Nicky Lintott's first book, Jelly Roll Quilts. I made this one on a retreat weekend in about 2008. It measures about 52"x77".

This next, wrinkled, one is a Thimbleberries pattern. I can't remember the name of it, nor for sure which book it came from, but I think it came from one of the three hardbound books she did. The pattern called for applique in the background areas, but instead I used a patterned background, and omitted the applique. I made this one in 1999, as part of the Thimbleberries Club at Abigayle's Quiltery. This one measures right around 69" square.


This next one was a kit I got from a shop in Chillicothe, Ohio, Creations Sew Clever. It's all in brushed cottons, and the appliques are fused and blanket-stitched by machine. I made this one on my own at home, in about 2000 or 2001. It measures about 52"x60".

Finally, this was the New Year's Eve mystery 2008 by Ann Smith, presented to several Yahoo groups, among them Fabricaholics Anonymous. I didn't get the measurements of this one, but it's a large twin. I've had this top finished for probably close to 3 years now, except for the borders, which just recently finally got added.



I know Gladys will have these quilted and bound and donated almost before I can blink! I'm happy that they'll be fulfilling their intended purpose, spreading warmth and comfort. I'm also happy to be able to reduce my UFO list a bit.

Thanks for coming by to play! Come back again soon.

Recently Finished Socks

This is a pair of socks I recently finished for my DH. Lucky for me, he doesn't want boring, plain black socks. He likes them bright and wonky and fun. These are actually brighter than this photo shows -- I don't know if it's the blue background, or what. Yes, they're on my feet for the picture -- he was at work when I finished them.

This is a pair I just finished for myself last week. These colors also seem somewhat duller than they are in real life. The yarn is greens, tealy-blues, browns and pinks, and it's really soft and wonderful. They fit well, and feel great to wear.

Of course, I've got another dozen pairs or so on the needles, but at least this is evidence that I do finish things at some point ;-)

Thanks for coming by to play. Come back again any time.

Design Wall Monday

I've missed several weeks of Design Wall posts. For most of that time, there's been nothing on my Design Wall, and no sewing of note going on, either. Today I have something on my design wall, because I'm getting ready to spray-baste it together for quilting. This is a top (you can see the backing wrong-side-up behind it) I made for Quilts for Kids.

I really need to get this finished up and returned to them. I've had it WAY too long -- I think since last May or June! I got bogged down and didn't finish it right away, and then there were some big life changes including DH changing jobs, and then it just got buried and forgotten. I'm going to just quilt this on my DSM, because there's something on my HQ16 at the moment, too.


This is a top I made back in about 1995 or maybe 1996 at the latest. You can really only see one corner of it here -- there are six of those large blocks:


At some point, probably ten or more years ago, I started quilting it on my DSM, got all the sashings and the inner border done, and in one block I'd outlined the applique shapes and completely microstippled the background. Then I decided I didn't really like it, and had to frog all that quilting -- and my stitch length was pretty inconsistent, but there were a lot of really SMALL stitches in there. It got folded up and set aside for quite a while, before I decided to tackle all that unquilting. I finally finished the frogging a while back, and got it loaded up on the HQ16. And there it sits. I really hope to finish it this week. I love this quilt, and would really like to have it done.

Other than a little bit of sorting, I haven't done a thing with all those wonderful decorator fabric samples I got a few weeks ago. I want to make some sock bags -- small bags to carry a sock knitting project around in. I have some pieces paired up to use for that purpose, I just haven't had any time to do any sewing at all. I hope to change that this week, and get a lot of things done.

That's all from me for now. Thanks for coming by to play. Come back again any time.

What a GREAT Day!!

What an amazing Saturday I had! A woman I know works for an interior design company, and recently told me she had some fabric they were getting rid of, if I wanted it. Today, we'd arranged to meet while we were both out and about, and did the transfer, her vehicle to mine. This was a shot of the back seat of my truck, from the driver's side (ignore the two pillows between the front and back seats):


Here's a shot of the back seat from the passenger side:

I spent several delightful hours pawing through it all, planning and dreaming about what it will all become. There are lots of things in there, big pieces, smaller pieces, all kinds of stuff. After a preliminary sort, this is what I've got -- three boxes and seven bags!

But there's also this pile, that's still out in the garage waiting to be sorted through. There's still a bag out there, I see, that got forgotten when I carried the other bags in. There are also two stacks of sample books, and a number of loose pieces. More fun for another day ;-)

Among the plans I have for this fabric will be some reusable grocery bags, general-purpose tote bags, one or two handbags, possibly a backpack or two, maybe one or two "duffel" kinds of bags, more like luggage, and a lot of small drawstring bags big enough to carry a sock knitting project. There are also pieces in there that will make their way into my quilting projects, and some other fabrics that I'm just going to play with and see what I come up with. Oh, and I see some pillows coming out of all this as well. This could seriously get in the way of my UFO-finishing mission.

Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again soon.

Today's goal...

Well, besides some cleaning and organizing, that is. Today's somewhat quilty goal is to get this:

into the house (from the garage) and get it covered with flannel, so I can use it as my design wall. At the moment, I'm using a flannel-backed tablecloth hanging flannel-side-out in front of a bookcase. It's okay, but only about 30" wide, ripply, and I have to pin everything to it. So I'm looking forward to having these two 4'x8' insulation sheets covered and ready to use.

I also hope to get the setting squares and triangles cut for my charity top, and maybe sew the center together. DH is working tonight, so this evening SHOULD be prime sewing time.... And since that first picture isn't very thrilling, let me give you a little bit of cute for today -- the kitty you can see is Max, and the big lump next to him under the covers is Muffin.

Getting under the covers is a new trick of Muffin's, he's only been doing that for a few months. This winter, I guess. He's almost 12 years old, so maybe he's starting to feel the cold more.

Wish me luck on getting my tasks for the day accomplished! Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again any time.