It's all about finishing UFOs

Today's post should be called EXIT Game excitement! We sat and mulled the darn puzzle over at dinner, and I was getting tired of it and wanted to leave it. DH continued to mull it over and then said something VERY IMPORTANT. We forgot a VERY VISUAL clue, and as soon as he mentioned it, finding the answer was easy! So, points to DH for solving that one. Hanging up the laundry was easy. 

We moved on to the next door. I was trying to print a quilt label as he mulled over the cards. What could it be? He was looking at blank (black) cards with his flashlight and nothing. So I had a look and found the answer within a minute! Ooops!!! So we solved TWO puzzles yesterday!

But at one point, he was getting frustrated. AHA --- doesn't it feel much better to mull it over one more time than look at the clues? We're on Day 10 now (out of 24), and we've only looked at clues twice. The first clue was because I had looked at the clue last year and maybe Day Three? But we're getting better at it. Hmm --- what do we always say? You must PRACTICE, and solving these puzzles requires practice. OK -- so it requires a bit of out-of-the-box thinking, which we both have, but this is pushing us. 

What will we chat about when we reach the end of these games? Oh -- I'll be scouring the internet for others as we love them!

Yesterday was the UFO Club, and I'm amazed at how muchpush pushing themselves (including me) to get things done! It's great to have a deadline, and it's even better to complete some of these long-overdue projects or at least make progress on them. I'm working on Cabin in the Woods and have TWO on the go. That's what I used to do when teaching in the past. I'd finish one bit of homework to show them the final look, and one would be in pieces. 

My plan for yesterday was to have all the applique cut for the center. I had most of it cut, but not all. I didn't penalize myself because I had made a great effort to get that done. Last night, I sat with Harry Potter, and I finished all the cutting. 

Here's one of the quilts. You can't really see, but there are two fish and a canoe along the bottom, a bear and two deer (elk) just above those, and an an eagle in the top. 

Cabin in the Wood Number One

Here's the second quilt, which also has the same applique pieces. I wasn't sure about the applique, but now that it's done, I LOVE IT!! 

Quilt number two

I'm using various fabrics for the applique - some are batik, something similar to ultrasuede and wool. Why not? It's all an experiment. I had done hand applique on the leaves on the first one, but I won't do that this time. I'll do everything by machine. 

Here's a closeup of my salmon. I love how he turned out!The shapes are not fused to the quilt yet. I'll stitch them down and then sew everything together. Hmm -- how much could I get done if I focused a bit more this month? 

The salmon

My homework for next month is to finish cutting ALL the applique shapes for the remaining FIVE borders, but I have a plan. Then, it all needs to be stitched in place, so it will take a while before I'm done with these two quilts. 

I had to laugh because when I was at the retreat, I managed to sew TWO UFOs in two days, but they were easy. Remember these quilts? The center of this one was made of THREE play panels, and then I added the blue border and the crazy pieced mitered border. But it was a project that I could finish in ONE day! 

One UFO done at retreat

This one was already cut, and it took two days to finish it, but both of these UFOs were easy!!

One more UFO done at retreat

The ones I seem to tackle in UFO Club are the sew-alongs ($10 quilts) from years ago that I never finished. Those were ones that we split up over a year, and I just got behind - very far behind on some of them. In the last ten years, I've become more diligent about keeping up with the class, so those quilts should no longer be an issue. And also the number of classes is significantly reduced! But I have enough of those big UFOs to last a LONG time. 

So what happened here? They are pretty good about sharing, but Murphy wouldn't move her big butt, so the little guy was forced to sleep on the step? What's that all about? 

GRANDMA - help me!!!!

I almost died laughing when I saw that, but I had to run for the camera first! He's so cute! And I guess he's not afraid of the stairs!!

But then he got to come and sit with me while I did the UFO Zooms. He's quiet as a mouse and happy to be with me. 

My supervisor during the UFO Zoom

As I survey the wreckage that was my "to-do" list for the week, I see that I'm a bit behind in some of the paperwork. I HATE carrying over tasks from week to week (it's a pain to rewrite them), but it must be done. I make the list for the week on Sunday night, but I was tired, so that's first on the list of things to do this morning! And if I'm really good, I can get a few things done BEFORE I make the new list this morning! 

Well, I'm off to spin class this morning - yes, even though it's a holiday, some of us still want to get our butts out of the house and onto a bike! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!