The last three months - April, May, and June - have been filled with traveling, customer quilts, and Quilts of Valor. As a result, my UFO (Un-Finished Object) list has not gotten much attention. I am happy, however, that the business has had a busy three months, that I experienced a couple of wonderful trips involving family, and that I was able to complete half of my UFO list during the first quarter of the year. Even so I have made at least some progress on a few of the projects.
The greatest progress was made on a kit that I purchased several years ago from Connecting Threads. The top is full of half-square triangles and care needed to be taken when stitching those together so that the points were not cut off. That was easily done by using a pin to line up the points in each piece. I prepared the backing by using fabric from my stash. I also found batting pieces in my stash that I sewed together using a serpentine stitch on my Bernina 350. In addition I have made some preliminary decisions on the quilting designs. So this project is ready to be loaded on the long arm and finished! I just need a couple of days to make that happen!
Some progress was made on my Dream Big panel projects which are now up to three. One of them we will use on the cake table for Melissa and Kevin’s wedding. I first ordered the Teal color before we decided to use one for the wedding. Next I ordered the Orchid color but it has an orangish center. That is not much of a problem since the cake will cover it. However, then I found another that I liked even better called Hydrangea. I’m excited to see each of them and then decide which one I like better. At any rate I will have at least one to use as a practice piece before I stitch the final panel for the wedding reception. I also purchased two 60”x60” pieces of wool batting to use along with my 80/20 Warm and Natural. This will be the first project in which I use a double batting so I am a bit nervous to try it. I think it will be worth it in this quilt though as the results can be spectacular. I have also saved a number of quilting design ideas on Pinterest so I will be ready to begin work on this quilt as soon as I purchase the backing for it. I can’t wait to see how all of them turn out!
Speaking of Melissa’s wedding - she picked out the pattern for the king-size quilt that she wants me to make for their wedding gift. I ordered the pattern from The Quilting Company and then purchased fabrics from Missouri Star Quilting Company in Hamilton, Missouri when we were on our trip to Memphis, Tennessee in June. She also chose a pattern for a throw-size quilt that would make a nice shower gift. However, I may just use the Dream Big purple quilt for that as I’m not sure I can get all of these projects done by November!
Slight progress was also made on one of my bucket list quilts when we attended an estate sale at the beginning of May. At the sale I was able to purchase a Bali Pop - 42-2 1/2” strips of batik fabric - at a greatly reduced price to use in the Wedding Ring from my Flower Garden pattern by QuiltWorx that I purchased several years ago. I will need another one in order to complete this project but this is at least a start! I also spent some time studying the construction of this quilt. Although it uses techniques with which I am familiar - paper-piecing and raw-edge appliqué - it is a more complicated pattern that usual.
While the progress on my UFO’s was slim, I did stitch 18 customer quilts ( three of which were done start-to-finish) as well as five Quilts of Valor. I continue to be grateful for an excuse to spend time in my sewing room!