Flying By....

 

 

 

Wave, bye-bye !!!

 

 I will admin, I'm not sorry to see these DOG DAYS go away...man, has it been hot and humid !!!  😰

 

 

 

 

 

My goal for the remainder of August is to finish up bits and pieces and re-group. 
 

I'll start with tidying up the studio.  It's a bit out of control.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've not been totally distracted from the UFO groups...  
UFO's I'm SUPPOSED to be working on for the month of August are:

River's Edge:  August's Letter is " I " 

 

 

Years ago I was going to make a quilt for one of my dearest friends, Hank.  
I ordered these panels because I thought they were so pretty.  
Sadly, Hank passed away in 2013. 

These panels have been in the queue for at least 14 years? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They're beautiful and hand-painted and a bit intimidating, I don't really know where to start, and I don't want to mess them up.  But, might as well jump right in and do something....better than having them in a box on the shelf !

 

 

Companion fabrics purchased over the years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

APQ's:  August number is 10.  Barbie Fat Quarters!   

I'm probably not going to even think about Hank's quilt for now and focus on the Barbie Fat Quarters because it will be easier.  

I don't know what I want to do with the "Hank" panels  and Barbie will be a no-brainer... or mostly a no-brainer.

The Barbie Fat Quarter bundle was purchased in 2023 while I was in Las Vegas visiting my quilting Niece, Desiree.   An impulse buy from Sew Yeah Quilting.

Not sure where I picked up the black fabrics, but I think they complement the Barbie fabrics, don't you agree?

 

 

 

Maybe use the same pattern I used for the Halloween Fabrics, 
Falling Charms?

 

 

 

 

 

 

By-the-way the Halloween-Fabric quilt is finished.  
Needs to go to the LAQ*. 

Update:

You're Invited has been received by my Great Niece, JayCee...and she loves it!

 

Peanut, the puppy, is checking out the points...seeing if they line up. (Don't look too close, pup.)

*LAQ - Long Arm Quilter.

April is Brought to You By...

 

The APQ  UFO Number is 2 and the
River's Edge UFO Letter is "H"
and the NEW River's Edge Quarterly Project is W3.

APQ's:  April number is 2.

The memorial wall hanging I made for my Quilting Auntie Nyla using Row-by-Row license plates.  This is not TOO old....only a couple of years.  And, NOT the first time shown here.  

 

When originally posted as a UFO in 2023 the purpose was to learn to use the Flynn system for quilting. 
Let's see if I can kill two birds with one stone.

River's Edge:  April's Letter is "H" 

 "H" is two items:

 

A paper pieced cup....this was started WAY back .... WAY, WAY back...at least 15 years ago???  It was a class at Greenbaum's Quilted Forest in Salem,  OR.  (The store closed  in 2016. It was such a great store.) My introduction to paper piecing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, the second item....the TP wall hanging.  I bought this pattern just before the "Lock Down."  Remember when everyone went nuts and filled their spare rooms, attics and basements with TP?  That was crazy, but the pattern is still too cute not to sew up.  

Looking at this pattern brought back fun memories of the Needlers and creating a Care Package for Miss Wanda.  HERE

 I sure miss those ladies....

 

 

 

The River's Edge Quarterly Project was to make covers for my large kitchen appliances....well, NO...just NO.  This is not the kind of sewing that "sparks joy".... so into the donation basket it all goes....thank you, Marie Kondo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instead of non-joy-producing sewing, I'm going to make a quilt for my great nephew, Sterling.  That will bring us BOTH joy... he's a pretty happy guy most of the time, already.

There is a reason this is a UFO, even though it has not even been started...Truth be told, I've had this pattern for "a while", a LONG while.  And I'm going to see this little guy in June, so perfect timing.

 

 

 

There you have it...the plan for the month....I've made my list...
Lots of FINISHES.  I feel motivated, and I ain't foolin.

March is Brought to You By....

 

The APQ  UFO Number 6 and the
River's Edge UFO Letter "A"
and the same River's Edge Quarterly Project W1,
Peggy's Memory Bears.

APQ's:  March number is 6.

My number 6 is an easy one....Label older quilts....quilts I made early on and never labeled.

 

After digging them out, I realized there weren't as many as I thought. Two of them are quilts I made  "back in the day" when
I did not even know HOW to quilt.... a little embarrassing to me now, but they still deserve a label.

 

 

River's Edge:  March's Letter is "A" .

You're Invited, A panel by Riley Blake. HERE.

This one is only a couple years in the queue.
As UFOs go, not too bad.

Purchased from a wonderful quilt shop in Omaha,
Country Sampler.  

The thought was to make this for one of my great nieces, JayCee.  

She grew up so fast and is now a young woman.  I'm not sure if she'll like it.  I will see her when I'm in Vegas this summer.  (See Below)  I'll make it a point to spent time with her and get to know her better, and what she likes.

  

 

 

Most of the work is done....It just needs to be assembled. 

This month's Machine Spotlight is Baby Doll.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby Doll was in impulse buy.  A Janome Harmony 4052.

Someone on the Next Door app was selling her and I thought it would be a good little machine for my great niece, Savannah.  HERE 

Savannah was showing an interest in sewing at that time.

That didn't happen, so then I thought I'd keep her as a backup machine.  That was two years ago....have only fired her up once.  Obviously I don't really need a back up machine.

This summer I will be driving from my 'ol Kentucky home to California for my grandson's H.S. graduation...with a stop off in Vegas to spend time with The Quilting Niece, her siblings and their mom....Baby Doll is going to finally find a new home either with Miss Savannah,
or Miss JayCee ??   (See Above)  Because, honestly, do I REALLY need FIVE sewing machines? (The answer is "no.")

But, in the meantime....let's see how she performs.

March is off to a promising start!

February is Brought to you By....

The Number 12 and the Letter "L" and the same Quarterly Project W1

February's UFOs.

APQ's  February number is 12.   The APQ number 12 is a BIG project...actually a fat quarter bundle and a pattern...no cutting has even happened yet!  So, is it still a UFO?  I've always counted it a UFO if the fabric and the pattern have made a match...so, yes, I guess it is.

BUT, since January's  Number 5 project is not completed, and it is an easy one, and February's Number 12 is a BIG one ...
I swapped the numbers.        PERFECT, Problem solved!   Moving On...

River's Edge  February's Letter is "L" and There is still the Quarterly Project, W1, which is the Bears.

But wait, January's Confetti Stars are not finished!  The "rule"  is:  If you're not finished with the previous month's UFO, you move on to the current month's project and go back later and pick up where you left off with the previous month ... it feels good that I've made progress, but it's still a UFO... 

"L" is a book I bought...I don't remember when I bought it...The Magic of 3-Yard Quilts.

And, somewhere along the way I matched this book up with fabric...
Which I also don't remember where or when I purchased this fabric. 
But I still like it, so that is a plus.

The pattern looks fast and easy ... I still like the fabric ...
All-in-all I think "L" UFO will be a win, Win, WIN !!!

 

Let the sewing commence.

 I'd  sure like to have a "FINISH" in February.

This Month Was Brought to you By ...

The Number 5 and the Letter "E" and the Quarterly Project W1

January's UFOs.

I have so many UFOs that I've joined two UFO groups. See this Post from December 11, 2024 HERE

American Patchwork and Quilting is drawing Numbers and River's Edge is drawing Letters. 

APQ's January Number is 5.  My number 5 was relative easy...a collection of Totes.

River's Edge Letter was E and Quarterly Project, W1.

The last thing on my January list is River's Edge Quarterly Project.  Memory Bears.

 

A dear friend, Terry LaDow, past away a few months ago.  His wife, Peggy, sent me a bunch of his shirts.  I will make memory bears for Peggy, Morgan (daughter) and Madelyn (grand daughter.)

So, there we have it....Our Marching Orders for January, 2025.

Just Like Clockwork

Every Year...About This Time...We visit the UFOs ...

I made my list....checked it twice.. picked my numbers and organized it all... HERE And accomplished ABSOLUTELY NOTHING*!

Last year American Patchwork & Quilting stopped picking the number each month...left it up to each individual person...some of the wind went out of my sail.  But, we have a new year just around the corner!!  A new beginning...A fresh start....
and Hope Springs Eternal!

According to the FaceBook posts for this group, I'm in good company...

Barbara did make me laugh out loud!  I can so relate!

Melanie's D.H. has volunteered to pick the number each month in 2025.  What a sweet Hubby!!

Now that I have returned from my travels I will, once again, pull out all the UFOs from their hiding places and make my list...and check it twice and gear up for 2025!

 

In addition to the American Patchwork and Quilting, River's Edge Antiques and Quilting is sponsoring a challenge. This idea just may work for some of us..... Charge a fee....there is something about plunking down a few bucks that gets my attention,
for sure!  

 

This is the one I joined for 2025.  HERE 
Let's see if mixing it up helps get the job done!

* I guess it wasn't ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  I dug out my 2024 UFO Project list.  I finished a few things:

January's Wins and A Bonus

Following along with American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge:  HERE

These are my January finishes: 

Karen Brown's De-Clutter Challenge...went to the very last day and did clean, de-clutter and purge
"The Unnecessary, The Unwanted and The No Longer Needed" from my studio. 
This first WIN will pay dividends for the rest of the year! (I believe this will be an annual thing.)

 

 

Mending (my own): Wet Hair wraps--I'm embarrassed to tell you how long these have been in the queue waiting for a teeny piece of elastic... but now they're back in service.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ana's curtains!  Finally stopped procrastinating and shortened them per Ana's measurements.  

Bonus pillow from the left over fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This type of sewing is not enjoyable to me,
nothing creative or interesting about it.
It is a labor of LOVE, though.

Hung in their new Home.

 

 

 

 

Of course I finished the Hat-on-a-Cat door hanger for February.

This is a Kit-of-the-Month from MSQC*.  HERE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BONUS:  A Valentine bag for Miss Catalina! Riley Blake "Sugar and Spice" panel.

 

 

 

 

AND, looky-there!  An Empty Bin!!!

Woo-Hoo!!! The best WIN for January!!

 

Just ELEVEN more Bins to go!!

 

 

 February's number is FOUR.

 

*MSQC= Missouri Star Quilt Company

Gearing Up for the Big Finish

 

In preparation for the new year, I decided to drag all my UFOs, PIGS, HFIs and PNYSs* out of their hiding places, i.e., drawers, cupboards, bins and boxes, and lay them all out to see exactly what was there.....46 Items so far.  (I say "so far" because I KNOW there is a table topper started in a class at PieceMakers when I lived in California...but I can't find it...how many years ago was that????  Maybe I accidentally finished it?  Nah, scratch that.)

This is what it looks like with projects all laid out on the floor, on the cutting table, in bins and in boxes.

 

Notice the big stack of plastic project boxes on the left.  And, a few items are not even pictured!
Four WWITs* projects are already in the "Pass 'em On" pile.** 
And a few other items have been re-homed to a quilting buddy.

 

 

All-in-all I believe there are about ten items in this pile.  That's a good start.

 

Next step, list each item on a 3 X 5 card and put the cards in a cute box I uncovered during this process.  Repurpose and reuse, eh?  That would be a good slogan for 2024 "Repurpose and Reuse."

Next, assign a "Difficulty to Finish" number.

1 =  Difficult, will take some time.
2 =  Moderate, Pretty easy to finish up if  I would just stop Talking about it  and  Just Do It!
3 = Easy, finish more than one-at-a-time and knock them out.

Finally, plan for the coming year.

 

 

Purchased these from FB Marketplace:  Twelve cubbies....
one for each month....how handy is that!  ***

These will be for the American Patchwork and
Quilting UFO Challenge for 2024.

BTW:  The Challenge is different this year HERE.  In a nut shell, APWQ is no longer drawing the number and posting it on FB each month.  Each person assigns their own number.

 

 

 

 

 

The bins were not  as big as they appeared in the Marketplace listing, but I think they will work very well.

I've already assigned the Month to a Number for the entire year for the UFO Challenge using a random number picker via the internet.

I'll admin, I did cheat on January's number..I wanted to get off to a quick start so I picked easy projects to finish up for January. 

 

 

 

 

 

As a finishing touch, I used double-stick tape to tape these foam panels to the closet doors.  Instant bulletin boards.  Again, Repurpose and Reuse. (I don't remember where these came from, they were in the garage.)

Perfect for pinning instructions, pictures,  etc. to keep me motivated because "out of sight is out of mind."

Now to tidy up. 
Ready to rock-and-roll.

 

My goal for 2024 is to see how may FFOs* I can rack up.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words!

 

*PHD = Projects Half Done
UFO = Unfinished Object
PIGS= Projects in Grocery Sacks
HFI = Half Finished Items
PNYS = Projects Not Yet Started (but fabric and/or patterns already purchased.)
WWIT = What Was I Thinking
FFO = Finally Finished Object

**There is a store in Nashville that will take crafting items.  SMART Arts & Crafts.  HERE

*** I bought these from Facebook Market Place, but I think they are shoe boxes.  Amazon has something very similar.  HERE