Work on the UFOs

It was another glorious day! I went out for a long walk in the afternoon with no hat, and by the time I got home, my jacket was open, my scarf was dangling, and my mitts were in m pocket! I LOVE days like that. But it was cold when I took the girls out in the morning, and my legs were a bit red when I got back!

We had our UFO Clubs in the morning, which is always a hoot. Who did or didn't get their homework done? If they don't, $10 will be donated to the food bank at the end of the year, and I swear that people do NOT want to give up that money. Hey -- it worked for me! 

As you know, I've been working on the 150 Canadian Women quilt, which started in 2017. My blocks have been done for a while, but I needed to get them together. I had recently sewed the rows together but needed to add the sashing between the rows. Well, I decided to go for it! And this is the state of the quilt at this point. 

The current state of my 150 Canadian Women quilt

The top is now in three pieces. The bottom row only has six blocks because I'm going to add the name of the quilt in machine embroidery along the bottom. Then the rest of it is in two halves. That will make adding the label much easier than handling the big quilt. I MUST get that done this week. 

I used my embroidery software to create a machine embroidery font that matched what the designer did in her handouts. 

The font in the handouts

It's hard to tell in the photo, but the one I created for the software is the third one on the left. You have to love all the software tools available to us, and once you know how to use them -- ANYTHING is possible. 

The font is recreated in embroidery software

All 150 names are embroidered on the quilt backing, so I must get that assembled and find something for the binding. OH -- and I need to add two borders. 

I used EQ8 to design the outer border and figure out how wide the inner border needed to be to accommodate the outer border. Yep -- I love software and how I can marry it all together to get the job done.

The borders for my 150 Canadian Women quilt

I should also figure out what to do with the corners. But it's going to look amazing. And I will confess I "stole" the border idea and the machine embroidery idea from someone's quilt I saw online; although I did mine differently, but her quilt inspired me to do my thing. 

And to make things interesting for myself, I'm doing TWO UFOs a month -- one for each of the two groups. I know --- a sucker for punishment, but I'm getting things done. 

So when I was tidying, I discovered this project (among MANY others), and it's not on my list, so I deviated a bit there. 

Another UFO

The pieces were cut (from one fabric), and this is what I ended up with. The quilt is only 4 blocks by 4 blocks. And the texture of it looks fantastic. I now have to find something for the borders. 

The start of my next UFO

And I have a few blocks left over with a LOT of gold color in them. They just didn't go with the blocks above, and I'm tempted to rotate that one block (leftmost in the second row) as it's got a light spot that my eye goes to every time I look at the quit. 

The leftovers

The issue now is that I want to add the embroidered sunflowers, like the original pattern. However, that design is long gone. So I have to create (or buy) something. That is my goal for this month. Oh boy!!!!

I'll share some of the other UFO projects later this week. It's always exciting to see what they are working on, and one must avoid getting FOMO when looking at all the creativity. We must focus on getting things done! Our items, and not adding to those already lengthy lists!

I found a taker for almost everything I put up yesterday (THANK YOU). But the person who got the Barbie panels got a bonus! I knew I had this play mat for fashion dolls (11" -- because we don't want to say Barbie and have to pay royalty for that!). Anyway, I also had FOUR printed panels that look like Barbie's house, including a craft room. Does anyone remember this? I bought it at Jillybean's Pride, and we all know how long ago that store closed! 

Fashion Doll playmats

So that all must be bundled into a Canada Post box and mailed later this week. Another trip to the mall! It was easy to find that mat. Why? Because the box it was in was labeled. 

Labeled project boxes

I had a good idea where the box was, but since I was looking for that other project, I looked in a few other places. I believe the missing project is in a plastic bag, which is not good. I don't have a visual relationship to the location of any project in a plastic bag, so I may or may not find it. Those labels are VISUAL reminders!

But in the meantime, I found this pattern I had lost years ago! I had to borrow the pattern from my Aunt Irene to make these two quilts for my Mom. Wow -- that pattern was "lost" for over 10 years! 

A missing pattern is now found

Now that my items are more or less sorted, I need to go through them thoroughly and make lists of what is where. This will be a pain in the butt, but it would make it much easier to find something. Even the process of doing that would make me remember where things are. There was so much switching around as I found homes for everything that some stuff got "lost." And I can sort them depending on where they get stored. 

I hate to admit it, but there are FIVE areas where projects are stored, and it would be nice to have one place just for UFOs. OH - they are all UFOs, so I need to develop a better structure than that! Something to think about on the next walk. How to sort the UFOs. Mostly done? Barely started? Are they on my Master Lists? It would be good to have all the projects I've highlighted on my annual lists in one spot. The missing project is on that list! Do I have time for that? I should make time!  

And as I was rooting around where that lost pattern was, I found other boxes filled with a background fabric and a pattern. Those can be pulled apart, as I'll likely never make them. Oh boy --- as Elle said, I will be at this sorting and organizing for a long time. But the more I do, the better it gets, so I just need to keep sorting and decluttering. 

Lots of e-mails went out the door yesterday. I still have more distribution lists to create and double-check. And there are two more follow-up e-mails, and then I'm caught up with that. Just in time to have more classes this coming weekend! 

I've got more writing, and I NEED to get the long arm fired up!!!

And we've had several SERIOUS conversations about one car versus two cars. You'll have to wait with bated breath as to what we decide. It's not a done deal yet. 

But right now? I'm on my way to spin class. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!