I’m delighted to report UFO progress in June!
Several years ago a friend gave me her mother’s scrapbag full of many tiny pieces from the days of sewing clothing for her family. I added a few other vintage fabrics and stitched a lap-sized Irish Chain quilt top.
When I learned that my friend was moving away I decided to finish the quilt for her to take along. The white spaces seemed to call out for a bit of feather quilting.
I received the gift of a bag of scraps – not just any old scraps, but African ones! My sister had the opportunity to shop in a market in Uganda. She purchased yardage of some fabrics but was also able to buy some small pieces. She said the vendors were puzzled at her request, but they scooped up the bits from the floor of the stall and let her have her choice.
Such fun to read the selvages! This sent me to the internet to find out a bit more about these fabrics. I was amazed to learn that these “real African fabrics” have a very complicated and international origin. Here is one interesting article I found.
I was at first reluctant to wash these precious bits – what if they shrank, faded, were ruined? Then I realized that these were scraps from making CLOTHING, for goodness sake! They were meant to be washed. I washed them gently by hand and hung them outside to dry. They came out beautifully, except for one piece that melted when I ironed it. I guess we find polyester even in Africa!
In the process I discovered a few things about wooden clothes pegs! I found there were at least 6 different kinds in my peg bucket. I’ve had most of them for many years, some were my mother’s. I know the smaller (cleaner!) ones are new. I was surprised at the variety of sizes and shapes of holes and the different types of springs.
Now my head is full of ideas for using my treasures.
My UFO for the month of May is my version of Bonnie Hunter’s 2011 Mystery quilt, Orca Bay. This is really my kind of quilt – lots of piecing, all from scraps, and any piece larger than about 2 1/2” is string pieced.
I’ve been working on making these little string pieced units. They are 3 1/2” square – aren’t they cute!
Next task is to make a big pile of black and white half square triangle units – these need to be 2” square. I’ll be digging deep into my hoard of black and white fabrics.
The Orca Bay UFO will NOT be completed during the month of May! But I have finished another quilt that was on the list.
This hexagon quilt was my very first Stack ‘n Whack project. The fabric is Summertime, by Debbie Mumm, so that gives you an idea of how old it might be. The top has been used as a sample for many classes over the years, but it was time to get it finished.
I added the last border and did the quilting. The binding is on and just needs to be stitched down, and then I’ll have a quilt ready to donate to a good cause.
All done, even the binding! (The label will have to wait until a destination is finalized.)
This quilt was started many years ago in a naive attempt to “use up all the scraps”. When I pulled it out a few months ago there was a note and a sketch, so I was able to see at a glance what was required to complete the top. The note was dated 1997. That means these fabrics were the ones that were old and I wanted them gone – fifteen years ago! As I studied the top I realized that I still have bits of quite a few of these fabrics in my present collection – perhaps it is time for some serious stash-busting!!
Here is the Scrappy Braid quilt in all its asymmetrical splendour. As I stitched the columns together, quilted it, bound it, I enjoyed those (old) fabrics all over again. And it was with a great sense of accomplishment that I wrote FINISHED beside this one on my list for this year.
We still don’t have much in the way of colour around here – was that SNOW I walked through the other day???
So I’ve hung this quilt in the entry way to brighten our days.
And take a look at this! Eleanor served us the sweetest Easter treats at Sew Scrappy Club last week – strawberry tarts and chocolate nests. They were almost too pretty to eat!
Nearly done! But since my goal is to complete this as a challenge project that is due this summer, I have plenty of time to finish up the binding.
This is an OLD project. The fabrics are vintage – from the 50s. I assembled the piece at least 20 years ago, and it has been waiting ever since to be completed. I think the solid black fabric is a polyester blend. (I either didn’t know the difference back then or I didn’t have any black cotton.)
I backed it with muslin, added a scrap of lovely wool batting, and did some hand quilting. Please don’t look at my stitches too closely.
So many gray days lately! Surely spring will turn up eventually.
I’ve hung this shamrock in my entry way. It was a project from Scrappy Club this month, and I’m proud of having it finished in time for St. Patrick’s Day.
