Wild Olive

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  (why do I not have any pictures of this one?) 7. Courthouse Steps            8. Emily's Scraps charmed baby quilt