Wild Olive

 12/19/23

I finished this huge (and I mean huge!) courthouse steps quilt top a really long time ago. Years. But I've been afraid to quilt it. I'm doing my UFO challenge, and we really need a quilt for our new bed,  as the comforter is just getting way too hot. Time to take on the big one! I guess once I finish this, I'll feel a little invincible - for a few minutes anyway. I decided on an all over pattern, as I could do that a little easier than a fancy pattern - I'll learn that on something smaller! 

I've finished a couple of things! This first one was a kit form the quilt shop in Sisters, OR - a Christmas gift from my generous sister-in-law in 2005! It's actually been quilted for almost 2 years and I finally just finished the binding. Not sure what the holdup was... I also finished my UFO Challenge #2 quilt - the Hawaiian squares quilt! I bought the charm pack (WAY before they were called that) in 2002 at a shop called Comfy Quilts down in University Place, near Tacoma and the Gig Harbor bridge. I made the top in 2009, and just finally finished it now... after several different iterations of the border. Only 12 years from start to finish... perfect! And the back... Turned out fine! And because I'm trying to meet a deadline for giving this quilt away, I did a machine binding! That went OK too... reasonably tidy, which is good for me! I washed the quilt, and it was fine... but I took it out of the dryer damp. One of the red fabrics decided to bleed after the...

Well, I finally got this quilt (my March UFO) basted! If I hadn't have put it in a list and drawn its number, this never would have happened!

This was the Quilty Fun Blog Tour block this week - mittens! What a fun quilt! Still working on the Hawaiian quilt - I've got the back done... batting is relaxing as we speak. Hope to get it basted today... maybe even start quilting? We'll see. And I "finished" 4 more UFO's this week! I gave away one of my Shop Hop collections to a friend, and dismantled 3 others into fabric for the scrap bin! Kind of refreshing to have less to do! Betsy

I may have to have a new plan for my hawaiian quilt. I don't really care for the borders that are actually on the quilt ... why I didn't do them more like this pic? Now that it needs so much changing, I can't decide if it should stay on the list... I was hoping to just work on things that needed quilting. I also finished a quilt tonight! Or actually just checked a quilt off my UFO list. I had squares I thought I might do a 2nd similar quilt. However, tonight the squares for that just became the back of this quilt! Perfect! I did finish my Quilty Fun sew along spools tonight!

I didn't do any quilting challenges last year. However, I feel like it really does help. It motivates me to have a goal, but it also really is nice to have friends to go along with! I'm doing this UFO (UnFinished Object) Challenge with my church quilt group - I love these women! We decided to choose 10 UFO's each - one for each month from now until the end of the year. Of course I couldn't seem to just pick 10. I have 17 that are at the point of needing quilted, or very close to that. I think some were on my 2011 and 2012 UFO lists. Ugh. It'd be so nice to have them done! Here's my list this year: 1. 5" Bohemian charm pack            2. 6” Hawaiian squares            3. Baby faces quilt for church babies            4. Boy Toys Baby            5. Bright Valori Wells Flowers            6. Coffee Quilt  (wh...

I feel like I've been in a funk for so long! But our January quilt retreat really jump started me again. I actually want to quilt! And I've got this one almost done... Just the binding to tack down. It's for my parents friend that had a baby recently.

I was reading a post on Crazy Mom Quilts which really made me reflect on how grateful that someone took the time to teach me to quilt. Back in about 1996 (which seems like an eternity ago now), Mo Newman took an interest in the quilt top I had of my great grandmothers. She made it come alive like I couldn't believe! She loved to imagine what women's lives were like back then (it was a 30's quilt) and what may have inspired them to quilt, and what they got out of quilting. I got a glimpse into my personal history, and I just ate it up! She also introduced me to a group of ladies that were as crazy as she was about quilting, who are still my quilting buddies today. Who would have thought that so many women were into this "obscure" craft? And hardly any of them were "old ladies!" :-) Mo's introduction to quilting changed my life! I've had zillions of hobbies over the years, but quilting seems ingrained in me like no other pastime has been. I...

Whew! I volunteered to do the quilting on this quilt a year or so ago... finally it's done! The batting is Hobbs 80/20 - quilting done on my Juki TL98Q. Thread is my favorite - King Tut! This will go to our babies dedicated at church - we give them one at their dedication service. The quilt was actually pieced by quilters from our church quilt group - Cherice and Lori did the majority of the work on this one! Nice use of flannel scraps ladies! Here's a close-up of the quilting.

Well! First finish of the year! I'm glad Judy over at Patchwork Times picked a small quilt ... I'm sooo out of practice. Here's a picture of the back, where you can see the quilting a little better. But don't look too close! Several ladies in my quilt group want to UFO along with me... should be fun!

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