UFO Challenge Catch-up Update (Again)

In October I did a catch-up post on progress and have not gotten an update posted since so here is another summary.

OCTOBER: La Vie en Rose quilt (a box of fabrics and some sketches at start of month)

Detail of La Vie en Rose

This quilt got finished in October. It includes an applique technique (broderie perse) I had never used before and a technique for making on point squares that I hadn't used before. The design was inspired by the chicken quilt in Beyond the Block by Linda K. Johnson & Jane K. Wells.

La Vie en Rose - Urban Quilter, 2016

NOVEMBER: Chair of Bowlies cross stitch (began this in the early 1990s and still haven't finished it -- cross stitch may not be my thing)

I worked on this. I am up to the part where I add outline details which is super tedious. I'm pretty sure at this point that cross stitch is not my favorite thing. 

DECEMBER: Floral shopper (pattern is cut out, need to assemble it) So far I haven't even taken this out of the bag. The week after Christmas might include some sewing time so there is a possibility this will get done. 

Progress on UFO Challenge Projects

It was a busy summer and I didn't get posts written about my projects for the #APQresolution UFO Challenge. I did get a reasonable amount of sewing done and have made further progress on several projects from earlier in the year as well as on some of the summer UFOs. Here is where each project started and where it is now. 

JANUARY (2): Autumn wall hanging applique kit (bought, never started)

This was redesigned into a totally different wall quilt from the kit and the top is now done.

FEBRUARY (5): Pillow covers for back porch chairs (fabric bought this past Thanksgiving weekend, nothing else done)

These got done in February.

MARCH (3): Fairy frost geranium quilt (ready to quilt -- set aside because I couldn't decide how to quilt it or what color thread to use) 

This got done in March.

APRIL (1): French print apron (currently fabric in a bag with a sketch)

This got finished over the summer and is hanging in the kitchen as my currently in use apron.

MAY (7): Butterfly stain glass quilt kit (bought, never started)

This is a completed top which has been basted with batting and backing and I began quilting it. I am using black thread to fill in the lead lines on the stained glass as the quilting. It is slow going, but it is coming along.

JUNE (10): Chocolate Cherries Bargello (need to finish machine quilting it)

This got finished over the summer and is ready to photograph and post in my Etsy shop.

JULY (4): Irish Chain (is being handquilted -- has been in progress for decades)

I worked on this a little bit. There is a lot of quilt left to be quilted including putting something in all the large plain squares this design includes. Will be a while before this gets done.

AUGUST (6): Halloween tote bags (bought great fabric for these, need to work out design)

I had enough fabric for 2 of these. One is done (I have been using it this month as it is October) and the other one is almost done. 

SEPTEMBER (12): Strawberry Lap Quilt (ready for basting -- got put in a bag and forgotten about ages ago)

This got finished over the summer and will be given away shortly (it was a charity quilt kit from my quilt guild).

OCTOBER (8): La Vie en Rose quilt (began as a box of fabrics and some sketches at this point)

This is in progress. I came up with a design (nothing at all like the sketches that were in the box) and have assembled most of the top. 

UFO Challenge: June 2016

The selected project for June in the #APQResolution UFO Challenge is #10 which means I need to work on my Chocolate Covered Cherries Bargello. At the beginning of June it was pieced and basted and I had begun machine quilting it. There is quite a bit more quilting to do, typically I quilt through the center of each bargello swoop and have only done about 6 of these. Border quilting also needs to be figured out and completed then binding and a label added to finish the quilt. 

Double safety pins show where I left off quilting.

UFO Challenge Catch-up Report

I mentioned in my post about the April UFO project that the upcoming month looked a bit crazy. It was, hence no report on UFO projects since then.
I did make progress on my apron project in April, what was fabric is now apron shaped, has ties attached to it, and is half quilted. It might be all quilted but I ran out of the quilting thread I was using. Once I get more thread it should get done pretty quickly.

Butterfly quilt kit - unopened May 1

My May project was a butterfly stained glass quilt kit that I bought at a quilt show many years ago and had not even opened. During this month I opened the kit, read the instructions, decided there was no way I would ever make that project using the described technique and came up with a new plan. The pieces have now all been traced onto double sided fusible, fused onto the fabrics, cut out, and arranged on my background fabric. My plan is to fuse all the little pieces down (the paper still needs to be peeled off the underneath of each piece so this is a ways to go yet) and then quilt with a black satin stitch to make the "leading" of the stained glass design. Not sure when this will get finished, but I know what needs doing which is a step in the right direction.

Butterfly pieces all laid out on the background fabric

UFO Challenge: April 2016

The number for April's UFO in the APQ UFO challenge is 1 so this month I will be working on a French-print apron. I saw a great quilted apron at a fancy kitchen shop and liked everything about it but the price. I decided I could make one for myself and when I came across a red and white French kitchen print fabric at Quilted Threads I bought it intending to make a similar apron. That was quite a few years ago and the fabric has been in a drawer ever since.

Fabrics destined to be an apron

I need to decide on the exact design I want to use, cut the pieces, quilt the fabric, and assemble the apron. This should be do-able in a month, though this particular month's calendar promises to be pretty crazy. 

UFO Report: March 2016

My March project for the #APQResolution UFO challenge was the fairy frost geranium quilt. I found some nice rayon thread in good colors for the quilting (on sale even!) and got it quilted. I used a leaf motif quilting design on the green borders which I was very happy with. 

Quilting detail, geranium quilt

Once the quilting was finished I realized I was about 10 inches short on the binding I had planned to use (this entire quilt has gone like that). Of course the fabric the binding was made from was long gone and a weird color I couldn't match. Patches had a beautiful sparkly dark green fabric in their Christmas section so I was able to get the quilt bound. It is now finished and hanging in my dining room.

Fairy Frost Geranium Quilt, 2016

UFO Challenge: March 2016

The number for March's UFO in the APQ UFO challenge is 3 which means I am working on the fairy frost geranium quilt. I made the geranium block probably 10 years ago and couldn't figure out what to do with it. Then I found this cool curved piecing template tool at a quilt show and used it to make a border. Loved the tool, still don't quite know what to do with the quilt. It is all basted and ready for machine quilting. Unfortunately none of the thread I auditioned on it looked right so it went into a box to deal with later. I guess this month is later so I need to see if I can find some threads that I like on this slightly sparkly pastel fabric (from a line called fairy frost.)

Geranium wall quilt - basted for machine quilting, 3/2016.

UFO Report: February 2016

My February project for the #APQResolution UFO challenge was new pillow covers for the back porch chairs. They are now complete and awaiting weather warm enough to make it pleasant to sit on the screen porch. 

One of the newly covered pillows 2016

UFO Challenge: February 2016

The number for February's UFO in the APQ UFO challenge is 5 which means I am working on pillow covers for my back porch chairs this month. Last Thanksgiving I was visiting North Carolina and found this fun fabric which I thought would make good covers for the pillows on our porch chairs. At the beginning of the month it is a piece of fabric and a plan. 

Chili Pepper Fabric for pillow covers

 

UFO Report: January 2016

My January project for the #APQResolution UFO challenge was a veggie wall hanging kit.  Progress on this UFO included:

• Thinking about and sketching out various designs for these appliques -- I love the individual veggie appliques but am not excited about the way the kit suggested putting them together as one big still life
• Buying the fusible for the applique
• Tracing a lot of veggies onto the fusible

Veggie shapes traced onto fusible web

Some of the block layouts

• Picking out fabrics and prepping the applique pieces for 6 different veggie blocks
• Working out a layout the 6 blocks will fit in

The next step is to assemble the blocks I worked out. I also need to buy the cucumber fabric I saw on Thursday (and should have bought then) to use for sashing. I did not finish this project (not even close)  but I did make a lot of progress and now I have a plan for a veggie quilt I am excited about. 

All the veggie appliques for the revised quilt design

UFO Challenge: January 2016

The number for January's UFO in the APQ UFO challenge is 2 which means I am working on the Autumn Wall Hanging applique kit this month.

I bought this kit many years ago at a Quilt Show and it has been untouched in a drawer pretty much ever since. It includes applique patterns for the various vegetables and fabrics to use for them. There is a photo of a finished quilt in the zip-bag, but I don't know if it came with the kit or if I took the photo at the show and added it.

UFO #2  as of January 1, 2016

I will need to choose background fabric (maybe a pieced background like Piece O' Cake designs uses?) and borders. I also need to decide if I want to follow the picture or arrange the items differently (knowing me and patterns differently seems likely). These veggies may end up in separate blocks rather than one big group, I haven't decided yet. Before I can get started I will need to pick up some double sided fusible as I seem to be out and I want to do this as machine applique.

2016 UFO Challenge

The UFO challenge at All People Quilt (APQ) asks you to list 12 Unfinished Objects from your collection and to commit to working on one of them each month during 2016. Which one you work on each month is determined by a random number draw on the first of each month which is posted on APQ. Photos and posts about everyone's progress are connected with #APQResolution.

Here is my list of 12 UFOs (selected at random from the list of 27 that I came up with when I started looking for my UFOs):

1. APRIL: French print apron (currently fabric in a bag with a sketch)
2. JANUARY: Autumn wall hanging applique kit (bought, never started)
3. MARCH: Fairy frost geranium quilt (ready to quilt -- set aside because I couldn't decide how to quilt it or what color thread to use)
4. JULY: Irish Chain (is being handquilted -- has been in progress for decades)
5. FEBRUARY: Pillow covers for back porch chairs (fabric bought this past Thanksgiving weekend, nothing else done)
6. AUGUST: Halloween tote bags (bought great fabric for these, need to work out design)
7. MAY: Butterfly stain glass quilt kit (bought, never started)
8. OCTOBER: La Vie en Rose quilt (a box of fabrics and some sketches at this point)
9. NOVEMBER: Chair of Bowlies cross stitch (began this in the early 1990s and still haven't finished it -- cross stitch may not be my thing)
10. JUNE: Chocolate Cherries Bargello (need to finish machine quilting it)
11. DECEMBER: Floral shopper (pattern is cut out, need to assemble it)
12. SEPTEMBER: Strawberry Lap Quilt (ready for basting -- got put in a bag and forgotten about ages ago)

Now that I plowed through all my bags and piles I may get motivated to jump into one of these projects even before the corresponding number comes up. In case that happens I am adding 3 alternate projects. If I have already finished the project listed above when it comes up to work on I will substitute the next project in this list:

1. Arkansas star tote bag (paper piecing fabrics cut out and in bag with fabrics for the tote)
2. Northwoods Quilt (needs to be basted then handquilted)
3. Bathrobe (fabric and pattern in a bag)

This looks like it could be a very productive year!