Two UFO's bite the dust

January 1st I spent the day sewing.......... I completed the barn paper piecing and it's now complete and ready for hanging...... I then started working on blocks to finish my Tokyo subway quilt top.... I did several blocks over January 1st and 2nd.......and then worked on them each nite after work. It took me about an hour per block. This weekend I finished all the blocks and put it all together............ wow!! It's pretty cool if I do say so myself lol you can see it here http://www.flickr.com/photos/sewwunderful/8355172082/ and the Barn PP project is there also The Tokyo subway quilt top is 1600 pieces... 25 blocks with 64 squares per block... it took me about 27 hours not counting the time it took me to get all the various colors cut.....that was about another 3 or 4 hours if I remember right..........my quilt is 60 x 60. It doesn't matter what size you make the quilt... it's still 1600 pieces... it's just the size of the square that changes to make it larger or smaller....... So I think I'm doing pretty good so far.... 2 ufo's done and it's only the 6th of January. I'll quilt the top later this month... I have bitty block snowmen to do first...and I have a row of flying geese to make for my Row by Row quilt that I'm doing for our guild..........after those two projects I'll get the subway quilt backed and batted.... hopefully I have something here that will work for backing.......... I'm sure it's not going to matter what color I use lol since all of the colors of the rainbow are in there..... I'll do straight line quilting on it since it's pretty much straight line piecing........ Check out the pics on flickr and let me know what you think! Happy January Lish

The First of the New Year

Happy New Year to all!! My wish to everyone is a Happy Safe Productive year. May it be all that you hope for. This year again will focus on my trials and tribulations in the sewing pit..........UFO's WILL BE totally completed this year.... last year 16 were completed and this year I will empty the UFO box......... most of what is in there is about two-4 years old.........and there is NOTHING in there from last year... everything that I started... was finished! YAY ME!!! The flickr site will once again hold all of the project pics and some will be posted here........ I plan to start on a barn paperpiecing that needs to be finished. I need to do a roof... 4 fence pieces...and a silo then I can put it together.... I think the reason this one became a UFO is the fences...they are tiny.......with a lot of fabric changes...so we'll see how that goes today........ The WOB pile has a couple of placemats on it that need binding's stitched down.... should be able to wipe that out this week....... oh wait... this week is almost over... ok...so by next weekend the WOB pile will be empty!! My last project for 2012 was a LazyGirl Designs Mini Miranda...... she's the perfect size for toting my IPAD and a few odds and ends for work......... so... it's off to the pit for some paper piecing time!! later... Lish

It's a Wrap!

As of December 15th... Christmas 2012 is done... all sewn... wrapped...bagged and tagged and ready to be put on the chair ( we don't have a tree... the cats climb it) So now I have time to play........... so UFO # 15 gets completed and is now on the WOB pile......... the black and gold skinny runner is now complete!! I also had time to play with the PIeced Hexies...... wow! what fun that is! The Book is called Pieced Hexies and the author is coming to our Quilt Guild in January so I thought I'd get the book and play...... what fun!!!! You make pieced blocks and then do your EPP hexies with pieced blocks.... there are pics of the first two I did........ one is called Spike and the other is called Tumbler

I also had time to make up some of Embroidery Garden's tealight reindeer and santas... the tealight goes thru the nose so it flashes and changes color... too cute!!!

I'm hoping to get another UFO done yet this year........... and then finish them ALL up in 2013. I did really well this year at not creating new ones... at least not in the sewing pit.... the knitting basket, however, is another story! Perhaps I'll work on that pile next year. The WOB pile has quite a bit on it.... some placemats......the skinny runner..... and the Pocket Wall Hanging that will be going to work soon as the binding is sewn...... All in all it's been a good year............ Whatever your reason for the season.... may it be safe and healthy and happy

Sometimes Goals make me crazy!

Ok...so one of the goals for 2012 was to NOT create anymore UFO's.... let me tell you a story............ Yesterday I got the black/gold runner done…. What a flippin’ chore…. I tried doing this at retreat a couple weeks ago…. Couldn't figure out the strips……….. so I stopped…………. I finally got the strips together at home the following week… trying to keep the goal of no UFO’s for this year…………so it was a Quilt as you go deal…. Put down the strip… sew… flip… next strip…sew… flip etc…. well after three tries at that and ripping out all three tries I put it aside………..so yesterday I was determined to meet the goal and do this runner….. this time I decided to just put the top together as normal and then back and bat it…. Ok…. So the directions sucked but by using the pictures I managed…. It’s all done on the diagonal…. So there is a small block that sticks out on one side going one way and the other side going the other way…. Well I got it done………….. yay me!! So now since I have the backing and batting all ready to go….. I put it on …. Get it ironed and pinned! Woooo hooooo………. So I’m looking at how pretty the black… gold… black… gold… black …gold … white…. Gol…utoh………….. shouldn’t be white………. Dang it!!! So three rows up from the bottom…. There is a boo boo………. Now what…. Continue along and pretend I didn’t notice??? Too late… I noticed………. Put it aside for another time??? we know what will happen if I do that………..so I’m looking at this and determine that the strip itself is sewn incorrectly… the last three blocks are reversed! Ok….. so I grab the ripper…. Remove only what I have to so I can get at those three blocks…. Yes... I can hear you gasping.... Unpin only what I need to……again... I hear those gasps... lol...…take the three blocks off…. Reverse them and resew…. Resew the strips together… repin to the batting… voila!!! Done!! And beautimous!!! It’s quilted now and trimmed and ready for the binding… The binding is done .... as is the binding for the 6 placemats I'm quilting.... I have 4 more to do then I can switch feet and sew the binding on the placemats and runner and once again the WOB pile is piled high! lol I've added 4 mug rugs to the pile as well as two christmas placemats..........and 2 christmas skinny runners.. I'm leaving for PA next week so these will go in the truck with me along with the half finished ruffle scarf that go put on hold while I finished up stuff to take back east with me............ hopefully the trip will be productive!

Pics of the placemats and mugrugs are on flickr if you would like to see those too Have a safe and Happy Turkey day... Gobble til you Wobble Lish

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd CUT!!!!

Thanksgiving Christmas goodies are done! Bagged...tagged and boxed!! Woooohooo!!! Next weekend I'll be baking cookies and breads......then when I get back from PA I can finish up what I need for Christmas here in Indiana...... The weather here is soooooooooo strange.... yesterday is was 70 and gorgeous...this morning it was 33 and snow flurbies........ right now it's 37 and it's expected to be back in the fifties by the weekend......... I'm just gonna leave all my clothes out all year long... cuz it seems I need something from each season every week! lol Other than my fantastic finish... I don't have much else to report....... there are pics up on flickr and a few more to be posted....... the binding pile has a bit more on it now.... 4 placemats........2 long skinny table runners and I found a wallet that needed binding done on the bottom of the WOB container........ I will probably take that along in the truck and work on it on the way back east........... I started a ruffled scarf with the net *net* yarn.... so far it's pretty nice... slow going for sure but it will be really nice when it's finished.......... I think it may become a christmas pressie....... Well I really think that's it for now.......... Normal is almost back again soon it will be a new year......... new goals... new challenges...... Have a wonderful Holiday Season..........

Well things are kinda at a stand still right now........ I doubt there will be anymore UFO's done by year end..........and I'm working on finishing up christmas which goes back to PA at Thanksgiving I got on a plane........... I don't do planes............last plane ride was about 30 years ago........... but my dad was in the hospital and the only way to get there quickly was by plane........ I survived.......unfortunatly my dad didn't. The weather in Indiana is in the 80's again........ but tomorrow it'll be down to 46.... it's amazing how quickly things can change out here!! Just boggles the mind lol I have some fun stuff on flickr now.... some of the treat bags i'm doing ... cookie bags...Triathalon towels......... ( oh no! not ME!! geeeze! do they give you 24 hours to do the 13 miles?? lol) a bit of this and a bit of that! I currently have only one swap going..... a pincushion swap.... I hope to get that done this weekend so it's ready to mail next weekend......... So check out the pics if you'd like...... and hopefully I can have a cheerier update in a week or so!! happy sewing! Lish

It's september???

Seriously?? Where did the summer go?? I've been pretty busy... but not in a productive way........ Now I did get some stuff done....but not as much as I usually do.... but we went on a lot of last minute weekend trips...so that was good too! We did a Lighthouse tour in wisconsin and a mini quilt shop hop on the way home. We took a flying trip to Buffalo NewYork... with a mini quilt shop hop on the way out! Get the idea? So now I have lots and lots ( and lots) of fun fabric to play with. I did get my challenge project for the Quilting Book Club done... you had to choose 3 colors plus one color for accent/background and make something holiday oriented. My colors were gold, green, red and cream accent. I made a set of Kitchen Window place mats...and a set of Play Date placemats... pics of the fabrics and the mats are on flickr. The mats are on the wob pile and need to have their bindings done and pics taken by september 30th. I did quite a few swaps this summer also........and just mailed the last of them yesterday...so right now I'm swapless! lol I think I'll skip the next round of swaps (maybe) and get back to working on the Subway Quilt...and the Christmas Quilt and the rest of the christmas goodies that need to be done. I currently have 40 mini totes cut and ready for handles........these are for our work christmas party... need to make 40 tissue packet covers for that also...... So fall is here.....it was 39 degrees this morning........hmmmmmmm not sure I like that yet... but who knows what winter might bring..........it should be interesting for sure!! I'll try now to get back on track........and keep my posts current and get back to knocking out another few UFO's before the end of the year.......I'm at 14 right now... that's one more than last year...... so if I can get another 2 or three done... next year will be a breeze.... I haven't created any ufo's this year either so I need to get working on the subway quilt before it becomes one! Check out www.flickr.com/sewwunderful to see the goodies that did get done this summer Lish