A UFO Finish and Stash Busting Countdown

Celtic Solstice is all finished!  I'm happy to say I found a fabric for the last border in my stash that worked, even though I was leaning toward green or blue. The backing is pieced, it's quilted and it's even bound.  Now it only needs the label and a hanging sleeve and it will be ready to be entered into a local quilt show next year.  Yay!!

Celtic Solstice - Bonnie Hunter Mystery 2013

Here is the backing pieced from some leftovers fabrics that were used on the front.  I still need to hand stitch the hanging sleeve down at the top.

I also worked on piecing the backing for my Sapphire Stars quilt (Kevin the Quilter's mystery) that  I hope to get done this month and reach my goals I set for stash busting this year. 

Fabric Report

Fabric Added  - 0

Fabric Used since last report -  4.25 yds

Fabric Added YTD - 0

Fabric Used YTD - 139.68 yds

Linking up with QuiltPaintCreate and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Another UFO Bites the Dust

I'm rolling along this month knocking out another of those dusty UFOs that have been mellowing over the years.  This one goes back a long, L-O--N--G time ago.  Way back in 2000 I was making blocks for our BOM drawings.  I won 7 blocks of these Tilted Stars in a half log cabin setting.  At that time I was not involved with QOV, so these 7 blocks sat in a box with many other unfinished things for a few years. Finally I decided to make more blocks so I would have enough to make a decent sized quilt.

Fast forward maybe 10 years, when I ran across them again and then finished piecing the middle section, but had no idea what I wanted for a border.  So they lay another few years hidden under stacks of UFOs and other things.  As I became more involved with QoV,  it crossed my mind this would make a good quilt to donate to a veteran, so I finished the top, added half log cabin borders to mimic the block setting and pieced a backing.   Now like a good wine or cheese, mellowing improves the final product, right?  Well I left this to mellow on a hanger near my quilting machine for a few more years (you see I was trying to decide how I was going to custom quilt it).  Then out of the blue, our first quilting day of this year was cancelled because of weather, but we all wanted to get together and quilt.  So I invited a bunch of ladies over and pulled this off the hanger to put in a quilting frame and now it is totally finished with hand quilting instead of me having to decide how to custom quilt it. I love it when things work out so well, even if it took 16 years.  I sure hope there are not too many more quilts "mellowing" this long in the closet or on the shelves.

Tilted Patriotic Stars - 67" x 78"

Backing to Tilted Stars

On the knitting front, a little more progress was made on my socks.  A few more rows and it will be heel flap time.

And, I pulled out this diagonal cowl again and did a few rows to be sure I don't forget how to do the pattern.

You know as we get older, they say our short term memories are not as sharp.  This may be a reason not to have more than one project on a needle at a time.  My next goal for knitting.  I do not want to have as many UFOs in yarn as I do in quilting things.,

Linking up with Patchwork Times, Whoop, Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finish It Up Friday,

Finished 2nd UFO of 2017

Another UFO crossed off my long list. This old antique top was given to me by a good friend who said it was thought to be made by her husband's grandmother. The 2.5" squares used in it are from the early 1900's. There are squares of flour sacks and children's clothing, shirts and dresses.  I was surprised by the size of this top from that time period.  It measures 72" x 92". I decided against adding a border since the size was sufficient to keep my toes warm.

Since this is such a traditional quilt and using all these older fabrics, I thought a quilting pattern of the era was in order.  I used a Baptist Fan for the quilting design.  I love flannels on the back of quilts, especially those that will be used on beds.  In looking through my stash for something appropriate, I found a bolt of  yellow floral flannel that had been sitting on my shelves for well over 10 years. It's time has finally come to put it to good use. It makes it feel so soft and I can't wait to snuggle under it. The yellow floral picks up the yellow squares scattered over the front. Perfect timing I'd say since our predicted temperatures for the upcoming nights are going to be in the 20s and 30s.

Here's a closer look at some of the interesting fabrics used in this old quilt.

This was my UFO for February and will be linking up with Judy's linky on March 1.

On The Needles and A Friday Finish

This is what is on my knitting needles this week. I'm still working on this 2nd pair of Scrappy Socks.

 Scrappy Frankensocks #2

Maybe now that the holiday hustle and bustle are behind me, I will get more knitting done this year and maybe a little quicker.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to work harder on my long UFO list.  I did manage to finish 5 quilts on my UFO last year; but that is just a drop in the bucket to the 75 UFOs on this list.  I hope to greatly improve on that number this year.  To that end, here is my first finished UFO for 2017.

Quilts of Valor - No. 1

This quilt was started last year when I launched the Block Drive for QOV Eastern MO.  I made three separate tops to test the block and several layouts.  I quilted this one with an overall design called Dancing Stars.  One down and many to go.

To see other knitting projects, check in with Judy at Patchwork Times HERE.