End of February Update

Well, I sure didn't get all my UFOs done this month - how about you?  I'm OK with February being a short month (a few days less of winter!), but it seemed to fly by.

I did finish one of my projects - this Girl Gang lap quilt started in 2002.  That's the only one of my UFOs that got done, though.

I got distracted by this other UFO:

I came across this in my sewing room and thought I'd better get it together before I lose all the parts and pieces.  I started this a couple winters ago, and the store where I got it has gone out of business, so I'm out of luck if I need more fabric for it.   It was already cut out and fused, so it just needs the stitching finished. (Oh, yeah, and sewn together, and quilted, and bound.)  It's going on the March UFO list!  I've made good progress on it already.

And I've been seeing all those cute row quilts from Bee In My Bonnet on everyone's blogs, so I just had to start that last week.  I'm months behind, but should be able to catch up.  Here's the progress so far:

This is in bright, happy fabrics so it's fun to work on in between my others.  I'm enjoying sewing this one.

So, here's the UFO list to work on for March (looks a lot like the February list)

1.  Finish quilting and binding the Times Three quilt.  The quilting is done, and the binding is made, so a couple hours ought to finish this one.

2.  Finish the applique on my Favorite Things wall hanging (also from last month).  I  did add a couple more things this month, but don't have a new picture of it.

3.  Hand quilt the wall hanging started on the cruise - no progress on this in February.

4.  Finish the Warm Winter Wishes Block a Month shown above.

Also, keep working on the Row Quilt, but that's a new project, not a UFO.

So that's my plan for March!  We have a guild sewing day on Saturday, so I'll no doubt have to start something new for that.  At least I'll never run out of UFOs!

A Great Week!

This was a great week, quilting-wise.  I won a giveaway on Amy Bradley's blog last week, and my prize came in the mail Tuesday.  This box came at the perfect time - we had another snowstorm Tuesday and opening this box was definitely the high point of my week.  Look at all the wonderful things she sent!

 This cute baby panel from her Bundle of Joy line, and...

the pattern for the Babies quilt, along with two fat quarters of each of these wonderful fabrics, also from her Bundle of Joy line from Timeless Treasures.  I just love the stripe, and the dots and babies are great, too.  This quilt is so cute, I think I'm going to have to make the big quilt, as well as make a quilt with the panel. 

Here's a picture of the full quilt.  This pattern is made with fusible web and machine blanket stitching, and the pattern has full size pattern sheets and very detailed instructions - it looks like it will be so much fun.  Thank you so much for this generous giveaway prize, Amy - I can't wait to get started on this.  Be sure to go to her website and look at all the fun patterns she creates.  She has a great sense of humor, and it shows in her patterns.

I bought another pattern by Amy Bradley a few years ago at the Chicago Quilt Show, and jumped into making it right away.  This is called Kitty City.   I had lots of fun collecting bright fabrics for this quilt.  Here's the top half:

  and here's the bottom half.

This is a pretty big quilt, so I couldn't get it all in one picture.  The cats all had cute names.  I think this one was Mona:

and this is Slim:

It's hard to see in the picture, but these are all machine blanket stitched with black thread.  It was so much fun to choose all the different fabrics for this one.  She has a quilt with dogs, too, that is really cute, and is on my someday list, as is a wall hanging of cows in swimming trunks. 

Mother Nature has cooperated fully with my wish to stay inside and quilt lately, with two snowstorms this week.  I'm ready to be done with that now!  Today was sunny and had a hint of spring in the air, despite the foot of snow still on the ground. 

I'm making progress on my February UFOs and will show some of that later this week.  Thanks for stopping by!

Eleven Short Years Later...

And this quilt is done!  Honestly, I don't know why it took so long, except I hand-quilted it and kept putting it away, for years at a time.   I believe this was a Jan Patek Girl Gang project, but I'm not really sure.  It looks like a Jan Patek pattern, though, especially the angel and houses.  I love this quilt now that it's done.  It's mostly flannel, and is very cuddly and soft with the Thermore batting inside (my favorite for hand quilting).  I wanted to bind it in red, but didn't have enough, and doubted I could find a good match after 11 years.  So I used a blue plaid on the binding and it turned out fine.  That red checkerboard you see under the quilt is another quilt, not part of this one!

This was my first February UFO to get finished.  I'm working on the others, but February seems to be flying by. 

On Friday I got to go sew with a friend, and I wanted to sew something that wouldn't require packing up my entire sewing room.  So I made this fun spool table topper by Kansas Troubles.

My friend had given me the kit for this for my birthday last fall, so it was great to be able to make it with her.  It was totally done, start to finish in one morning/afternoon of stitching. 

My sewing room may get cleaned this week.  After Christmas, I purchased some of the thread snips Primitive Gatherings was promoting.  I loved them, and they have disappeared.  They have to be somewhere around, unless the cat knocked them into the trash.  Anyway, I guess I'll have to put everything away to see if I can locate them.  I hate to have to replace them after only 1 1/2 months, but I will if I have to.  They were really nice and a very useful tool.

I must admit I'm getting jealous of people who are starting to enjoy spring!  We still have about a foot of snow on the ground, and pretty cold temperatures predicted for this week, so it's not going anywhere.  Spring will eventually get here, too, but it sure seems to take its time this time of year.  It will be awhile before I'm digging in the flower beds.

Thanks for dropping by!

February Goals

I'm glad to welcome February.  Winter isn't my favorite season, so I'm always happy to see January go.  (And February and March, too, for that matter! LOL)

Posting our goals does seem to help - I got all of January's goals accomplished.  I have plenty of UFOs left, so here are February's goals:

 1.   Quilt and bind this kid's quilt.  This will be a charity quilt from the pattern "Times Three."  The large blocks are about 9", so it was a good place to put some of my fun novelty prints.  I used mostly boy prints in this quilt.    I plan to free-motion quilt this one.  It's already basted, so I just have to quilt and bind.

2.  Finally finish this quilt, 11 years later!  I got it out in September when Bonnie Hunter had her hand-quilting challenge, and I've been working on it since then, off and on.  It's finally quilted, so just needs binding and sleeve.  I love the feel of this quilt - it's mostly flannel, and is very soft and cuddly with the Thermore batting.

 3.  Hand quilt this wall hanging I made on the cruise last year.  I love it, but didn't want to start another hand-quilting project until I had the last one out of the hoop.  This can happen now!

4.  Finish the appliques on my Primitive Gatherings Block of the Week freebie quilt from last summer.  I have all the elements Lisa provided for us fused on, and they just need to be stitiched.  For the open areas, we are supposed to personalize the rest of it with our own "Favorite Things".  This has been a huge challenge for me.  Drawing is not a skill I possess, so we'll see what I come up with.  I think I finally have some ideas, so I'll try to get them drawn out this weekend.  She covered most of my favorite things with the center, so I'm having a hard time with what else to put on here!

So, that's it for February goals!  It's bitter cold here this morning, still below 0 F, and windy, too, so we're inside again this weekend.  Here's Holly, wondering why I'm standing on the sofa to take pictures:

 I'm not going outside to get good pictures today, even if it is sunny and bright.  It looks much warmer than it feels.  Come on, spring!