February In Review

In February I finished 9 UFOs:

1. Color Me Happy, 2. Purple 9 Patch on Lime, 3. Boxed in Brights, 4. Rainbow Sherbet - Hold the Lime!, 5. "Cats on Skis", 6. "Cats in Dressy Hats", 7. Log Cabin in the Pines, 8. Polka Dot Cats & Dogs, 9. Scrapped Up Animals

Love this bag of freshly laundered goodies that I dropped off for Project Linus on Monday!

I also worked on the following projects:

1. Purple Birds in the Air Blocks - Layout 1, 2. Purple Crossroads Blocks - RSC13, 3. January Block for "And Sew On" BoM, 4. February Block for "And Sew On" BoM, 5. Triple Zip Pouch, 6. Threadbias QAL - February Project, 7. Shabby Strings, 8. Flickr Text Charm Swap, 9. Threadbias I Spy Charm Swap

I committed to spending 2 hours a day during the month quilting for DaGMT and I only missed one day all month! Lots of snow and cold weather made it easy to stay inside and quilt.

A review of my February goals looks like this:

1-Finish Christmas Stockings 2,3 & 4

2-Finish Four Patch & Friends Quilt

3-Finish Spring Flowers Quilt (at LAQ)

4-Finish Shabby String Quilt (at LAQ)

5-Finish PP Cabin & Trees Topper-DONE!

6-Finish 5 Project Linus Quilts-DONE! Did 8!!

7-RSC13 & And SEW On (Jan & Feb) Blocks-DONE!

8-Threadbias QAL Reverse Applique Pillow-DONE!

9-Threadbias QAYG Jan & Feb Blocks (FMQ)

10-HGTV Pincushion Swap

I didn't get tops mailed early enough in the month to my quilter in time to get them back (goals 3&4). Goal 2 is waiting on a border fabric as I posted on Wednesday. I subbed in 3 Project Linus UFO tops from my Q1 list knowing that these were going to slide over into March. The stockings are still not done and I have nothing nice to say about them right now!

FMQ practice ground to a complete halt in February (goal 9) and goal #10 never got underway but isn't due until the end of March so no biggie.

I've updated my sidebar with tentative March Goals, I'm mulling over some ideas to jump start my FMQ so will have a separate post later. I'm linking up to Fresh Sewing Day at Lily's Quilts and am excited to peek at what other quilters worked on February!

Last February Finishes

I have 3 UFO Finishes to share with you on the last day of February. Is it just me or did February fly by? I know it's a short month, but still... it seems like it just started a few days ago.

First up is my paper pieced "Log Cabin in the Pines". I ended up doing very minimal quilting on this because it's a small topper and I wanted the paper piecing and the cute border fabric to stand out. I might go back and add some wavy lines of smoke coming out of the chimney now that I look at my photo, but I ended up taking out a line of quilting through the middle of the border because it was distracting.

This is my February finish for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

I'm calling this Happy Block quilt for Project Linus "Scrapped Up Animals". It's got a little of bit of everything in the block borders!

The centers are a bee print, a monkey print and one with dogs & cats (also kind of random). I added to the randomness by quilting it using unevenly spaced lines - something different and I think it works with this quilt. I used green thread on the top and teal on the back.

I pieced a leftover FQ of the monkey print to make the teal paisley backing fabric wide enough and found a medium green print to use for binding.

"Polka Dot Cats & Dogs" alternates Happy Blocks with the polka dot squares. It makes me think of a dalmation now that I'm looking at the photos!

I love this bird print flannel for the backing. I had originally picked out a B&W binding but went with the red print at the last minute. I like the contrast.

I did my favorite wavy line walking foot quilting with white Auriful. I need to remember to take a picture after I wash these because the last quilts I donated with this quilting design came out of the dryer looking amazing with the wavy lines of crinkles!

Last night I realized that I've finished over 1/3 of my UFOs since 10/1/12!  As you can see in my UFO Countdown on my sidebar, I'm down to 60 from 94. I still have a long way to go... but I'm feeling pretty darn good! And, best of all, I'm having lots of FUN doing it.

Tomorrow I'll recap my February quilting and prime the foot pedal for March. I'm linking up to TGIFF, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Finish It Up Friday, Let's Make Baby Quilts, A Week of Finishes, First Friday Finishes and Link a Finish Friday.

2 Monday Finishes

I'm crossing 2 more UFOs off my list!

"Cats Dressed in Hats" is made from a pattern I call Noodle Recipe. The pieced 8" finished blocks are made from 2.5" strips sewed together, cut into 4.5" segments and sewed together in units of 4. I'm sure these blocks have a name, if you know it please tell me in a comment.

I pieced the backing from yellow and white gingham flannel and the top strip of novelty flannel. Cute and cozy~!

A close-up of the fun cat fabric.

I quilted it using white Auriful with walking foot waves.

"Cats on Skis" is also made using my Noodle Recipe, except that I flipped the color placement on some of the blocks to create 2 sets of blocks used in alternating rows for a different look.

It has a pieced flannel backing of 3 fabrics.

A close-up of the front of the quilt.

I used white Aurifil and (my favorite!) walking foot waves for the quilting.

I'm up to 15 UFO Finishes for 2013! Both of these quilts will be donated to Project Linus.

I'm linking up to Let's Get Acquainted Monday@Better Off Thread and Freemotion by the River.

February Goals

A new month... a fresh start... all things are possible. I just LOVE turning the calender over!

January was a really productive month but it got a bit scrambled towards the end for my liking. Some things were out of my control but others can be learned from going forward. I think my UFO single minded focus got a bit too narrow and I ended up short changing my fun/reward sewing... in fact I still have a New Project Reward "on the books" that I haven't even picked out yet and I'm already halfway to my next one!
DaGMT is underway and I've pledged to spend 2 hours a day in February working on quilting projects. Time to put the foot pedal to the floor and just get 'er done~!

This month I'm adding my QAL projects to my goal list so they don't get neglected. I have a pincushion swap coming up at the end of March but would like to get them done this month. Notice how I put those Christmas Stockings at the top of the list? I did piece & quilt the front of #2 this week. Baby steps.
                                                             
I'm getting a little bored of random FMQ practice but not feeling quite up to a full quilt yet. I came across a group on Threadbias last week that is making a block a month to improve their FMQ skills. That seems to be a nice next step for me, plus I've wanted to try QAYG (Quilt As You Go) so this will give me a chance to use that technique. For January through March they are using Depression blocks which I love (here is one from quilterscache.com). I think I'll make some up with scraps and use them as practice sandwiches for the next few weeks.

And, since I'm having so much fun playing around with walking foot quilting on Mr. Juki I want to take advantage of that and build up my stack of Project Linus quilts working toward my goal of donating 50 this year. Not to mention that my new Juki F600 is all set up and raring to go. I have a lot of GREAT reasons to get busy in my quilting room!

So, here's what I've settled on for my February Goals. My project for a Year of Lovely Finishes will be #5 Paper Pieced Cabin & Trees topper.

1-Finish Christmas Stockings 2,3 & 4

2-Finish Four Patch & Friends Quilt

3-Finish Spring Flowers Quilt

4-Finish Shabby String Quilt

5-Finish PP Cabin & Trees Topper

6-Finish 5 Project Linus Quilts

7-RSC13 & And SEW On (Jan & Feb) Blocks

8-Threadbias QAL Reverse Applique Pillow

9-Threadbias QAYG Blocks (FMQ)

10-HGTV Pincushion Swap

To see project pictures associated with goals 1-6 take a peek at my Q1 2013 UFO Progress Tab above. If all goes well, I'll be trimming my UFO Collection by 10 in February!

I'm linking up to Just Three, Monthly To-Do List Linky Party and A Year of Lovely Finishes. Go take a peek and see what other bloggers have planned for their February Fun.

Thursday Thoughts

Handmade for Newtown wrapped up last week and raised over $5,000! My Super Bright Strings quilt was auctioned off for $143. I gave it a last once-over with the lint roller, wrapped it up in tissue paper with a bow made of selvages and mailed it off yesterday to a very kind-hearted new owner.

I've had these cute bags from Debbie from A Quilter's Table on my Make Someday List and was excited to read about the Triple Zip Along which is getting underway on Monday, January 28th. I've got my fabric picked out and zippers ordered!  It's not too late in join the fun.

                                                  

Beth who blogs at Quilting Hottie Haven is launching a month long UFO event called Drop and Give me Twenty (DaGMT 2013) complete with prizes. Click HERE to read all about it.  First, you must make a pledge...

I, Deb who is the not-so-proud owner of a Fab UFO Collection, am joining Quilting Hottie Haven's second annual DaGMT event, and pledge to quilt for 2 hours every day of the month of February, 2013. In doing so I hope to finish 10 UFOs (to be listed on my sidebar Feb. 1st but you can get a sneak peak at my selection pool HERE) and I think Beth Helfter is brilliant for coming up with this concept and inspiring me to join.
Did you notice how I added my January Goals to my sidebar as a constant guilt inducing tactic gentle reminder? Considering I had company for the 1st week followed by a week of a sick son and problems with new sewing machine deliveries I'm not doing so bad. I'm heading down the homestretch on the binding for Shabby Roses (goal 3) and I'll be quilting my Valentine's Day table runner today (goal 7).  FMQ practice sessions (goal 9) are ongoing and I'll be heading back to Christmas over the weekend to work on goals 1 & 2.
We braved our absolutely frigid weather to see Life of Pi on Monday night. I love a movie that really makes you think after leaving the theater, which Life of Pi certainly did, but the thing I enjoyed the most about the movie was the amazing cinematography. I found myself gasping several times at the sheer beauty on the screen. I'm starting to think I should go see it again! Tucker is getting tired of being called "Richard Parker" by all of us.
I have my Juki set up on my sewing table and my Pfaff set up on my spare folding table which are both out in the middle of my quilting room right now. When I walked in yesterday I could not stop looking at the insane difference in height of these machines! Check this out.

I'm using my 6.5" square ruler in these pics. See the peek of my Valentines Day runner ready to be sandwiched back there? With no more wavy edges thanks to the IDF on my Pfaff!

Isn't it amazing? Just a few well placed inches makes all the difference in the world!  Not to mention the design for quilting... see the presser foot on the Juki completely behind the machine? On the Pfaff it's harder to see behind the 6" vertical line on the right. When you raise it goes sideways up into the arm space. I can't tell you how many times I've caught it on the quilt and had it slam down.