August’s UFO…

I had super momentum going at the beginning of the year, but I’ve slowed down a bit…  Now I consider any finish an accomplishment!!!  This is the 1 UFO (Un-finished Object) I completed this month.  (Technically I had it all done this spring except for the binding and bling.  Now it’s ready to hang at Quilt Fest!)

“Simply Splendid”

I created this quilt using 12 Disappearing Hourglass blocks.  I added a plain square center and then set the whole kit and kaboodle on point.  Simple!  I did computerized stars inside the blocks, and then couched a cream yarn with metallic gold thread around the outside of the stars.  All of the pebbles on this were painted by hand using a gold metallic acrylic paint mixed 2:1 with Textile Medium.  I quilted the triangle-scroll shapes using computerized quilting, and came back into the shapes with free-motion.  I had to turn the quilt sideways on the long arm to fit all of the scroll triangles on it.  I used computerized quilting along the edge, again free-motioning and ruler work inside and around the shapes.  I couched the same yarn on the inside points of the edge treatment.  Not shown here are over 1000 sparklies!  (Gold of course!)  I love the way the light hits it!

I think I must have been a Magpie or Raven in another life…

It’s going to make it’s first official appearance at UQG’s Quilt Fest.

Thanks for visiting!!!

Another month gone… July’s finish!

As some of you may know, I belonged to a group on flickr called “The Bitty Block Committee” or BBC for short.  I have over a thousand 3 inch blocks from swapping there 5+ years!  (Yes, I joined in almost every swap!)  While I didn’t officially add them to my UFO list for the UQG UFO Challenge, there are several sets that I have partially sewn into mini quilt tops.  This happens to be one of them!  I always joined in with Halloween swaps.  (Who can resist?!  They are so fun!!!)  Thanks to all of my friends in the BBC who contributed blocks to this fun little quilt!  And thanks to Nannette aka “Nanotchka” for the center “I spy Halloween”!  I used my Scan and Cut 2 for the bats and corner cut outs around the edges.  Fun machine!  Thanks for visiting!!!

June UFO finishes!

Well here it is that time of the month again!  I had a very productive month this month even though I managed to squeeze in a vacation… 

These are my first three finishes…  The one on the left was a Civil War mini I started in a class many years ago in the UQG’s annual meeting taught by Donna Starley.  It demonstrated how the same blocks looked totally different by where you used color placement.  I needed to border quilt and bind it.  Ta da!  Done!  The center mini quilt was given to me as a gift from my friend Denise…  Isn’t it pretty?  I got it quilted and bound.  And last but not least in the picture is a paper pieced bird I made a long time ago from the book “Backyard Birds”.  Even those these 3 quilts are mini, I quilted them the way I would quilt a large quilt. 

I bought these vintage blocks when I attended the “Dear Jane” retreat in Shipshewana, Indiana many years ago.  I was leery to do anything with them until I saw some vintage quilts machine quilted at UQSM last year.  They were beautiful!  I sashed/bordered them with linen and quilted them using some more traditional patterns.  I hope the gal who created them is looking down pleased that her handiwork is finished!

Poukie and Milo had to help hold this one down for the picture!  I had this one all done for a couple of years except for the binding.  This UFO Challenge has been great to get me going on my stacks of quilts that just needed bindings.  The bad part is that they’re all done now, so my finishes should slow down a lot.  Oh well!  I still have oodles of UFO’s to work on!!!

Here’s my final finish!  This one took a lot more work to get to this place…  It was simply a stack of blocks that I received in an online swap several years ago.  The group was called “Traveling Threads” and we mailed out fabric packs to everyone in the group.  When it was our month to be the “Queen” they made 2 blocks with our fabrics and sent them back to us.  These were the blocks that I received…  My theme was “Anything you might see in a Garden”  My colors were a little bland, but I still love this quilt!  Pink and green has always been a favorite color combination…  Thanks to the ladies who participated!!!

 

Thanks to all who have visited!  I hope to see you again next month!  Smooches, and happy sewing!

My UFO finishes for May…

As you probably remember, I was pretty bummed not to finish any UFO’s last month…  (In the Utah Quilt Guild, we have been challenged to finish as many UFO’s as possible this year.  My personal goal is to finish half of my counted UFO’s, which is 30 of 60!  A UFO is an “Un- Finished Object”.)

Last month wasn’t exactly stellar, but I did manage to finish 2!  (Plus I’ve made oodles of progress on about 4 more…)

I completed this one in the nick of time!  It was made up with 25 3 inch blocks I received last year from members of Layton Quilt Guild for being President…  I added the green blocks to give it an “Irish Chain” look.  Yay for finish 1!

My next finish is from a billion years ago.  Or maybe 15?  Long time!!!  It’s my Christmas Sew and Save quilt.  I had started doing some applique and embroidery on it and stalled out as the metallic thread I was using wasn’t terribly soft.

Oh well…  I unpicked a small section that I had barely started and quilted some motif in there…  Bwahahaha.  No idea what, and I’m too lazy to look!

And “Ta Da!”  All done!

 

Here’s the back so you can see what I like to do with left-overs!

Thanks for visiting!!!  See you all next month!

Smooches…

 

For all my bird loving, quilter friends out there…

One of our quilters in the Utah Quilt Guild taught a 3 dimensional Bald Eagle using little scraps of fabric.  My friend challenged me to make one using one of my owl photos as a pattern and this is what I came up with!

This is “Simon” and is a Western Screech Owl…  We’re making this at Roy Quilt Guild in July.  Fun technique!!!

Here it is the end of the month, and I have nada!

Well, my quilting business has been going like gang busters, but in the meanwhile, I don’t have any finished UFO’s this month!  Wah!!!!

At least I’ve made progress on a few…  No pictures until they’re finished!  Thanks for visiting squat, nada, zip, zilch, zero, etc.

I’m attending UQSM, so I’ll have a little to post later this week!  Smooches friends!

March’s UFO’s…

It’s been another super busy month here for me!  I have been quilting like a mad woman in addition to finishing more UFO’s.  (Not to mention starting a few new ones!  LOL!)  I suppose if I don’t start more than I finish that’s good, right?!

This is a block swap I did in Layton Quilt Guild a few years ago…  It was only to the “block” stage.  Now it’s done!

I took this class from Linda Poole at UQG Quilt Fest the year before last.  It just needed final borders, the nest applied, and quilted…  Another finish!  Woot!  Woot!

This quilt was designed by my friend Emily at Aunt Em’s quilts…  I had to finish my tree border and then quilt and bind this one.  Gosh it feels good to get some of these UFO’s done…

I started this quilt many moons ago…  I call it my “seizure quilt”, as I sewed the dresdens down by hand while hanging out near my son’s school waiting for him to maybe have a seizure.  I am glad those days are mostly gone!  He’s been pretty stable the last few years…  Milo had to make an appearance, just for fun!

This is another quilt that Emily designed…  I didn’t use enough value contrast so there it sat unfinished!  Finally got back to it and got it quilted…

This one isn’t an official UFO as it isn’t quilted and so didn’t meet the requirement of the Utah Quilt Guild’s UFO Challenge this year…  That said, it was still a UFO for me, so I finished it!  (It just needed the screws put back in to hold the seat and backing in place.)

(Yep, that another UFO on the design wall behind it!)

I’m bringing my boy home for a visit for Easter, and so I’ll have to put my design wall away and pull out the Murphy bed!

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you all have a Happy Easter and enjoy Spring!!!

Another month of UFO’s Completed!

As I probably mentioned last month, the Utah Quilt Guild is encouraging it’s members to finish their UFO’s this year.  That means completely finished!  I went through my UFO’s and found about 60.   (Not including bitty blocks…  😉  )  My personal goal this year is to complete about 1/2 of them.  Last month I finished 6, while this month I only completed 4.  (But I did make significant progress on a couple of others as well!)

Here they are:

As some of you remember, myself and 3 of my online besties swapped “Wonky House at Night” blocks for 1 year. Silvana, Soma, Sandy and I were the 4 participants!  We each made 4 blocks each month…  1 for ourselves, and 1 for the other 3 swappers.  That gave us a total of 48 house blocks.  I wanted mine to be a little bit bigger, so I made an additional 51 blocks for a nice uneven 99 blocks.  A little star sashing, and it’s finished!  I missed quilting 1 tree.  Shhhhhhh…  Don’t tell!  Anyhow, here is our fun little group project!  Thank you ladies!!!!!  You rock!

This one needed binding and it’s done!  So fun!  (I did a scrappy binding if you can see along the edge…)

“Kaffe meets Kim”  Haha!  This one was made using mostly Kaffe fabrics (plus my hand dyed yellow) and was designed by Kim Diehl.  I love this one!  It needed binding as well..

And last, but not least, here is a quilt top that I bought at my friend Denise’s yard sale.  It still qualified as a UFO, so it went on my list.  It needed to be quilted and bound and here it is finished!

4 for this month!!!  I am really loving all of these finishes!  Thanks for joining me!

 

Two more quick finishes before the end of January!!!

2 more quick finishes for the Utah Quilt Guild’s UFO challenge for this year!

This is my 2017 Kaffe and Friends quilt taught by Kaye Evans…  I added some solids and a few hand dyed fabrics to make it more “me”!  Milo definitely approves and he thinks my little folk art bird design block looks good enough to eat…  😉  This one needed binding!

I find myself adding bird blocks/quilting to everything I make these days!  (For some reason…)  Again, my center block features my folk art bird surrounded by a floral vine.  Funny story…  I started this design at Winter Quilt retreat last year at Bryce.  (Thanks for the memories Bonnie!)  I needed a circle to trace so I could start my vine design.  There were some big lamp shades on the lamps by the pool.  I took one off and drew a big circle from the bottom and a little circle from the top of the lamp shade, and then drew my circle in between the two sizes.  It worked out perfectly!  (Then I may have put the lamp shade on my head for good measure.  You know, everyone’s a comic…  And added a little song and dance for my friends!) This one needed binding finished.  I did this one by hand and the previous one by machine.

Good to have these 6 quilts finished for January!!!!  Woot!  Woot!

It’s a New Year! And for me, a time to finish some UFO’s…

This year, the Utah Quilt Guild is encouraging it’s members to complete UFO’s every month…  I added up all of my UFO’s (Unfinished Objects) and have found that I have at least 59 in all stages of completion.  (If I don’t count all of the Bitty Blocks I have in my bag…)  I have challenged myself to complete half of them this year.  Yup!  That’s right!  30 UFO’s by New Year’s Eve…  That said, I had better get busy!

Above is a quilt that was all finished except for the binding…  Done!

This little quilt just needed a binding as well…  I won’t move along as fast when my bindings are done!

This one needed binding as well…  I stitched this one on by hand.  The other two were done by machine.  Thanks to my buddy Susie for teaching me how to do it so it looks nice!

This little beauty was made by my friend LaRae D.  We did a swap, but she gave me 2 little appliqued tops in exchange for one completed mini.  This one had been waiting for me to get to it for a while…  If you look at this picture closely, you can see “pokeys” in the outer border.  (Places where the white thread was pulled up from the back.)  Tension issues.  Here’s a little tip…  I will take a black Micron pen to each of those little white dots.  Ta da!  It will work like a charm!  Done!!!

This one isn’t a UFO, but is part of the final swap being held on flickr at the Mini QT Swap…  Still needs some finish work.  The pattern is called, “Open Wide” by “ByAnnie.com”  It’s a cute little bag!  Well, I have a few more finishes to get done by the end of  the month.  I’ll try to be better about posting!

😉 Ruthiequilts