The Next UFO

 Eight inch four patch basket blocks. 

I've decided this will be the next UFO I will work on until it reaches flimsy stage.  

I made the two blocks on the bottom back in June 2017.  I was inspired by an antique crib quilt I saw at Q is for Quilter.  I decided to make my four patch baskets out of civil war reproduction fabric scraps and muslin.  I thought it would make a nice baby quilt someday for my first great grandchild so when finished it will go into the hope chest. 

Yesterday I made the top two blocks and so now I have four blocks. 

I've decided to make the quilt 40 x 56 so need 35 blocks total. Only 31 more blocks to make, I guess. 

 I have a project box with pink and brown scraps, a piece of muslin and a little drawing of how I made the basket blocks back in 2017. Now I just need to dig in and get 'er done. 

 I also wanted to make a Topsy Turvy doll to go with the quilt.  I have several different Topsy Turvy patterns but this is the only one I've made. 

I made Topsy Turvy dolls for each of the granddaughters back in 2010 and used 30s reproduction fabric scraps for the dresses. This time I'll use civil war reproduction fabrics. 

I know myself well enough to know that I would never get around to making the doll if I didn't get started now while I'm making the quilt.  I used a red transfer pencil on the pattern pieces in order to transfer the hair and face so I can start the embroidery tonight or tomorrow. It didn't transfer very well but I think I can figure out where to put all the french knots for Topsy's hair.  I think I need to make another copy of the pattern for the facial features because the eyes are almost gouged out on the pattern pieces and I couldn't trace them very well with the transfer pencil. I'll do that later. 

The transfer worked a little better with Eva's pattern pieces but I'm going to leave her in the project box for now until I'm finished with Topsy.  This embroidery will give me something a little different to work on in the evenings when I feel like doing something other than hand quilting. 

It's a Flimsy! HISSSSSS

It's a flimsy!

66 x 88

I started this November 2015 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project to use 2.5 inch scraps.  I worked on it off and on over the years. I think the main reason it was a UFO for so long is because I cut those snake parts by hand and I don't really like cutting pieces to begin with and like cutting pieces even less if they are cut with scissors and a paper template. 

 Then it took me a while to figure out how to use the blocks in a quilt. I didn't plan that out before I started making blocks that had two curves of the same color.  It just so happened that they worked perfectly in a rainbow configuration. 

 My inspiration was a color matching game...

...I used to play with my grandson when he was a wee one. 

Getting this to flimsy stage was my OMG (One Monthly Goal) for June. 

OMG at Elm Street Quilts

Now that I've got it to flimsy stage I really like it and might have to make some plastic templates for those snake parts so I can use a rotary cutter to make another one. I really like the one with the blue/orange background in a Barbara Brackman post on Snakes. 

Bright and Wild UFO Sighting

Bright and Wild

It's just a flimsy (finally).

It will be donated when finished.

39 x 58.5

I THINK I swapped these bright and wild happy blocks some time before 2012.  I found some Bright and Wild, Patriotic and Fall themed swap blocks in a box.    They are actually a strange size of Happy Block...they finish at 6.5 inches.  They are made of 4 inch centers and 2 inch sides. 

I had about 36 Happy Blocks from the swap so dug through some swapped 4 inch squares looking for 18 bright and wild pieces.  I had to cut into fabric for the 2 inch side pieces. I have a box of fabrics set aside for donation quilts so used those fabrics. Then I made more blocks. 

Then I sewed all of the blocks together. 

And that's where I'm at now. 

I probably won't get it completely finished until summer. 

For now it will reside in the donation top pile which is a step up from being hidden away in a box for years. 

And my sewing room is a little bit cleaner. LITTLE bit! 

At The End of This Rainbow is a HEART of Gold

Heart of Gold

It's just a top right now

When finished this will go to my youngest brother who unexpectedly had a quadruple bypass last year shortly after Easter.   It was unexpected because he's not overweight nor does he have high blood pressure.     At any rate I hope this quilt reminds him to stay heart healthy and that I love him and his heart of gold. 

I made these blocks (or I guess I would call them units instead) from 4.5 inch  scraps last year as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.    You know (if you are a regular blog reader) I usually don't lay out my quilts (on my floor - no design wall here)  but instead sew blocks together randomly but this rainbow configuration I decided upon meant I had to lay blocks out and then, good golly, Miss Molly, I had to make sure I not only sewed them together correctly but sewed them together pointing in the right direction.  Sheesh!  It didn't all go so smoothly and I have to say I became reacquainted with my old seam ripper that has grown lazy but in the end I have a rainbow trail. 

My inspiration was Kathy Doughty's (of Material Obsession) "Red Centre" quilt. 

This is a UFO I hope to finish up this quarter. Since I now have a top I'm getting closer to that goal!   I'm not sure what I will use for the backing and I hope there's enough rainbow fabric left for the binding.  

Check out what everyone else is doing with their scraps at: 

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework. 

My February OMG (One Monthly Goal) is to get this finished!! 

OMG at Elm Street Quilts

I didn't make my February OMG goal so now it's my March (One Monthly Goal) OMG to get this quilt finished!!  

OMG at Elm Street Quilts 

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden But I Promised Myself One

 
 

I LOVE Roses....especially the old fashioned kind that have such a wonderful fragrance and are winter hardy in these parts...the kind of roses the deer and rabbits like to eat down to the ground...the kind that stick to your fingers, hair, clothes...yes, I LOVE the roses in my garden. 

This is one of the ways I chose to use some of the rose fabrics I've been  hoarding  collecting for years.  This is a 12 inch block called Rosebud.  With these 12 blocks I think that brings my total to 42.  I think I want 56 blocks for a 7 x 8 layout...a nice big quilt.   I have used rose themed fabrics for the background and made the rosebud part of the block out of solids in a variety of colors of roses. 

But now that I'm getting close to the number of blocks I think I need I'm not really liking how they all look together - colors and values are all over the place.  Maybe I need a garden path...or an alternate block... or some birds...Hmmm...maybe I'll just continue on and make the other fourteen blocks (fabrics are selected and partially cut) and then think about it. Maybe I'll end up with two big quilts. Maybe I'll...who knows?...combine it with the other rose themed fabric UFO that's really old? 

At any rate...It's Monday and I'm kind of moving this UFO forward so that means I should probably link up to Moving it Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag. 

A Flimsy of Tulips

Tulips

In 30s reproduction fabrics and Kona Snow

81 x 91

For now it's just a top. 

Blocks are nine inches

I used the pattern at About.com

Not sure when or how it will get quilted.  But it's a top now after all these years. Can't top that!

(The sun was not in the right spot when I took the photos. Well, on second thought, the sun was in the right spot - in the sky. I just don't know how to take photos. So they look sort of sepia-ish).

Whooping it up over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Yes...

Yes, ....

...I'm still working on it. 

Hand quilting is slow stitching especially when the quilt is queen-sized. 

Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts. 

Happy Hearts

40 x 56

Happy Hearts

This will be donated to either Quilts Beyond Borders or Wrap a Smile. 

Years ago I used to participate in a Happy Block swap every month.  Each participant would send out 6 Happy Block centers (either 4.5 or 6.5) to each participant who would border 5 of them with 2.5 inch strips and keep one center.  Then the bordered blocks were all sent back to the originator.    It was a great use of scraps and you would then get a variety of  bordered blocks back to put into a quilt.  I quit signing up for the swap when some people failed to meet their commitments to return blocks to the owner.  

At any rate...I have a huge box of Happy Blocks (my Happy Place) waiting to be made into donation quilts. 

I found almost enough heart themed blocks for this one, made a few more and before you know it a quilt was born. 

I quilted it simply with five petaled flowers and loops and swirls. 

I'm not used to making machine binding but it is suggested by several places I donate quilts that the binding be machine stitched. I have found my machine's buttonhole stitch does about the best job. 

This was my goal #11 for the Q2 Finish Along      with Adrianne at On the Windy Side. (link also on the sidebar). 

At the end of the month I will link up to Julie's Binding Blitz.  

Today I will link up with Oh Scrap at Quilting is More Fun than Housewwork. 

56 Shades of Envy (Shades 32-37)

 

Shades of Envy 32-37

The Dandy Quilt block

Design Wall Monday

A Wedding Gift Needs a Name

80 x 80

16 inch Depression Blocks

A September Wedding Gift

I've heard tell that my nephew is getting married in September. 

He and his fiance have very few household goods so, planning ahead,  I decided to finish one of my UFOs for a wedding gift. 

Some of the 400 HSTs in this quilt were swapped and some were made from my scraps. 

I quilted it with a walking foot on my DSM with a sort of uneven crosshatch.

I had some brown polka dot in my stash that I used for binding. 

After a spin in the washer and a stint in the dryer the quilt came out crinkly, puffy, soft and cuddly. 

I need to think of a name for it. Depression Blocks doesn't seem quite appropriate for a wedding gift. 

This was my February Goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes (#8)

This was one of my goals (#7)  for First Quarter Finish Along. 

At the end of the month I'll link up to Julie's Binding Blitz

Also linking up today to:

Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

WIPs Be Gone at A Quilting Reader's Garden

Roll, Roll Cotton Boll - Spiraling Out of Control!

I worked on quilting one of my oldest flimsies - one of two Bonnie Hunter mysteries I have made. 

Roll, Roll Cotton Boll 

I quilted it on my DSM with some spirals. I figured that would go with a quilt by that name and it's one of the few free motion quilting things I know how to do. 

84 x 100

It's far too large for my husband to even hold up while standing on a chair. 

(I usually hang the quilts out on the clothesline even in winter for some pictures but I'm not going out in 19 inches of snow and drifts)

I remember that with this quilt it was the first time I tried using an Easy Angle ruler for the HSTs. After that I was hooked and make HSTs no other way. 

It doesn't look like it from afar but it used up a LOT of scraps...

...and I mean a LOT of scraps.   When I dug this flimsy out of the box it was in I also found the left over scraps that were scraps from this quilt so not all scraps were used in the making of this quilt. 

I used muslin for the backing. I use muslin a lot for backs - just like grandma used to do. 

 I think I'll put it on the guest bed. 

I'm just glad it's out of the UFO pile and in the finished pile. 

This was one of my goals (#1)  for First Quarter Finish Along. 

At the end of the month I'll link up to Julie's Binding Blitz

Also linking up to:

Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

WIPs Be Gone at A Quilting Reader's Garden

Depression But Not

I finished up the last four 16 inch Depression Blocks I needed...

...to complete a flimsy 80 x 80 - 25 blocks consisting of 16 - 4.5 inch HSTs.
That's 400 scrappy HSTs! 

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? (at Confessions of a Fabric Addict)

I finished a flimsy and it's Friday so going over to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts. 

And soon I think this WIP will soon be gone  so heading on over to link up with

 WIPs Be Gone at A Quilting Readers Garden. 

And, as someone suggested in comments...linking up to:
Oh, Scrap (at Quilting is More Fun than Housework) 

And finally, to completely finish this up  with some quilting and binding will be my
  February goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes. 

Almost

The Pickle Dish

I've finished hand quilting the "pickles" and the centers.

I guess you can see the (attempt at hand) quilting better from the back. 

And I've finished hand quilting the hearts in the 4 patches.  (It is a wedding quilt). 

The hearts on the back. 

All I have left are the borders! More hearts! (It is a wedding quilt). 

On the back. (That's a stray little thread over there on the left and not a long stitch in the middle of nowhere. 

I'm almost at the finish line! 

And when I'm finished this will go into a hope chest...a wedding quilt for one of my granddaughters who just turned ten.  (Hey, I'm not getting any younger!! Just planning ahead!)

WIPs Be Gone at A Quilting Reader's Garden

Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict