Design Wall Monday

Okay, one living at home and working full-time, two off at college, and the youngest with a new driver's license and off to high school. Whew, now to gather myself together after a terrific summer and see where I am on the sewing front. I put in some hours working on an old UFO, and think it was a wasted effort. It doesn't lay flat, when I added the first border it waved, so I ripped it off, remeasured, sewed it back on, and now the blocks will not lay flat. I am tired of it, and tired of the fabrics, so I will toss it into a corner and call it a loss. For more successful design walls, visit Judy at Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday

Slowly working on this quilt from a lovely grouping of fat quarters from Melinda. Not much sewing going on, my nieces and nephew are here for a week, but s'mores, baseball, picnics, and other activities are in full swing! Check out Judy's design wall to see how other quilters are spending their time.

Design wall Monday

I won a give-away of a fabulous stack of fat quarters Of Normandy Court from Melinda at Melinda Quilts. They arrived at my house on Saturday, and today I was able to start playing with them! The fabrics are really beautiful, and I couldn't wait to start using them, so now they are all over my cutting table in various stages of pieces and parts. When I get tired of sewing tonight, I am going to look around on-line and see if this fabric line is still available in these colors, because at some point today it popped into my head that these fabrics (with the addition of some oranges and greens) would look great used in the Halloween 1904 pattern by Blackbird Designs. Thanks so much to Melinda for this generous giveaway - its feels great to be back in my sewing room, and I am excited to be working on a simple, but graphic pattern with this fabric. By next week I'll have made enough progress to have something to show. Check out other design wall at Judy's.

UFO Progress

I am working on another of my UFOs. This one is number 18, and is the result of a Quilters Newletter mystery that my quilting SIL and I started back in 2011. I set mine on point with sashing and cornerstones, and added quarter blocks in between the outside edges of the blocks. I still need to add the corner triangles. The plan is to add a border of the cornerstone fabric, then another border with the solid green. I should be able to finish it before next week. Should, of course, being the key word! Check out other quilters progress on their UFOs at Judy's Patchwork Times.

UFO Wednesday

I actually finished up one of the items on my UFO list! This is #14. Of course, it only needed borders, so it was quick to finish. I had originally thought about mitered corners, but I did not have enough fabric for that, so then I thought about sewing large nine-patches for the corners, but didn't like the way it looked. So I kept it simple with the dark pink plaid in the corners, and I will use this same fabric to do the binding. I copied the idea for this quilt from Julie K.'s blog, her version is really striking. She used a pattern from Evelyn Sloppy's book, Strips and Strings. One down, nineteen more on the list. Check over at Judy L.'s blog to see more UFO progress.

UFOs

Judy Laquidara is asking us to list our UFOs. I keep a spreadsheet on mine, so I am going to share it here, and try to add pictures on Wednesdays-the day to share progress on any of the projects on the list.


Quilt Name/block size/year started/notes/designer or inspiration

1. Millenium TripAroundtheWorld 2000 needs frogging, have backing

2. Kashmere 14" need sashing and border? magazine

3. Churn Dash Christmas 15" 1999 needs sashing Robyn Pandolph

4. Teal Flying Geese 14" May-07

5. Fig Tree/Cinnamon Stars May-07 Bluestone Walkway by Deborah Hearn

6. Double Xreproductions 10" Mar-08 Quilt Sampler/QuiltMania

7. Chocolat Stars 8" Apr-08 sew together, no border, simple binding Primitive Gatherings

8. Kitchen Sink 30's 9" Apr-08 online

9. Star Dance 30's 9" Apr-08 repurposing into pinwheels

10. Little Pretties 30's Apr-08 needs borders Aus P&Q

11. Double Irish Chain acq 09 Mom's, needs frogging

12. String-Pieced Diamonds acq 09 Mom's

13. Purple Bricks Feb-10 frog, redesign

14. Plaid strings 8" Sep-10 needs border like Julie k/EvelynSloppy

15. Between Friends 6" Oct-10 9-patch swap, needs borders Darlene

16. Crosspatch 9" Oct-10 9-patch swap

17. Scrappy trip 2" Jun-11 Steps to the Altar AP and Q magazine 2002

18. QN mystery 12" Aug-11 blocks done, need setting triangles

19. Pocket full of mystery Dec-11 Dorothy Young

20. Easy Street Nov-12 Bonnie Hunter mystery

I'd like to say that this is all, but I am not including projects that are ongoing as scraps are generated. There are also a couple more of my Mom's, I am trying to work on just one or two of those a year. I deleted several items off the list as I was reviewing it, and I will be getting rid of those altogether. There are lots more bits and pieces, but I am not sure they will ever develop into anything!

Judy is an amazing enabler designer, and very generous with sharing her designs. There are at least 4 quilts on her blog that I want to make, and another two from her 60 Pieced Quilt Borders book, so I am sure that this list will just get longer! The good news is that the three quilts that I have made from Judy's designs are all flimsies, so according to me, they are not ufos!

Design Wall Monday

I wandered into my sewing room late last week, and rummaged through a box marked fabric collections. I pulled out a Moda charm pack of Portugal by April Cornell. I also had two pieces of yardage from this line. I added in a Moda cream and had fun with squares and nine-patches. This is what I have to show for it. These fabrics were lovely to work with, they just felt so nice! I am going to add blue borders around this one. You can see that I have the border laid out on one side. Check out all the design walls at Judy Laquidara's.

Blue love

Kathleen Tracy at A Sentimental Quilter is hosting a giveaway of blue fabrics by Jo Morton. The fabrics are now high on my wish list! Kathleen wants to know if we have a favorite blue item, and I thought I would show you mine. This vase came from a secondhand shop, it has rough spot on the bottom like it is blown piece of glass. The ribbing you see is on the inside of the vase until you get to the neck , then the ribs are on the outside. I don't know much about glass, but I think it was made by blowing molten glass into a form.

A finish!!!

Yesterday was a monumentous day here at Flimsy Excuses because I actually completed a quilt, quilted, bound, and washed! I have blogged about this flimsy here and here. I decided to sacrifice this flimsy to my beginning machine quilting, and I am actually not too dismayed by the outcome! My family loves it, bless their hearts, but that may be because I am still cooking for them!

Design Wall Monday

I decided to make a small table topper for St. Valentine's Day. So I pulled out some pinks, some bonus white triangles, and got to work! After a couple of false starts on the center of the blocks and a consult with DD#3, this is the flimsy, it will finish at 15" square. My goal is to do some easy machine quilting on it this week, and then find something to do with the leftover parts. The block is Japanese Xs and Os.

Pour another cup of coffee and visit over at Judy's for design wall Monday, it will be time well spent!

Design Wall Monday

I decided to join Darlene at Quilts by Darlene for a mystery quilt. I really like the start of it, and my DH likes the honeycomb too. It needs two borders added, I'll do that before the next clue comes out on February 1st. Updated: My mistake - the next installment on this mystery will be February 8th.

Go on over to Judy's site to find many inspiring ideas on the design wall. I am planning to participate in Judy's mystery quilt also, but I don't have the fabric picked out for that one yet.

Design Wall Monday

This week I managed to rework a UFO, and use up some more of my old stash. I originally started this quiilt to use up the leftover red triangles from another quilt. I had started putting it together with the blocks set side by side, but it was very bulky and unappealing to me. I unpicked the sewing I had previously done, and added sashings and cornerstones(old stash). I really like it now! However, I am done with Christmas flimsies for a while. I do have a lot of Christmassy scraps from various projects left over that would look great as a pineapple quilt or a crumb quilt, but for now,

I will shove them into a dark corner and move onto something else. Visit Design Wall Monday at Judy Laquidara's to see what quilters form all over are working on!

Design Wall Monday

It took me quite a while, but I finished Judy Laquidara's Sing a Happy Song quilt. She offered this free pattern during a Quiltathon weekend in September. I got off to a great start on this flimsy, but had a slow finish.

I really love the colors Judy used in her quilt, but I am trying to use up the older pieces in my stash, and the blue piece has aged long enough. Next up I have five pair of pants for various family members that need hemming, then I am going to look through my stash for more well-aged fabric to start another project. Visit Judy at Patchwork Times to see more design wall inspiration.

Judy's Quiltathon

Judy Laquidara at Patchwork Times is having a quiltathon weekend, beginning today. She designed a pattern to share with any of us that wanted to join her, and I decided to play along. In an ongoing effort to use up the older fabrics in my stash, my color choices look nothing like Judy's, but I love how the quilt is looking so far. Here are my first six blocks, the middle blocks of the quilt. I didn't do all this today, I actually cut my fabrics on Tuesday and sewed some on this yesterday, becasue I won't be able to sew much this weekend. I have all the four patches done, so next I will be working on the outside blocks.

Design Wall Monday

I finished my annual the-kids-are-back-in-school-I-miss-them quilt over the weekend. This quilt uses some of my older fabrics, and I copied a picture from a Lady's Circle Patchwork Quilt magazine that I had saved long ago. I really enjoy having my kids at home over the summer, and miss them when they go back to school, but I have to admit, I like the more structured days of fall too! Check over at Judy L.'s for plenty of design wall inspiration.

What lovely gifts!

I want to send a big thank you to Monica at Diary of a  Quilt Maven for having a super giveaway! I won the primitive package, including this magazine and 6 patterns. Monica also included a postcard of The Last Supper made from over 50,000 one-half inch squares of fabric. I didn't include that in the picture because I already have it on display! All my children will be back in school over the next two weeks, so I am anticipating being on more of a schedule and spending more time sewing. This is now what is on the top of the list...

Design wall Monday

I found these coordinating fabric strips in my stash, but I can't remember if someone sent them to me, or if I purchased them as part of a scrap bag.  I just added some wow and the darker green to complete this flimsy as an octagonal table topper.    Judy L. hosts design wall Monday every week, so pop over to her site to see lots of eye candy.  On the home front, DDs #1 and #2 are home from college,  DD #3 will be finished with school on this Wednesday, DS will be finished next week.  DH has vacation days on the schedule. The yard looks lovely with lilies, gardenias, and daylilies in bloom.  Let summer begin!!!

Design wall Monday

I have been sewing in small segments here and there.  Otherwise I have been traveling, doing paperwork, and other random things.  This little quilt is from the Temecula Quilt Co. blog.  I changed mine around a little because I had already made a small basket block quite a while ago that I wanted to use here.  I am liking it so far, I'm not quite sure if I will add any borders, so I am letting is simmer for a while. Go on over to Judy's and see what everyone else has on their design walls.

Festival of Scrapiness

I've been away from my sewing machine for a while, and probably will be until May, but I am living vicariously through other fabulous quilters. I hope that you can also take a few minutes to visit the Festival of Scrapiness in order to keep the quilting mojo simmering!

Design Wall Monday

I put together this little clutch to hold my coupons. I was keeping them in an envelope, but it never lasted very long banging around in the black hole known as my purse. This is working out great, I sewed selvages to stiff interfacing, lined it, and added a button and a hair band to keep it closed.

Check out what others are doing at Judy's design wall Monday.