Finished Just Under the Wire

So, if you check out that little "UFO Challenge" list along the right side of the page, the one where I was supposed to finish one UFO per month this year, you might notice that I haven't finished one since, oh, March or so... but good news! I just finished my September challenge quilt, with barely a moment to spare.

This quilt started out early in 2009, as a mystery quilt with Hugs from Helen. I remember being super excited to find all the fabrics I needed right in my stash. They weren't "perfect," but they worked. They looked bright and cheery and Eastery, and since I've never made an Easter quilt, I felt totally justified in starting something new. I kept up on the mystery steps, right up to the finished top. I even found a backing in my stash got it all layered, pinned and ready to quilt...

... then I got completely hung up on the quilting.

I wanted to do some free-motion meandering in the white spaces, though I have always been most comfortable with straight line quilting, crosshatching, stitch-in-the-ditch, etc. Thus my Easter quilt became a UFO.

This week, with only a few days left in September, I thought I might as well just see what number had been drawn for the UFO Challenge at Patchwork Times. Lo and behold, it was number 11, the Easter quilt. All it needed was quilted and bound. Totally do-able, if I could make myself "just do it."

So I did it.

And now it's done. :o)

It's far from perfect. I either had some kind of tension issue, or I was moving too fast, or both. The back doesn't look quite as nice as the front, but it's usable, and it was a great learning experience. Most importantly, I think I've gotten over the fear of free-motion quilting, once I iron out a few bugs in the technique.

Bottom line, I'm SO happy to finally have it finished!

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A little update on an earlier finish this week. My nephew and niece received the quilt I made for baby Nora and sent me this picture of her loving her quilt.

How sweet is that? Oh, I wish I could just hop across the country and snuggle that little cutie -- but I guess the quilt will have to do it for me. :o)

******************************* And since I haven't done so in a VERY long time, I'm linking up to Amy's "Sew and Tell Fridays" page. Can't wait to see what everyone else has been working on!

A Good Cheerleader Doesn't Hurt

With the help of my very enthusiastic (and bouncy!) cheerleader in his "Johnny Jump-Up," today I tackled the layering and pinning of my Easter quilt:

"Go, Gramma... go, Gramma..."

Success! Ready for quilting...

"See you next time!"

(I just had to add that last one, cause... it's TOO cute! LoL)

Mystery Quilt Final -- and a Thank You!

After a very busy week with all the kids home from school, I finally had some time today to clean up my sewing room and complete the last two steps in the Great Summer Mystery. Here is a photo of my finished top, with the final borders added. I love how it turned out, and I'm really excited now to get it quilted in time for Easter. ;o)


Had a nice surprise in today's mail, too, when I received the "pay it forward" prize from Angela at Angela's Quilts! Along with the beautiful batiks, Angela included this adorable little crazy-quilted heart. Such an unexpected and sweet surprise. It will definitely have a place of honor in my sewing room. Thank you so much, Angela!


And now it's my turn to pay it forward. Hmm...

Mystery Quilt, Step Six

Instructions are now posted for Step Six of The Great Summer Mystery, and here's a photo of my very Eastery quilt, so far:


I do wish I hadn't had to change white background fabrics halfway through, but I'm sure it'll all blend together a lot better once it's quilted. What a fun pattern, huh? Borders are next...

Thanks, Helen! ;o)

Mystery Quilt, Step Five

Step five of The Great Summer Mystery is to assemble all of the units into rows. Since my focus fabric is directional, I had to lay out my rows in order, and make sure nothing was upside down. So... I do have a pretty good idea what the finished top will look like -- but I'll keep it a secret for now. Here are my rows...


And, good news! I finished the 84 scrappy blocks for my next QWL quilt top...


Now I just have to restrain myself from sewing them all together until the sew-in next weekend!

Mystery Quilt, Step Four

Step four in the Great Summer Mystery is all about cutting, cutting, cutting...


I think I see a quilt top in the near future!

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Today's the day I'll draw a winner for my giveaway -- yay! Are you ready???

Mystery Quilt, Step Three (and another new project!)

Stayed up way too late last night, but I did make progress on my two latest projects. Finished Step Three of the Great Summer Mystery, adding yellow corners to my strip sets. We're getting closer...


Next I worked on my other new project, making lots and lots of super-scrappy six-inch blocks to go into a top for Quilts with Love. I plan to have 84 blocks ready to set together on February first, our next sew-in day at Country Quilters USA. I'm making them all from scraps, and my scrap box seems to be bottomless no matter how many I cut up! Here's a little sneak peek:


So that's the update from the sewing room. I may get some more scraps cut up today, but probably not much else.

And I just realized this is my 199th post! Maybe I can come up with something special to celebrate my 200th. Hmm...

Stay tuned...

Mystery Quilt, Step Two

Step two completed, for the Great Summer Mystery. (I laugh each time I see that, as we're still having sub-zero temps here in Minnesota, USA. How I look forward to summer!)

For step two, we were to make 16 of these strip sets:


Hmm... wonder what it'll look like when it's done?

I had to use a white-on-white for the strip sets because I didn't have enough of the solid white background fabric. Hopefully it'll look okay to have a slightly scrappy background.

And good thing I like scrappy quilts. They happen a lot when you're on a don't-buy-anything-unless-absolutely-necessary budget!

Step three was posted today. Back to the sewing room!

New Mystery Quilt!

So, I've been in need of a new quilting project to pull me out of the sub-zero, mid-winter doldrums and I think I've found just the thing; The Great Summer Holiday Mystery at "Hugs and Kisses." I haven't done a mystery quilt in ages, so when a few of my quilting friends did their New Year's Eve mysteries, I caught the bug.

Choosing fabrics was a challenge. I'm on a strict no-buying-anything-that-isn't-absolutely-necessary budget, so it all had to come from my stash. I came up with several combinations, but few of them had enough yardage for the whole project. Somehow, though, I did find my fabrics:


Colorful, no? I'm making an Easter quilt. Which is perfect, because I have a throw quilt for every holiday except Easter. Not for long!

Yesterday I completed Step One, which was to make five of these:


Step two is posted, so maybe I'll finish that today. My kids are all home. No school, due to the nasty cold temps.

A great day to hide out in the sewing room! LoL Thanks, Helen!