Making Progress on UFO's

Last week I finished quilting my very old UFO. I think I'll name it Nine Squares, because that is what it is. Boom. I have now made the binding and machine stitched it on the trimmed quilt. So I have one more quilting waiting for the binding to be hand stitched.

So I need another hand quilting project....

I pulled out my Glitter (Jen Kingwell) quilt and basted it Sunday. You may remember I used scraps and stash in a controlled color scheme. This is not a big quilt - a nice lap or kids' quilt.

I had the perfect backing fabric in my stash! It wasn't quite wide enough, so I did a bit of creative piecing to make it work.

A skinny piece of orange brought the backing together to make it the right size. Glitter will be easy to quilt because I won't have to mark it - just straight lines sewn along the seams. I haven't started the quilting yet, but hopefull soon.

I finished the four applique blocks for Mathilde and started the hand pieced block. I spent a few hours Sunday making the first block. BIG mistake. The block is perfect, but I didn't take enough breaks and now my hand is a bit strained. I must have been holding the fabric with my left hand in a deathlock! So I have prescribed rest for my left hand for several days. I've had this condition before and I'll have it again. Overuse without breaks can do it. I have a drugstore hand brace that I pull out and wear once every year or two when this happens. No biggie. 

In a few days, my hand will be fine again and I'll resume my handwork: binding and hand quilting and hand piecing. I have to make TWELVE more of these little pieced blocks.....but next time I'll make one over the course of two or three days instead of speeding through in only one day.

I am able to cut fabric and I can still machine piece with no issues. So nine patches are still flowing. And I trimmed up the Bible blocks I got in the auction. 

This week will be a bit slower in the sewing since I'm taking time off from hand work. And that perfectly fine. I have no deadlines! Enjoy your week.

Midweek Update! And Auction Wins!

The nine patches are still flowing! I spend about 20 minutes each morning making a handful of blocks - I usually average about five blocks per day. Those at the top will be to share and swap with friends. The bottoms are for me, for some future project. In the middle are parts and pieces leftover each day.  As soon as I get 10 in a stack, I take them off the wall and clip them together. By now I've made more than 40 in total, probably more. They add up fast!

Every morning after I finish the day's nine patches, I lay out more strips for tomorrow's nine patches.

Mathilde is coming along, too. I've finished 3 of these flower blocks and I'm working on the last of the group. I think by the weekend I'll be ready for the pieced blocks for this mystery. The magazine (Quiltmania) only comes out every other month. So I have until mid March to finish these.

Every once in awhile, Jo from Jo's Country Junction has an auction to raise money for the community quilts program she runs. She provides quilt tops from various makers to quilters around the country to finish and donate in their area. She uses the money for postage and to buy batting for volunteers. Because of Jo, hundreds of quilts are donated to good causes around the country. 

Jo had a recent auction that had a couple of items I wanted. Above are the Bible blocks. This is a set of 12 embroidered blocks depicting scenes from the Bible. With two young grandchildren, I knew I wanted this set of blocks!

There was already a pretty large bid in place. Hmmm.... What to do? I waited it out and watched. In the last 30 minutes of the auction, I checked in. No more bids had been placed. Well... I upped the bid by $10, deciding that they were worth it.  Boom! Yes, I won the bid. I'm thrilled. This will be a simple quilt with sashing and cornerstones. I'll put it aside for now, but it will be fun to finish it before long.

And then there was this item. a Seven Sisters hand pieced project. I've always wanted to make a Seven Sisters quilt. And you know I love hand work!

There are 45 (!) stars already pieced in these nice  (mostly) civil war prints.

And look! Tons more diamonds already cut and ready to go!

Also included were homemade templates. My heart...be still! This item wasn't quite as popular in the auction, so I didn't have to pay as much. But I'm equally excited about it.

And that's what I've been up to so far this week. I'm only machine sewing a bit in the morning (the nine patches), while Sadie is in preschool. And all handwork happens in the evening on a typical day. 

Last night we went out to dinner with some friends and had a fun time. Busy, busy, busy, but all is well. Enjoy the rest of your week!