Wild Olive

Wow it's been a long time since I've blogged. Life sure took a different turn - and totally derailed my quilting of any sort. Well, we're in a new house, kind of settled, it's a new year, and maybe time to get quilting again. I've been reading about it tons... just not doing any! Time to join in Judy's 2012 UFO Challenge ! Some of these are ones I didn't get to last year, and some are new. Some are fairly small, and a couple of them are huge! Could be interesting! 1. Baby Flannel for Church 2. Bright Valorie Wells Flowers 3. Coffee Quilt 4.  Jar Quilt 5. Syncopated Rhythm Batik 6. Syncopated Rhythm Kids 7. Turning 20 40's Laundry 8. Chinese Lanterns/Courthouse Steps 9. Nine Patch a Day (back, border and quilt) 10. Hawaiian Charm (back, border and quilt) 11. Lilac Quilt (back and quilt) 12. (Nine Patch Exchange (back, border and quilt)

Almost Finished UFO , a photo by theercs on Flickr. Argghh! I almost made it - just finishing the binding. But it's been one of the more wild months I've had in my life - so I'm thinking that what I got done is more than I expected. I liked the quilting pattern I did. Had trouble with the thread breaking constantly. Tried different needles, different threads, etc. Finally, after MUCH breakage, and quitting for the day, I discovered that it could just be that I'm trying to go to fast (imagine that). I did the last section more patiently and slowly, and guess what... no breaking! I'll post another pic when it's all done... but this will have to do for now!

Replacement finish! , a photo by theercs on Flickr. My #9 UFO for Judy's challenge was NOT going to make it this month. I didn't quilt it early in the month, and the end of the month brought unexpected travel. My friend Sherri suggested swapping out for something I could actually accomplish. What a wise woman! Hand't thought of that. This is just "lazy baby stitch" with minkie back folded over as the binding. I already had it basted, so it only took me a couple of hours! I'm so grateful for quilting friends to help you along!

It's been a crazy busy month, so I was grateful that Judy selected an easier (read "smaller") one for me this time - #4! Someone at my quilt group had originally started this one. I made some more blocks to make it big enough, and this month I quilted it! I used freehand butterflies out of the book "Laura's Little Book of Machine Quilting Designs ." I've really enjoyed this book for giving me ideas for quilting... I get so stumped on that sometimes! Here's a close up of the idea... the butterflies have echoed wings, and most have antennas. I can see that I still need to work on my spacing when I'm going freeform, but it was pretty good. I was trying to use fabric that was in the "Baby Quilt Bin" from our group and of course, ended up with a pieced back! It'll help the baby learn more colors, right? :-) Four for four! A miracle for me! But moving on my UFO's has helped because 'an object in motion tends to stay i

Getting There! , a photo by theercs on Flickr. The quilting is done on this little baby quilt. I started out thinking I was going to just do the "lazy baby stitch." It's the loose zig zag that I've done on several baby quilts - fast and easy! However, because of the angles and rectangle shape of these blocks, I couldn't picture it looking very good in the end. If I did it from corner it just added too many more "angley" lines. If I just did it on the horizontal and vertical lines where the blocks line up... kinda boring, and I'm not sure it would be enough quilting. So back to free motion it went, which went pretty well. I kind of liked the "enhanced" butterfly design - adding a second echo around his wings and adding antennae most of the time (although I see a few in the pic that don't have them) added a little pizzaz to the butterfly. I'll post again when it's completed... just trimming and binding to go! Yeah! Betsy

Apple Crisp Quilt Done! , a photo by theercs on Flickr. I can hardly believe this is done! The pattern was named Apple Crisp - it hasn't told me what it's real name is going to be yet. I started this at a quilt retreat in September 2002. Wow. I don't know what possessed me to to a ton of quilting on this, but I guess I was inspired by Leah Day's quilting designs. I picked several that had a "center" type design, practiced a little and just went for it! No marking on most. It was actually fun after a while, and turned out pretty well. The border I just kind of winged. The fear factor definitely had so much to do with my ability to quilt! The back was the usual "use it up" method - extra blocks, and two panels that came with the fat quarter stack. So glad to have this one done. The quilting took me 4 days, and I wasn't sure I was going to make it! Judy's UFO Challenge is working. Yeah! Betsy

Quilting in Action a photo by theercs on Flickr. One of the great up-sides of spray basting (my new favoritest way of basting a quilt) is that there aren't any pins to remove as you go, which always get in my way, and often get sewed over. I learned this cool method from Patsy Thompson's website ... it's been a life saver, and a back saver! It's Beginner Video 2. Maybe this will help you too! Betsy

Well, I've kept up with the Judy's UFO Challenge for 2 whole months in a row! We'll see how it goes down the road, but that's pretty good, for me! I started this quilt in February of 2005 (it should take 6 years to finish a quilt, right? - and it's not even the oldest one). My quilt group did a mystery quilt - a Debbie Caffrey pattern . It was "Undercover Houston V." (Oh, now I've spilled the beans on the mystery!) It was fun to do this together as a group - each person's quilt is so different ! I finished the top years ago, but as usual, got stalled at the quilting part, and put it in the "to be quilted" basket. Even on this quilt I got my sewing room all set up for quilting (table extension out, Juki out, bobbins loaded, iPod ready), and then was the living room doing something very "important" on my computer. My husband observed "You don't like this part, do you." I think avoidance is a great tactic! I gue

Baby Boy Quilt Originally uploaded by theercs OK... for the Judy's UFO Challenge I got out my #6 quilt to do the quilting. When I put it up on the quilt wall to mull over quilting designs, it had totally wavy borders. Very weird, because I'm usually fairly careful about that. Well, due to weeks of illness, etc., I ran out of time to get that one repaired and quilted, so I opted for still completing one that was a bit easier. This one was already basted, and needed for the church babies soon, so I was able to complete it at our Quilt Retreat at Seabeck Conference Center . We had such a wonderful weekend, and it was fun to accomplish a few things! I also did the repairs on the original #6, so I should be able to get that one quilted soon as well! So, off to an OK start on my UFO completion goals! And a fun retreat to boot! Hopefully I can keep it up!