Buggy Barn UFO

 

My UFO for July started the month as a pile of blocks.  These were made when a group of friends decided to get together for a “Buggy Barn Day”.  We chose our patterns and our fabrics and enjoyed a day of stacking, cutting, and sewing.  I chose the Folk Art Flowers pattern and selected a pile of country red, blue and brown fabrics.  I managed to include a few pieces of recycled shirts in the collection. 

In July I sewed the blocks together and used the leftover fabrics to make borders.  I am eager to get this one quilted, but I am waiting until I decide where it will be going.  . 

The weather has been very hot here – which makes staying inside and sewing an attractive alternative to being out in the heat of the day.  The Orca Bay top has benefitted from this extra sewing time.  I’ve made good headway on getting the blocks sewn together.  Here is a peek at how it is turning out.

Not sure when this one might be finished, but it is exciting to see all those pieces finally coming together.

Technorati Tags: UFO challenge,Buggy Barn,Orca Bay

Thread spools

 

Have you ever thought about how many different kinds of thread spools there are?  If you had asked me, I probably would have guessed there might be, maybe, a dozen different kinds.  Because there are different sizes of spools and different kinds of thread.  Yep, a dozen kinds should be lots.

I have been working on finishing up odd spools lately, and as I empty a spool I set it on the windowsill by the sewing machine.  When I added another spool to the row today I realized that the twelve lined up there were all different.  I was intrigued by the variety, so I scooped them up and took a picture.

Don’t they look good!  There are a couple of really old wooden ones, some 100 yard and 150 yard Gutermann spools, Mettler (small and large), a couple of “exotic” ones, plus the straight core out of something that I can’t remember, and the cardboard centre from my last cone of CanSew  cotton. 

Looking at them made me wonder if I had any more different ones.  I dug through the box of empty spools. There are always quite a few spools around because I keep them until I find someone who wants them .  Once I  donated them to be used them for crafts at Sunday School, and another time I heard of a fifth grade teacher that wanted some for her students to build bridges with.  They always find a home eventually.

I was astonished at how many different ones were lurking in the box.  There are 31 in this picture.  (Don’t they look like people lined up for a photo at a family reunion?)

After I took the picture I realized there are others that aren’t represented here – some different sized cones that I use on the longarm, and those stocky cones that YLI invisible thread comes on, and, oh yes, some different ones that embroidery threads come on. 

I wonder if I can find a spot to keep these, all lined up, and see how many more I can add to the collection. 

Technorati Tags: spools

Web site featuring African fabrics

 

Kitambaa designs has a new web site!

Take a look here: Kitambaa designs

You get a glimpse of the lives of a group of creative African women, and lots of inspiration.  You can purchase African fabrics or buy items made in Africa.

 

Technorati Tags: Kitambaa,African fabrics

June’s UFO completed!

 

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.

Technorati Tags: scraps,Irish Chain,quilting,UFO Challenge

Scraps!

 

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.

That one on the right with the largest hole worked perfectly on the dowels of the wooden drying rack.  The newer ones with the smaller holes are probably designed for use on a regular clothes line – didn’t fit the dowels at all.

 

 

 

 

 

Now my head is full of ideas for using my treasures.

Technorati Tags: African fabrics,clothes pegs

UFO progress

 

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!

I needed 72 of these and am proud to say that they are all made – at last!  I had to resort to all sorts of trickery to get myself to sit down and sew these – as they were made I would bundle them into groups of ten and let myself add to my tally, and I rewarded myself with breaks to check email and such.  I think what makes them hard is that there are so many decisions to be made!   It would be simpler if my scraps were larger, but I am using up some tiny pieces (too precious to waste, you know!). 

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.

Technorati Tags: UFO challenge,Stack 'n Whack

UFO complete for April

 

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. 

Technorati Tags: UFO challenge,scrap quilt