A Ticket on the UFO Train

So are we tired of talking about UFOs yet? I'm not! I find myself more and more energized by finishing up these old projects. I can think about new ones (and even start them) with a clear conscience because I know I'm also taking care of old business.

I finished the quilting on this one last night and put the binding on this morning. Another mini, but it was still undone and now it's finished.

I dug through my boxes and picked out a few more hoop projects (so I don't have to move things around to get in them too often) and here is my stack of small projects waiting for their turn.

With a few small projects done recently, my frame quilt is getting attention again. I have the next quilt to go in it marked and ready to baste and the next two picked out. After those I'll be finishing two more already done tops for Christmas presents.

I'm really enjoying these "lazy days of summer." I plan each spring to have a summer like this and it usually doesn't end up happening for a variety of reasons. I'm cherishing every day, knowing that all too soon summer will be over and we'll move on to the busy-ness of the school year.

Have a wonderful, quilty summer day!

Close Encounters of the UFO Kind

I'll admit it. I'm obssessed. Finishing UFO's has become my primary purpose in life. Ok, well that's an exaggeration, but at least the primary purpose in my quilting life.

While adjusting my sewing room yet again (I moved the ironing board to a more convenient place, which also made the storage behind my pressing board more accessible) I dug through the UFO boxes and found quite a few more. Some are placemats and small table runners that I'll be able to finish quickly. I also had a few more antique tops than I realized. I added a label to the outside of the box for each UFO inside, telling myself how good it will feel to rip those babies off as I finish each project, and how emptying those boxes means room for more. It made my drive to finish UFO's even stronger and I attacked the hoop project with renewed vigor.

I finished it this weekend. This was a project that didn't inspire me much in the quilting process, but I really like now that it's all finished. Now to get out the coffee stain! I figure this one will be adopted by a grandchild somewhere down the road (unless Miss Ruthie claims this one, too!)

While labeling boxes I found a couple of very small projects that were pretty close to completion so decided those would be next to be finished. I finished one of them late last night (I was on a roll!) and here she is. Just a single block, but finished nonetheless. I might hang this on the wall at the head of Ruthie's bed.

My next UFO is in the hoop, this time a whole cloth mini. It should only be a few days worth of quilting and I'm already thinking about what will be next. I have the frame projects lined up and ready, I might do the same with the hoop projects as well. Something about seeing that little stack and being able to think about the next one has been really helpful in keeping me on track. By the time I'm finishing one I can hardly wait to get started on the next.

I'm so thankful that I have a nice table to set up my machine. This room was the living room, it's adjacent to our (very casual) dining room and so ideal for when we have company for dinner. The antique oak table that I use for sewing has another leaf (though the second one is rarely in) and around the holidays, the leaf that's in often is removed to make room for our Christmas tree (then the table is round.)

My machine is out almost all the time. It's put away when we have friends for dinner or when our teens have friends in for games and cards (which is becoming frequent of late, soon we'll be installing a revolving door!) My machine case is just in front of the pressing board, which can be seen in the upper right, so it's really easy for me to take down and set up my machine. You can see my regular ironing board to the left, I just moved it from in front of the pressing board as moving around the space was difficult with it there.

One thing I love about having my machine always available is if I need a quick break from handwork I just sit down and go. No set up, no tear down, I can machine sew at a moment's notice.

I promised my older kids homemade chocolate chip cookies to bring on their trip to Six Flags Great America tomorrow. I want to make a serious dent in that wholecloth mini today and I just might pick out the next couple of hoop projects. Since I'm making a triple batch of cookies, that means LOTS of 10 minute increments, just perfect for a bit of ....what else??...quilting.

And so I go.

It Runs In The Family

When I talked about my painting, I said there was a story involved with painting my girls room to be saved for another day. This is the day :)

I had painted their room several years ago, the ceiling lavendar, the walls were also lavendar with a dark purple and a teal sponged on. We did it while my husband was on a hunting trip and I really did most of the work while they helped with odds and ends and kept their younger brother occupied.

Last summer, while Rebekah was on a mission trip, Rachel was wanting to rearrange the furniture in her room. All of her friends were also on the trip, she was too young to go and was bored. I told her we could do that. Then she said "too bad we can't paint." Hmmmm. I thought about that. We considered doing it and started talking about colors.

Ultimately we decided to wait for Rebekah to make sure she also liked the colors and to come up with ideas how to use decorative painting. I told them we could do it, but they'd have to buy the supplies and do the work. My husband was going out of town for a weekend to visit his mom (too expensive a weekend trip for us all to go) so we decided to do it then.

We had made a trip earlier in the week to pick up the paint. They had also done some reorganizing/cleaning out in the room during the week to save time on the weekend. I took my husband to the airport and the car had no sooner cleared our street than the girls were moving the furniture out of their room. When I got back home, they were already priming the walls.

It was a whirlwind weekend. Our town was doing fireworks that Saturday night and we were meeting friends at the park. The painting was actually finished by then, just the decorative painting and moving the furniture back was left.

This isn't the best picture, color wise, but it's close. The orange is less muddy in person and a bright, medium shade of orange. The yellow comes down the wall about a foot, Rebekah freehanded the curve. The speckles are the orange, feather painted on.

The lower part of the walls has some green feather painted on, plus some yellow and orange at the top of the green, the idea being a field of flowers. (The orange is a little more true to color in this picture.)

We had lots of fun with this. We went to the store and bought lace and little flowers to decorate their plain lamps plus flowers to put in the glass base, some orange and yellow flowers and a vase. I found these lone star pieces while looking for fabric that would match in my stash. I had accidentally made extra while making a broken star quilt and I sewed 4 of them together to make this little table cover.

We homeschool and for a few years the kids went to a competition. One of the things Rebekah chose to do was quilt. She already had this quilt made, in fact, we chose colors with this quilt in mind. This quilt is completely hand done, and she did a beautiful job.

I had made the girls purple and white quilts for their beds. Rachels was finished and being used, but Rebekah had already made a quilt with some purple in it and decided she would use that quilt and quilt the top I made herself. It's still in the quilting process, it's what she works on when she feels like quilting but doesn't have something else going.

Rachel needed something new for her bed. Our goal was to be completely finished with the room before my husband got home, so I chose to do this for Rachel. I finished Sunday afternoon and by Sunday night, their room was finished.

All put together with it's little accents, it reminded me of a room you might find in an island resort. They had great fun doing it and kept it a surprise from everyone. They were so excited each time a different friend came over because they got to show off their handiwork and creativity all over again.

It's going to be hot and humid here today, I'm hunkering down for a day of quilting in the a/c. I'm trying my hand at making Jambalaya and am hoping for a relaxing day.

Happy quilting!

Miscellaneous Meanderings

The best laid plans and all that jazz....by the time I picked up a needle yesterday it was late afternoon. After the shopping trip, I put the vinyl over the cloth on the swing table. In the course of these projects, I'd used the last of the staples from my staple gun. I bought the staple gun quite some time ago, it was a very light duty one with plastic casing. I've been having trouble finding staples for it. Last time I needed some I did find some that fit, this time the ones I bought didn't. ugh. So I could go back and try another size staples or replace the gun...which is what I chose to do, knowing I'd have an easier time finding staples in the future.

Also on this shopping trip I picked up a few silk flowers for my porch. In the morning hours, my porch is shaded and a nice place to sit. In the spring and fall, when the air is still cool, I sit out there in the afternoon when it's warmed by the sun. I had this all set up last summer, but with work on the house and various other things, our porch became a drop off spot for various things. That drove me crazy! So I took my porch back and spruced it up. Here is the final result....not fancy, but a comfortable place to sit and sew or read or just watch the world go by.

I have a friend who designs quilt patterns. She needs testers for them to make sure her directions make sense, there are no typos, etc. I often do this for her, it's a nice little diversion from my usual work. She usually either sends me fabric or sends me a fabric allowance to shop for myself.

While I was out, I looked for a focus fabric that might work (this pattern has some fussy cut squares on it) and found one on a clearance table. Also there was a beautiful yellow. I love yellow and nice yellows are sometimes hard to find. I bought what was left on the bolt (5 yards) and happily came home with my purchases. Here are the fabrics pulled so far for this project, I still need to search for a couple more in my stash.

So while I didn't get as much quilting done as I'd planned, I did feel like I accomplished quite a bit. The plan for today is to do a couple of loads of laundry, keep the dishes done so I don't end up with a huge mess tonight, and do general sprucing up...but mostly to quilt. So far only my little ones are up and that seems like a doable plan.

The fragrance from my cup of coffee is wafting toward me, and I can hardly wait to get the needle in my hand so off I go. May your day be as quilty as I hope mine to be!

Motivation

How do you find some?

My last few days have been busy with non-quilting things. Monday I built tables and quilted a bit in the evening. Tuesday I did some getting ready for 4th of July company and did a tiny bit of quilting and yesterday I did something nearly unheard of in my house...I didn't quilt at all.

I woke up today feeling rather uninspired. I'm tired. I have to go grocery shopping before I do anything else. Because of how little quilting time I've had in the last few days, my plan was to spend as much time as possible today and tomorrow quilting. Then I remembered the shopping and deflated a bit. I lay in bed this morning disappointed as I thought "I don't really feel like quilting" but knowing that I really WANTED to feel like it.

I started thinking about how much is left on my current hoop project. I felt the inspiration creeping up on me. If I spend a fair amount of quilting time today, I could possibly get the inside done and only have the border left to do. That would mean another UFO done by the weekend...and choosing another to work on. Inspiration is becoming more pronounced now.



I thought about the books I looked through yesterday between chores and dessert making. I thought of the window seat that I was inspired to build looking through them and all the ideas swirling around for more quilts. Inspiration is beginning to make me smile and feel more ready for my day.

I remembered that I decided on deli fried chicken for dinner today (I make menus before I shop) figuring I wouldn't feel like much cooking after the last couple of days....and now inspiration is surging through me. Rather than a looming chore ahead, grocery shopping is now feeling more like a blip in my day and a way to organize my thoughts and days ahead.

I also remembered that my nearly 7 year old, the one most likely to say "I'm bored" and "I have nothing to do" has a playdate scheduled this afternoon. I checked the Cubs schedule and there is a game on at 6:00 tonight. Our 4 older kids will be gone for the evening by then, Lucas will be happy to play the PS2 game his brother accidentally rented and Miss Ruthie is usually content to wander back and forth between whoever happens to be home and is pretty good at keeping herself occupied. I really enjoy quilting during baseball games (I spent many a childhood afternoon in my Dad's lap watching baseball and I'm a diehard Cubs fan.) Inspiration is now making it difficult for me to sit in this seat and anxious to get going.

When it comes to quilting, I find I can motivate myself pretty easily. The visuals all around me (there are quilts and quilting everywhere in my house) and ticking off in my head what projects are in the works or just ahead is often enough to get the inspiration flowing, which is what has happened today.

I woke up feeling like I didn't want to get out of bed and afraid that tomorrow night I'd be kicking myself for wasting these two days of anticipated quilting time...and now I can hardly wait to begin my day.

And so I will! Happy quilting!

Pressing On

I've had in mind for a while to make a larger pressing surface, for when I have yardage or quilt tops to press. Usually I don't have time to execute my ideas right away and that's often a good thing. This idea evolved a bit during the wait time and I'm really happy with how it came out.

The surface is 54 x 48, covered with a double layer of batting and has muslin on top. I put little braces at each corner underneath so it wouldn't slide when on the table top.

It doubles as a design board, when upright it's a nice size to play around with blocks, patterns, etc. When not in use, it stands up in front of some of the storage boxes, making that area somewhat neater.

In the course of making the pressing surface, since I had the wood and saws out anyway, I also made two tables. (I'm the 'handyman' in the house, I have a table saw, cordless drill and my own toolbox with pink-handled tools.)

One of the tables was for the porch, this area still needs a couple of chairs and a vase of red, white and blue flowers for the table. Ruthie loves to be outside, so I need a place to sit and sew wherever we are. Sometimes it's nice to just sit on the porch and watch the world go by.

My favorite spot to sew in the summer time is my swing out in the backyard. I built this table so I have somewhere put my sewing supplies and something to drink. Before that, I would set the supplies down next to me, but they took space Ruthie often wanted to be in. The backyard table still needs a vinyl cover for the surface, it will protect the fabric from the elements and any food and drink placed there.

Last night, with hands sore from sawing and drilling I enjoyed my little spot in the yard, firepit blazing, quilt in hand, Ruthie giggling beside me. A little piece of heaven, right in my own backyard.

Another One Bites The Dust.....

but I think some are multiplying while in storage!

I organized my sewing room about a month ago, but after two days of sorting, resorting and replacing everything between my bedroom and my sewing room, one corner of my sewing room got neglected. Though there is a pile of storage and baskets, I knew what was in the corner and it wasn't horribly messy looking so there it sat.

Saturday it was time to dive into those boxes as they are where my partially quilted quilts are stored as well as the finished tops. While I was digging for the next project, I labeled the boxes with my nifty new Brother labelmaker so next time around I can choose a project without going through all the boxes. When I finish a quilt I can peel off it's label, when I add a new top I can add it's label.

I had fun in those boxes. I visited some tops I hadn't seen in a while. I had a few in there that didn't really excite me, but found they gained some charm while out of sight for a while. I found two that will make perfect Christmas gifts for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, whose names we have for gift giving this year. I'm not only saved the time to piece...but will finish two extra UFO's as well!

The thing that surprised me most is that I had quite a few more tops than I remembered. It made me more determined than ever to pound away at those UFO's and get them down to a more reasonable number.

Saturday afternoon I finished another UFO. This one was in my hoop, so I found a new hoop project. I put the last stitch in my binding sitting outside on my swing so I laid it out in front of me on the grass. Ruthie (our youngest) promptly ran over and claimed it, laying down on it and asking for her binky. A few minutes later, she was sound asleep on my swing, covered in her newly claimed quilt.

So now I've chosen a new hoop project. This one has been picked up and set down many times, for various reasons. It's now in the hoop until completion as I continue my quest to finish more old projects than new ones I start. So far this year I've finished two table runners, a table topper, the balloon quilt and four larger quilts. I was afraid of burning out at this point, but I find myself energized, wanting to find as much quilting time as possible as I see quilt after quilt bound and done.

Here is a better view of the balloon quilt.

First thing this morning I checked the weather channel. It's going to be another gorgeous day here in northern Illinois. A perfect day to quilt outside. And so I go.