Fourth Sunday of the year

The Why of my Quilting

Every now and then, I think about why I make quilts, or someone asks.

There are lots of reasons. 

Here are a few.

Because ...

Color! 

Creativity!

Finished products!

Giving!

 Customizing!

Recycling!

History!

Warmth!

Sending a "hug" miles away!

UFOs Again

This week's Wednesday UFO report:

My Vintage-Inspired English Paper Piecing has finally seen some progress!

That left and top border have gotten another row of diamonds since last week. (See the "before/during" pic below.)

  

The current cream-and-white border is almost complete. It needs one more neutral row (almost 100 diamonds), and then a colorful row. I'm not sure what's next after that.

I'm working on my (elaborate) quilt back for my weather quilt. I've got about 130 of these (8-inch) triangle blocks made, which is plenty.

Lots of progress on this, and lots of scraps being incorporated! 

(This process has, of course, resulted in a bunch more colorful stuff partially assembled, which will become part of another project.)

I'm linking my UFO report to this week's link party at Jo's Country Junction.

Third Sunday of the year ...

Knitting sock toes and heels

I have discovered the Three-Needle Bind-Off. This was eminently helpful in my sock-toe knitting last week. (I'm just not very good at Kitchener and Grafting methods of closing up toes, and those always turn out weird for me.)

Turning the sock inside out for the event was odd, but I managed.

 

Next came "afterthought heels", which were new for me, but worked out just fine. Actually, it was just like knitting the toe.

So, my latest new socks are finished! Last I checked, I've knitted something like 9 other pairs of socks; so this makes at least number 10!

The pattern was Geek Socks from Knitty ... I love the variation from the usual "plain" stripes in my self-striping sock yarn. The yarn is Spring Stripe from Red Heart "Heart & Sole". 

Self-striping sock yarn is my FAVORITE, but one of these days, I'm going to try some traditional stripes.

English Paper Piecing again

So, it's been fun getting back to my Vintage-Inspired English Paper Piecing.

I've got a bunch of basted diamonds ready to finish the current round of cream-and-white diamonds. I probably need one more round of cream-and-white, and then another multicolored row.

Here are some of the pieces I've recently basted.

More pictures soon - when I stitch some more diamonds to the quilt top!

UFO Challenge report for the week

What I've been working on this week:

The temperature quilt has every day of 2017 represented by color.

The side borders (little black squares) got added as each row was stitched. Now, it's got a border of black squares on the top and bottom, too. Here's the side ...

This weather quilt project was great for using a lot of scraps. But still, I was a little disappointed at how many precut pieces I had left over (not to mention scraps in general!) So, I planned a use for the precut pieces - and some additional scraps as well.

Triangle stripes!
I've been wanting to make a quilt of triangle stripes with neutral background triangles ... And I didn't have a quilt-back planned for the weather quilt yet. So, this is going to be the (elaborate) quilt back!

I stitched weather-quilt leftover strips together, then cut triangles, and matching white triangles. 

I even devised a plan for the additional scraps that were leftover from trimming the patchwork down to size. More on that another day.

So, this is progress on scrap-using, and progress on a project I hope to finish soon!

I'm linking this post to this week's UFO Challenge at Jo's Country Junction, and looking forward to seeing what progress others are making on quilt-y UFOs this week.

Second Sunday of the year...

UFO Report

I'm going to try to report weekly on my progress with UnFinished Objects (UFOs), and I'll be linking each post to the week's UFO Challenge at Jo's Country Junction.

Here's my update for this week:

The little crumb quilts are looking good ... Here's the front of one, and the back of another. More details in an earlier blog post.

 

Here's what my Vintage-Inspired EPP looks like right now:

It's hard to tell from this angle, but the two sides to the left of the picture each have two rows of diamonds; the two sides to the right of the picture each have only one row. 

So my first job is to add the 4 dozen diamonds to those edges on the right. 

Then, I'll be deciding what happens to the border from there ... solid fabric? colored diamonds? neutral diamonds? The quilt top is still small ... maybe 36" x 45"?, and I'd like it bigger, but not impossible to finish!

I basted a few neutral diamonds this week, to add to the ones I already had ...

 

And I decided that there should probably be another row of neutral diamonds, and there should definitely be another row of colorful diamonds in the border, so I cut some diamond papers ...

I also cut some fabric ...

And, I took inventory of the already-basted colorful ones I have ...

That's my progress for the week; I'm off to read Jo's blog post and link party to see who else is making progress on quilt-y UFOs this week!

First Sunday of the year ...

Little Crumb Quilts

I have two little crumb quilts about halfway done ... Lots of fabric crumbs give these a fun look!

Last week, I mentioned some background work on these ...

Here's the front of one; the other front is in the works.

Since I didn't have yardage in the right colors for backing, I found some fun fabrics -- already cut -- in my fabric collection. So I'm putting together some pieced backings. 

These triangles were cut ages ago, and they've just been waiting for the right project. I love how the colors work together, and they're going to make a cute quilt back!

This patchwork quilt back will be almost as fun as the quilt front! These  4½" squares were cut quite a while ago. Some of the squares were cut from sheets -- the adorable cars and trucks were a Pottery Barn sheet! Other stripes, prints, and solids were cut from shirts. I love the organized variety!

As always, a lot happens in bits and pieces, sometimes in short spurts -- it's good to see progress!

UFOs for the new year

When I have a lot of sewing projects going (always!), it's super-helpful to find motivations to get things done.

Blog posts (and link parties with other blogs) are an easy way to report weekly on what's happening with ongoing projects. Today I'll be linking this blog post to the UFO Progress post at Jo's Country Junction.

So, for the beginning of the year, I'm going to start a list of unfinished-things-that-I'll-be-working-on.

Then, my Wednesday blog posts can report on what kind of progress I'm making.

In no particular order, the UFOs (UnFinished Objects) I'd like to finish sometime during this year:

The weather quilt ... It'll need backing, quilting, and binding.

My Great-Great Grandmother's circle quilt (haven't blogged about this one yet; details later) - just needs quilting and binding

Americana baby quilt - quilt and bind

2 crumb-style baby quilts (similar to these ones) - crumb strips are made; everything's cut; pieced backings are in progress

The Christmas Tree Quilt - borders and pieced backing are all cut

The Pumpkins Quilt - orange is done; working on background

Random Orange Quilt - mostly pieced

The Extremely Tiny EPP Hexagons - need to figure out how to mount and frame

My Vintage-Inspired EPP ... I've forgotten what stage it's at, but I love it.

So, here's to a great start to 2018!

I'm off to see what's up at Jo's Country Junction today ... and then I better get busy on some sewing!