Not throwing in the towel yet

At the beginning of last year, I created the Dirty Dozen list. Twelve UFOs that I wanted to get done this year. Things didn't progress quite as nicely as I would like and of course, I'm not done them all. BUT there are still three days left in the year and I'm doing what I can to get as much done as possible. Oh, that's a bunch of crock! I don't sew after dinner so I can't be too motivated to get them all done! Whatever I don't get done is getting rolled over to 2018 PLUS an additional new 12 UFOs.

I think it's important as we work on those UFOs to evaluate why it became a UFO. If this became a UFO for a specific reason, perhaps that reason will cause another project to become another UFO. Let's say, you don't like applique and that's why you stopped working on the project. Then I'm pretty sure that if you come across another applique project that that project has a high likelihood of becoming a UFO as well. Perhaps it would be best to NOT start another applique project.

I was thinking of that yesterday as I was working away. NO - I didn't get any quilting done. I had a couple of interruptions and well, I just didn't get to it. BUT I did get two of those small tops done for the magazine. They are done and waiting to be quilted.

And then I thought I had better plunge right in because the end of the year is fast approaching. YES -- I finally got ONE of the Amish quilts done! The top anyway! Why did this become a UFO? It's huge, it had applique and it wasn't a priority.

Amish with a Twist I  - Top is done!

 This was a project that Joann at Cockadoodle Quilts ran as a block of the month. She even had these cute little labels made for us. Notice the date - April 2013. That's not bad - four years!

Label for Amish with a Twist

 Actually, it was a label for our kit bag - it's a plastic laminated one so can't be used as a label on the quilt. But I intend to transfer that to fabric and use it on the label. Sadly, Joann and Cockadoodle are gone. Miss that store - we had a lot of fun there! And the store closed half way through the block of the month and thanks to Marlene, who got us geared up, we were able to get the remainder of the missing fabrics to finish the quilt. And the top is DONE, DONE, DONE!!!!!

But that's wasn't just the end of the process. Oh no - I had to make binding and lots of it because the quilt is huge. By the way, this quilt measures 88 by 104. That's TEN strips of fabric for the binding! Not only did it have the binding, but this quilt has piping in the binding. I know that I didn't have to make the piping, but I figure, what the heck - I might as well. I've never done it before. Besides, that is why I went to Fabricland the previous day - to get 25 meters of piping cord.

Piping is made!

 And yes - I had to make piping to fit in TEN strips of fabric - that was a lot of piping.

Amish with a Twist top with piping, binding and a fusible Amish buggy for the back

 I'm waiting for something very cool for the backing so I can't consider it completely done, but as much as is going to happen for the moment.

In case you're wondering what piping looks like in the binding, here's a sample. It's not finished. I hope to give it a whirl on a smaller project.

Piping in the binding

 Speaking of binding, I had better get a move on for those three remaining construction quilts. I got one more binding done this morning.

Construction quilt - DONE

 That makes two construction quilts completely done and two more that need about a half hour each. I do have a couple of errands today, but I could potentially get out of them and keep my head down and focused today. Yes, I know that sewing and quilting are supposed to be fun and that I need to do other things. Honestly, if I wasn't quilting, I have no idea what I would do. I can't read all day. I can't do puzzles all day - I would be bored out of my mind. So sewing keeps me busy and happy.

Although I did work on that list of UFOs yesterday and made good progress, I can't cross anything off the list as these are part of MULTIPLE quilts in the list, so I have to be completely finished the multiple items before they get crossed off!  Stupid me to have done that!!!!

I'm just super excited as the new year looms ahead - how can I tackle this mess and get it under control? The big thing will be to NOT start anything new that I have no intention of finishing! I'm thinking of all sorts of plans and ideas and I'm going to outline them on New Year's Day or maybe New Year's Eve. Depending on when I can remember!

So this is what remains of my 2017 UFO projects. Plus the two construction quilts. I - well - let's just see what happens. I can't get them all done, but I will do what I can!

UFOs from 2017 that are not completed

The other day I was at the grocery store to get stocked up. I was in the water aisle and remembered that I was getting low on distilled water for my iron. So I stocked up on water. The lady at the cash asked what I was doing with all that water and I said it was going to be used in my iron! She probably thought I was one of those kooks who irons underwear and sheets. Not in this house!

Distilled water stocked up

 I go through that darn stuff pretty quickly - well, this will last a couple of months!

I'm not a big user of pins, but I was pinning like crazy yesterday. Almost everything I worked on required me to use pins - joining strips for borders, bindings or piping or adding borders to quilts. All fiddly stuff. I like to keep one pin cushion on the cutting table where I do the pinning and the other one is by the sewing machine where I put the pins when I'm sewing. As one empties, I swap them. It works for me!

Two pincushions are very useful!

Oh yes - I should say that in 24 hours and ONE minute, I received the e-mail from Apple with the link to reset the password. What's with that? Most other places, you get the reset password e-mail in minutes.  I've no idea and we didn't get the e-mail that will allow me to get rid of that old e-mail address. I'm going to try and figure that out today. Maybe!

On that note, I'm out of here. My most productive time is early in the morning. I'm trying to decide if I should take the girls out. I'll wait until it's minus 10 - it's minus 14 right now. A wee bit cool for me, not them!

Have a great day!


Ciao!