Tag: UFO

Flower Inheritance….

Each week, I am sharing a UFO from my studio. Some are from me, and some I have inherited from others.

This one was inherited from a quilter friend…. a long time ago!!

Pat K. was one of the kindest quilters I have ever known. She was always trying new ideas and techniques, even as her health failed.

Pat was highly involved in our guild’s charity work, and her children donated a bunch of her UFOs to the group to raise money for future work.

I purchased this one….

My original idea was to quilt it to death and call it finished.

At the time, I had just become interested in beading so thought that I would add a bunch of beads.

I did some work on it….

….but the beads don’t show up well and, honestly, don’t add anything to the project.

I think it may be time to remove the few beads I added and go back to my original idea to quilt it well!

Removing the beads will be an easy “watching TV in the evening” exercise, and quilting it will be fun as I remember Pat and her life!

Maybe….just maybe I can get this one finished this year!!

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One of my favorite things about quilting is motivating others and helping them in their quilting journey. As part of this endeavor, I LOVE to present programs and workshops to groups and guilds around the world. All of my programs work well with Zoom meetings, and I would love to speak to your group.

You can find out more at this link…..

No more Owls!!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Owl quilt I inherited from my friend Nancy…

My EASY decision was to quilt it and donate it to my guild’s charity group.

My initial plan was to add a border or two, but I finally decided to keep things simple and add a striped binding…

BUT FIRST, I had to quilt it!!

I had so much fun quilting the owls and leaves….

I had way too many ideas for how to quilt the background, but once again, went for simple and did some curvy lines….

When it came time to add the binding, I had to remind myself exactly HOW to cut a bias binding….

After a few false starts, I had the binding made and applied….

It is the PERFECT finish for such a fun quilt!!

There has been one change…. the quilt is being donated to a fundraiser for the Jeannette Rankin Foundation.

This wonderful organization empowers women aged 35 and older to complete their college degrees and transform the next chapter of their lives.

I can think of no better place for Nancy’s wonderful quilt!

My goal for this UFO was to have it finished by the end of January, and I ALMOST made it. The final stitches were put in on Sunday, February 1st!

I am thrilled that ONE of my many UFO’s can be marked off the list!

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Do you struggle to decide what to quilt in your blocks? If so, check out my FREE series…..

Click HERE for more information

I need help!!

As I have mentioned before, my Mom loved to do handwork, whether embroidery or applique.

She also loved some of the older-style patterns….something reminiscent of her younger life.

So, for her birthday one year, I gave her this book…..

She enjoyed doing the embroidery, and I inherited these blocks…..

I am sure that you can already see the problem.

They are perfectly embroidered, but there is so little color in them that they really don’t stand out at all.

For example, the body parts embroidered in white simply disappear…..

I have considered using Inktense pencils and coloring in all of the areas, but I am concerned that I would just make matters worse.

This style is NOT something that I would ever enjoy having and am struggling to figure out how to honor Mom but not spend a ton of time.

I would LOVE to hear your thoughts……

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UFO from Nancy

Each Wednesday, I am talking about UFO’s in my studio, whether mine or inherited from others.

Today, we are looking at an inheritance from Nancy.

Nancy was a superwoman in my guild. She was highly active in our charity bee and had personally made hundreds of quilts for children in our local battered women’s shelter.

For Christmas one year, she gave me this sweet angel ornament, and it has become my “quilting angel” in the studio…

Nancy is always looking out for me!!

Sadly, she passed away in 2015.

As her friend was cleaning out her stash, she found this very cute applique quilt….

…along with the instructions saved from some magazine….

I love that she veered from the autumn colors and went for bright and bold owls!

As I have looked at this piece, I realize it just needs a border and some quilting… maybe 3 or 4 hours’ work.

SO…..I plan to finish it up and donate it to our charity group. They will either find someone to give it to or sell it to raise money for batting and thread.

Ya’ll hold me to this…. I will have it finished by the end of January!!

Watch for a future post showing the FINISHED quilt!!

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Do you struggle to decide what to quilt in your blocks? If so, check out my FREE series…..

Click HERE for more information

UFO #2

Every Wednesday, I am sharing one of the UFO’s in my studio, whether mine or from someone else.

Today is another one from my Mother.

She LOVED doing blanket-stitch applique by hand, and her stitching was always PERFECT! She even won a ribbon at the Fair for “Best Machine Applique” because the judges couldn’t tell that it was done by hand.

She found this design and decided that she wanted to applique it…..

I agree with her that it is a pretty little block, especially when cut into a hexagon.

The problem is that she didn’t stop with one, or even four…..

She made FOURTEEN of these blocks, each perfectly appliqued and each exactly alike!!

I am afraid that trying to put them all together in one quilt would be pretty boring.

What would you do?

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