Have you ever been tempted….

…to leave out one of the ingredients in a recipe?  Baking soda – the recipe calls for only a teaspoon or so, and the stuff doesn’t even taste good!
I had the first pan of cookies in the oven when I realized what I’d done.  Too late for that batch.  I hurriedly mixed baking soda into the remaining dough.  Was quite amazed at the results!


The duds weren’t wasted.  My son said they tasted fine, and I notice they have all since disappeared. 

Another UFO off the list!

 

June’s UFO bore the title “Ugly Blocks”.  This project began with a challenge on Stashbusters group to make a sampler as a BOM using an ugly fabric from the stash.  My ugly fabric is one of those 36” wide prints from years gone by – nice quality fabric, but I really don’t like the brown!  I made only two blocks before realizing I wasn’t going to keep up with the project, but I kept the blocks and fabrics together.  Then when I needed some samples for a class using the Creative Curves rulers I dipped into the same set of fabrics and added a few more blocks to the collections. 

Six blocks do not make a very large quilt, so I had to increase the size with sashing and borders.  When I saw the cheerful Scrappy Spiderweb over on  Kathy’s Quilts blog I was reminded of much fun a piano keys type border can be.  I think it frames these blocks and brings out the colours nicely.  The top is 46” by 64” now – this would make a respectable lap quilt, or it could be donated to our Prayer Quilts group.  I’m not finishing it at this point, but it will be added to the pile of Useful Tops. 

 

Preemie Puzzle Quilts

Guild member did a fantastic job with the Preemie Mystery Quilt project!  Take a look at the finished projects in this album. 

Lone Star finished

Chris has shared this picture of a quilt she started in a workshop I taught a few years ago.   It has been finished in time to be presented to a very special young lady on the occasion of her graduation from high school. 
Don’t the colours glow beautifully against the dark background?  And the Broken Star setting makes a lovely frame.
A gorgeous quilt.  I’m sure it will be treasured. 

May’s UFO is done

It is wonderful to check another item off the list!

This was made with blocks and fabric left over from a previous project.  Instead of a bag of odd blocks and bits to do something with someday, I have the top of a baby quilt ready to give whenever it is needed.  This is not quilted yet – I’ll wait to see if I want to play up the pink or emphasize the blue when I choose backing and binding.

Quilt in a week!

My sister arrived for a visit, bringing with her the extra large suitcase I'd told her would be needed to take back a quilt that was promised long ago. But.... the fabric still looked like this!

 

A week later, thanks to many helping hands, it looked like this:

Actually, the quilt was designed and constructed the other way up, but I think it looks good from this angle, too. 

The quilt fit nicely inside the suitcase and the bag was JUST within the weight limits for the trip home.  The recipient has expressed her approval.  We are all proud of our “One Week, One Block Wonder.” 

Finished – April’s UFO!

I was delighted when the UFO drawn for April turned out to be this little project. This was made with strips received in an exchange at guild last fall.  I’m not thrilled with the way I used the strips, but decided it was better to get them made into something than to leave them sitting around waiting for the perfect inspiration to use them.
How simple this would be! – it just needed a border, then it could be quilted and bound – perfect project for a busy month.   
But it wasn’t quite as easy as I thought.
It took a while to find where I’d put the rest of the blue fabric for the border.  I was relieved that there was just enough to miter the stripe to match the centre!
And my machine balked a bit at the thread I used for quilting.  Worked fine once I tweaked my settings a little, but that took a while.
Then I realized that the tiny scallop in the print wasn’t navy blue as I thought, but black.  Quandary – navy binding?  or black?  I finally went with the navy because the black seemed too harsh.  (Bet you can’t even tell from the photo!)
Then I had to block the piece to have that little printed stripe running nice and straight down the sides.  And I had to stitch the binding on from the back so it could be turned to the front – I wanted it to just touch the scallop-y bit.
I still think it’s an odd little piece, but it’s DONE DONE, and it turned out well.  It looks great on the small table in my sewing room.