UFO Homework

With all this decluttering and learning how my phone works, there was one aspect of my phone that hadn't been done. How to put my pictures in the cloud. Well - now they are in the cloud and off my phone. How did I do that? Well, there are a lot of Google apps that one must learn how to use. So after a gentle push from Ronda to make that happen, the photos are now floating in the cloud. What I need to do now is start deleting some of them. There are loads that I no longer need or photo sessions with the girls that I need to select the best ones and so on.

Bottom line - I'm learning so much. My brain is positively brimming with new stuff. It's very difficult to keep up with everything - new sewing technology, new phone technology, and a whole lot more stuff. NEW NEW NEW.

However, I have to get back to the last post that I prepped before I went away at the beginning of October. It's the UFO homework from September.

This has been a super successful class or group or whatever you want to call it. Yep - it's going to happen again next year. I'll be sitting down soon and figuring out what classes, groups, etc. that I'll be offering in the new year. That'll be about mid-November if not sooner.

Let's start with Susan. She's making these blocks that are assembled with English Paper Piecing. Holy - that's a lot of work, but the blocks look amazing. This one block was her homework.

Susan's block is completed

There are twenty blocks in the quilt. I think she's completed 16 of them. She started this project in January of 2018 so that's not bad. Great job Susan. I can't remember the name of the project, but I'll get that info for the next post.

The rest of the blocks that are completed 

Dede is working on Rosewood Cottage. She's got all the stitching accomplished on the two side borders. If any of you are familiar with the pattern, you probably don't recognize those dragonflies. Nope - they are NOT part of the pattern. She added those in. The color of this quilt is stunning. It's hard to appreciate it from the photo.

Dede's Rosewood Cottage side borders

Lynne's goal was to get this quilt top together. It's the summer sew-along (2018) from Border Creek Station.  It was called Let's be Friends. She purchased a kit. I don't know if it was intentional but look at the photo. Do you see how the colors are very nicely placed with a bright block interspersed with a duller color?  The layout of the blocks looks awesome.

Lynne's quilt top

Because she purchased a kit, she didn't have any extra fabric to make a sashing. So the blocks had to be pressed in a very specific way to fit together properly. Let's just say that a wee bit of ripping and a wee bit of repressing was required to make this work. This was a slight oversight of the pattern. GRRR!!!!  One block - that shouldn't have been the case. But I digress.

Detail of the pieced blocks

Lynne had some fabric leftover so she made a pillowcase (gift or storage bag) for the quilt. What a clever idea. And this would be awesome if it were serged (I'm not sure if it was), but that would prevent the seams from fraying when it (or if) it gets washed. This is a great thing to have in case any repairs are needed for the quilt.

Pillowcase (gift bag) for Lynne's quilt top

Sharon is working on her chunk of the month. This was a block of the month from several years ago. I designed the project. She got one more section added. Getting to the end!!!! The value change from light to dark is pretty cool. I do need to finish mine - someday. It's actually called Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

Sharon's chunk of the month

Elaine got the center section of her Stitcher's Garden quilt together. Those colors are looking awesome. It's a super quilt to learn how to use your sewing machine and the accessory feet a wee bit better. Yep - I'm working on that one as well.

Elaine's Stitcher's Garden quilt

Linda was working on an autumn quilt. The main part of the top is together. I think there's some applique or fancy quilting that's going in the center.

Linda's autumn quilt top is completed

Ronda's goal was to have the Amish with a Twist II quilt top together. It was done and ready to be quilted.

Ronda's Amish with a Twist II

I'm also working on Stitcher's Garden. My goal was to have the backgrounds of the remaining blocks quilted. Yep - that got completed. Yeah!!!

My block backgrounds for Stitcher's Garden

Laura's goal (and one for me) was to have her Kaleidoscope quilt quilted with the binding on and ready to hand stitch the binding. She finished the top, I quilted the quilt and sewed on the binding. Now she's busy hand stitching.

Laura's Kaleidoscope quilt - DONE

Diane's goal was to have her fall shop hop quilt (2018) together. The top that is. It's together and ready to be quilted.

Diane's Shop Hop quilt

Liz's goal was to get this Christmas quilt top completed. And it's done. I attempted to rotate that picture, but for some reason, rotating in that software isn't working. Back to Photoshop Elements for future rotations.

Liz's Christmas quilt top  - DONE

I like this picture better anyway. Why are quilt tops like magnets to our pets?? I bet that cat is thinking up its Christmas list.

Cat approved! 

 Liz also finished this project. It's a panel with borders.

Another quilt finished by Liz

 She did some big stitching in the border for quilting. I love that and it's something that I want to try.

Big stitching in the gold border

I had to save the best for last. Shelly couldn't make the meeting so she sent a photo. She sent several photos. Her goal was to finish the top of this Shop Hop quilt from several years ago. Great job Shelly - the quilt looks awesome.

Shelly's Shop Hop quilt

However, doesn't this picture just beg a few questions???  Is this really her clothesline? Is her hubby really that short that he needs a ladder to reach the clothesline? Well inquiring minds want to know the story of this photoshoot! It's hilarious. Thanks for the chuckle, Shelly. BTW - isn't red a derivative of PINK???

No one wanted to give up $10 that month! We've already met for October, so I have to get those pictures edited for you. That leaves two months left. How much more money will be accumulated?? I hope no more money goes into the pot! We're going to have a nice pizza lunch on the last day! I can hardly wait!!!

I'm teaching a class this afternoon and I have a few more errands (drop-offs) for this morning and a wee bit of paperwork.

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!!

The UFO class

I'm being totally lazy this morning. I think I'm exhausted from the lack of sleep the night before. And travel days can be crazy even though you don't really seem to be doing anything.

I have to tell you about the plane ride. I get a check-in notification 24 hours in advance, but often don't get a chance to check in right away. DH tells me that I NEED to do it immediately as that is why I keep getting in a middle seat. Yep - in the middle seat again. Not a big deal. It's a short flight to Halifax.

I arrive at my seat to find the person in the window seat is already there. I barely sit down and the person in the aisle seat comes. Perfect arrangement - no one has to do the seat shuffle. But I swear the man in the aisle seat had ADHD. He was bopping around the plane up and down the aisle helping people put their luggage in the overhead bin. He was closing the bins. He was offering pillows and blankets. He was out of control.

He tried to engage in conversation with myself and my other seatmate, but we weren't having any of it. Not that he wasn't a nice man, but he just seemed off and a conversation didn't seem like a good idea. There was a Mom with two young kids in front of us. At one point, the guy bounces out of his seat, takes his shoes off and is rummaging in the overhead bin for what? Pillows and blankets to offer the kids. Well, they didn't want them. Good grief. And he has to point out to the flight attendant that he took his shoes off to stand on the seat to rummage through the overhead bin.

When we were finished with our drinks, he picked up all our cups and took them to the back of the plane. When the attendants came by to pick up the trash, he had to tell them that he already took our stuff to the back. Oh yes - when the food cart came by, he had to ask questions but didn't buy. Then when the drink cart came by, he wanted to buy food. He was just off! 

The guy beside me was pretty quiet except that a lady got on the plane who had the same seat. The attendants came and checked his ID and boarding pass THREE times. Good grief - what's that all about. Apparently, he was flying standby and had been traveling for days. He got to stay in the window and the other lady got bumped up!

But I survived the flight and my screen worked and I listened to my audiobook. My flight was a bit delayed and once I arrived at the airport, I had to wait for my colleagues who were on the next flight. Actually, that was a great thing. I sat in the food court area, got out my notebook and made a list of all the "urgent" things that have to be done. Technically, they're not all urgent, but there are things that need to be addressed. It's all categorized and I'm quite happy. There are multiple pages but at least it's all down on paper and no longer just in my head.

I also found a note in my notebook (which I've been ignoring for a long time - the notebook that is) that I owe my brother some money. I paid that while I was waiting. I was very productive and I had nothing else to do. I seriously needed that time. It was perfect.

We arrived at the hotel and got ourselves organized for the dealer event today. Thankfully the event is in the hotel so no traveling time is needed except to get downstairs.

OK - so let's have a look at the show n tell from the UFO class on the weekend. This has been the best class that I've ever created/lead. We are MOTIVATED to get our UFOs done. People are doing more than they committed to doing. I'm so excited about this class. Technically we are 12 in the group, and supposed to meet for one hour, but we were extra long this past week because there was so much show n tell. I plan to do it again next year and perhaps I'll run more than one session if people are interested.

Let's start with Susan. Susan is working on her Farm Girl Vintage. Her goal was to get the sashing on the blocks - she has made some big blocks, as well as some small blocks. She was also going to figure out a basic layout for the blocks. She did and realized that she needs more blocks. I'm going from memory here, but I do believe that her goal is to make a few more blocks for the next session.

Sashing is now on Susan's Farm Girl Vintage blocks

Then Susan had to tell us about the NEW Lori Holt book that's coming out. It's called Farm Girl Vintage 2.  I guess I have to get that one as well. It's not out until September and some of the blocks had been available for purchase off the internet. Check it out!

Then Susan brings out this purse. At first, I thought she was bringing out her purse and I wondered why she was doing that. But NO - this is a purse that she made. We all swore that it was purchased she did such an amazing job on it. Truly impressed with all the pockets, hardware, vinyl and other things that added to the very professional look of her purse which is for her daughter. That wasn't on the UFO list - that was a bonus!

Susan's very professional looking bag that she made

Sharon has completed the quilt top for her Winter Wonderland. YEAH!!!!!   This was years in the making and now the top is completely done including all the embroidery. Way to go Sharon!!!!

Winter Wonderland quilt top - DONE

What's up next for Sharon? She's now working on Stitcher's Garden quilt. This is the same quilt that I'm working on. Completely different look because of the different fabrics. Her blocks are together.

Stitcher's Garden

Her goal is to get two borders on the quilt. We helped audition some fabrics for the border and I think she's set for this month.

Auditioning border fabric

Elaine accomplished a lot this past month. One of her goals was experimenting with some quilting on her sewing machine for the top she had finished the previous month. Great samples of quilting and trying new features on the sewing machine. Awesome!!!!

Machine quilting practice

She had also committed to putting the last border on this quilt from one of the July shop hops. The border is on. It has a print on it that she matched at the corners. I have to say that I wouldn't have had the patience to do that, but we each have priorities. It looks awesome!!!

The border is on the July Shop Hop quilt

She had one other item on her list which was to cut her Postcards from New Zealand quilt. The blocks are cut and her goal for next month is to have the quilt top put together minus borders I believe.

Block pieces are cut and ready to sew together

Ronda was working on her Amish with a Twist II. She got the center section together. There are nine sections in total. She's going to have a wee bit more free time this month so her plan is to get four more sections together.

The center of Ronda's Amish with a Twist II

Each of us is in a different place as far as how much time we can devote to getting our UFOs done. The goal is to not go crazy - the object of this exercise is to commit to an amount of work that you know you can get done.

Laura's commitment for the past month was to make two sets of blocks. That would have made a total of eight blocks. This is for her Kaleidoscope quilt. However, she was on a roll. She got the eight blocks completed, then said - what the heck, I might as well finish the last four blocks which she did. But then she went on and got the large corner triangles sewn together!!! Way to go Laura!!!!

Laura's big triangles for Kaleidoscope

Her goal for this coming month is to get the entire top sewn together. I can't wait to see it!!!

Dede brought in her quilt from last month. I had only a small picture to share last month, but this quilt is so darn cute, here it is again in person. I love it!!!

Blizzard Block of the Month

Her goal for this past month was to sew this next quilt top together. She forgot to bring the quilt top so we had a good laugh about that!!!  She went home under strict orders to send me a picture so she wouldn't forfeit her $10 for the month. It's sideways - sorry for that.

Dede's quilt top is together

Her goal for next month is to put the borders on the snowman quilt. She and I have a date booked to get that done as one of the fabrics is going to require a mitered border.

I managed to get both of my blocks done. We met at 11:00 AM - I think I finished at 10:30!!! But the blocks are done. This is from the same quilt that Sharon is working on. Totally different look because of the fabrics. That center heart is made using pintuck fabric (that I made) and then I used all kinds of decorative stitches for the applique. Going to be a "fun" quilt to quilt!!!

Block One

Here is block number two. The center stem on that block is made with embroidery floss and my braid foot. Lots of cool techniques.

The second block of my homework

I've committed to making two more blocks for the next month.

I think that covers everyone who was at the meeting. Shelly and Liz were away and Linda didn't get her homework done because of travel. A whopping $30 got added to the kitty this month!

Diane doesn't attend the meeting but I see her on Mondays. This is her homework for the month. This is the July Shop Hop quilt from one of the years. Of course, Diane had to make hers bigger.

Diane's July Shop Hop quilt top

Her goal is to work on another July Shop Hop quilt. I'm sure she's done already - I haven't been to Monday in a while.

Diane's next project

That's so exciting to see all those older projects getting completed. It's just the best and I can't wait to get my quilt that I'm working on completed so I can tackle the next UFO. I must try and work a wee bit ahead, but this is just a super busy time!

On that note, I'd better get myself in the shower and then off to breakfast so I'm not late for the start of the meeting this morning.

Have a great day - dig out a UFO and set some goals for yourself.

Ciao!!!!

UFOs

I had a great class teaching applique to a local guild yesterday morning and then back home where we had our first UFO class. Oh my - for those of you who did NOT sign up - well too bad. It was loads of fun - we're definitely going to learn from each other and I've realized that $10 is worth a lot to me! And the others as well.

In previous classes where there was a financial penalty, I realized that it's very hard to get the money out of the students. They don't show up or they don't cough up the cash. This time, I'm holding their cash hostage. If they get the homework done, they get the cash back. If they don't, it goes into a pot and we'll decide later what happens to the money. Hopefully, there won't be any money in the pot at the end of the year. And in one person's case, I'm holding their cash refund so it's like forced savings for them!  Go figure!

We meet again in two weeks so that timeline had to be taken into consideration when deciding what goals could be accomplished before the next meeting. Just in case you think some of the goals are not big enough. The goals set were also dependant on how much time each person has to work on the project in the next two weeks.

Some of the people just needed a deadline set for them and some people needed advice or to learn a technique or figure out the next steps. We had a round robin discussion for those that needed help which was great as we all pitched ideas to the owner of the UFO and now it's up to them to sort it out.

It was interesting to see the projects that people brought. Let's have a look and see what happened.

We started off with Elaine S. She brought a "brand-new" UFO. She hasn't really started the project yet but has had all the tools, pattern, and fabric for a while. So it qualifies as a UFO. A quick lesson on how to use the Quick Curve Ruler and she's good to go. Her goal: make a couple of sample blocks to get the technique down pat before she starts on the good fabric!

Elaine S - Urban Abacus by Sew Kind of Wonderful

Lynne brought a completed quilt top that she designed herself. Hm - what does she need help with? Ah - the quilting. We chatted about various types of quilting appropriate for the top and she got the information she needed. Her homework is to get part of the quilting done and look for a specific motif that she wants to incorporate on the quilt.

Lynne M

Susan brought this quilt top. The photo doesn't do the fabric justice. The quilt is gorgeous and we told her to watch it or it might disappear. She had fabric for the borders/binding but wasn't sure which was which. We offered suggestions and her homework is to figure out what she has, which fabric will go where and be ready to cut.

Susan's quilt top

 Liz also brought a quilt top. This is from the book called Candy Cane Lane by Melinda Bula. Oh dear - I just found out that she lost her home in the Camp Fire in California and her online shop is temporarily closed. Liz has modified the quilt quite a bit from the book, but had run into difficulty with the top border. We had a big discussion about options for the top. Her task is to finish the stitching around the appliques and then make a decision on what goes in the top.

Liz's quilt top - Candy Cane Lane is the inspiration

 Laura brought Kaleidoscope by Quilt Addicts Anonymous. The center part of the quilt is together!!!  And some of the other blocks for the huge triangles (to set this medallion on point) are together. Her goal is to sort through the blocks that are made to figure out what still needs to be made and to cut everything that isn't already cut.

Laura's Kaleidoscope

 Ronda brought Amish with a Twist II by Nancy Rink Designs. She has quite a few blocks made but is missing a few. Her goal is to make two blocks.

Ronda's Amish with a Twist II

Shelley wasn't able to make it because of sketchy weather. Hey - it's January and she lives far away. We gave her a break. But not because of that. She sent me numerous pictures of her project so it was like she was here! She's making a poodle quilt and her goal is to finish the six blocks needed to sew the quilt together. I wonder what she stood on to take this picture? A ladder?? Not sure the source of her pattern.

Shelley's poodle quilt

Sharon was not here either as she was sunning herself on the beach somewhere in the Caribbean. Never mind, she's going to do double duty when she comes to the next class!

I decided to play with the group and I chose Stitcher's Garden as my project. I taught this class TWICE and only got three blocks done. That's sad - typical but sad!

Stitcher's Garden

 Some of the other blocks are started! This takes up a lot of room on my shelf and I want the space so it's getting done. Here's some of the blocks partially finished. My goal - finish Month 4 which has two blocks to do  - bits and pieces of both of them in the picture below.

My homework for the next class

I decided after the group left yesterday that I would get started while I was fired up. First road block - what color thread did I use to quilt the backgrounds of each block? That thread stayed with the project for a few years (the first time I taught it was in 2015). I put the thread in the thread box because I was tired of it falling off the shelf. 

Backgrounds of all the applique blocks are quilted

 But a quick trip to the thread box and I found this - I'm pretty sure that it's the right thread. If not - it's close enough!!!!

The thread for quilting the backgrounds

 This is going to be a fun year-long project. As one person finishes their project (to their point of finish), then they get to choose another project and from the sounds of it, there's a lot of UFOs out there.

While I was tidying up - I have three empty pizza boxes. Anyone want a pizza box to put their project in??? I suppose I could use them with some of the other stuff lying around.

Three empty pizza boxes

Guess what other exciting thing is happening today?? No - not the snow storm. Shoveling is already boring for the year. But I don't mind - it's good exercise if you do it properly.

No - it's my week to blog on QUILTsocial. This week, I'm using the HUSQVARNA VIKING Designer Brilliance 80. It's a sewing and embroidery machine. It has so many wonderful features. You must check it out. Don't forget that there's an app for QUILTsocial that you can download to your smart device. Then you just open the app and there's the latest post from QUILTsocial. There's loads of cool information on that website. Even though I'm reviewing the sewing machine, I'm still providing tons of tips on sewing stuff that you can apply to your projects.

On that note, I'm out of here. It's Monday sewing and I'm fired up to work on my other UFO from the UFO list. The hand applique one. The gingerbread boy!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

Hell has frozen over!

Or so it feels like. It's a wee bit cool this morning and even the girls were quite happy to be back in the house after about 2 minutes outside! I'm guessing we won't be going to the dog park this morning.

Which is great - more time for sewing! It's the last day of the year and time to review that list of UFOs for 2017. I told you, I'm not throwing in the towel until midnight tonight!

I did NOT get any quilts quilted yesterday. I went to the gym for a class - I never go there on Saturday. Anyway, it was a good class and I came home all relaxed and fired up to sew!

I decided to start with Amish with a Twist II. This was a class that I taught in 2015 so not too old, but old enough! I cut most of the little squares for the second to last border the previous day. I randomly sewed the squares together and when I was pressing the last border, I had a good chuckle. What are the odds that I would end up with TWO squares in the exact order and the exact same position as two pieces in the quilt? That was weird!

Two squares in the border in the same place as the fabrics in the quilt

Hey - that wasn't so bad. Let's move onto the last border which was pretty easy. Big hunks of fabric that only needed one join and cornerstones.

I'm a pretty neat presser, but what the heck happened here? My mind must have wandered, to say the least.

A badly pressed sam

 And it looks even uglier on the back.

Oops - let's try that pressing again!

 Even though I normally join my border strips on the diagonal, I joined these with a straight seam. It meant that I could get away with just two strips for each border and the border is 9 inches wide. It would have been a big waste of fabric.

Squirrel! Oh - I needed an ender and leader project while I was working and I just happened to have two of these blocks cut out. This is the block (designed by me) that appeared in Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 16. But now those two blocks are done!

Two blocks - done!

Very versatile block as it can be turned in many different directions.

Another way to position the blocks

 Then it was onto the telephone for hours (or so it seemed) chatting with family members. Oh - can we please get this quilt top done?  So one more push and voila - the top for Amish with a Twist II is DONE!

Amish with a Twist II - top is done!

 It's actually a very nice quilt - I really like it and can't wait to get it quilted! I've resolved that if I'm going to be finishing more quilt tops this year, I had better get my butt in gear and get some of them quilted as I do not want to add to those tubs of tops that are currently sitting there waiting to be done.

Here's a bit better picture of the top - well a quarter of it. It's so big and it was dark by the time I got it finished, it was hard to get a decent picture with just the camera flash.

A quarter of the top - Amish with a Twist II

 Oh, let's take a few minutes to finish trimming those green/white half square triangles which if you were observant came from the blocks that were in the magazine. And that's all I'm saying about for the moment.

Bag of squared up half square triangles

As I was putting on those last two borders, I did have a wee bit of a panic attack. Hmm, all the border fabric appears to be here, but what about the binding? I couldn't find any binding fabric. And I REFUSE to buy any. Well - it was getting late in the day and I knew I wouldn't find what I was looking for. And I was determined to cross this item off my list.

After cutting the big outer border, I had this much fabric left over. I must have intended to use that for the binding! Sound goods to me. I needed 11 strips at 2 ½" wide.

Enough fabric for the binding

 I think the original color was supposed to be purple or something like that, but I think this will work just fine.

Cut, cut, cut and voila - 11 strips. It must have been meant to be because there was just a small scrap leftover.

Eleven strips and a wee bit leftover

 The top and the binding are done! Yeah!

Binding and top - done!

 Time to clean up the project box. We had bought these fusible appliques to go on the back. I seemed to have ended up with a few extra. Anyone want to buy a fusible horse and buggy? And I have a kit (no pattern) that was part of the row by row a couple of years ago that came with two horse and buggy appliques.

Extra fusible appliques of Amish horse and buggy

Now I have added my fusible applique of the horse and buggy to the mix.

Are we done yet?

 Then it was time for me and The Task Master to have a little bit of review and to set the goals for this coming week. For those of you not in the know, The Task Master is simply a plain notebook where I dedicate one page per week to write down the things that I need to get done that week. I'll go into more detail in another post. My list of 12 UFOs for the current year are listed on their own page and the list for 2018 are also listed.

I like to post quotes in my book - something fun to do, but not necessary. I had an extra of this book of positive quotes so I keep it with my Task Master.

The Task Master tools

 While I was very excited with my progress, The Task Master reminded me that I could NOT cross that item off my list just yet because - yep - I still had to make the piping for this quilt. I know - PIPING! I'm not sure why the designer chose piping since that's kind of a fussy thing and the Amish are known for simplicity. Not too worry - I want to make the piping.

I need 11 - 1" strips. Good thing I didn't need more because I had 12" of fabric.

Just enough to get the required amount to make the piping

 Oh yes, forgot to mention that I started a new ender and leader project. When I was tidying up one storage area, I came across this bag of cut bits. Notice that I seemed to be very focused on NOT working on that quilt! Anyway, all the bits were shoved into a bag (very neatly labeled), but I couldn't sew it all crammed up in the bag so I found these containers. They are way too big - I need to find something smaller.

New ender and leader project

 And the bits are small! But I do believe that the entire quilt is cut out.

Small bits - perfect for enders and leaders

 Back to the piping. I had this much leftover after cutting my 11 strips.

Leftover strip from the piping fabric

Then I had to join the strips together and press it in half. Yes - a horrid job since it was only 1" wide. But it got done. And guess what?  YEP -- the binding, the piping, and the top are DONE!!!!   The backing is coming later so I can't get that prepped at this time.

Amish with a Twist II - DONE!

 Didn't you hear that cheer? I'm sure my entire neighborhood heard it! OK - so it was silent cheer - didn't want my family to think I'm off my rocker - well any more than I'm currently off it!

I ran to The Task Master and with her permission, I happily crossed that project off - which was actually two projects because the item also included Amish with a Twist I. I did a count - there were 13 items on that list - one for each month of 2017 and one for December 2016. BUT in total, there were 20 quilts as some of the quilts had been grouped together. What the heck was I thinking??  Obviously, I was new to this goal setting thing and had no clue! Let's hang onto that thought!

When I went to Fabricland earlier this week, it was to buy 25 meters of cording. This is all that remains.

Leftover piping cord

That's what I like - buy something and use it up right away!  I'm going to try and make that my new motto for this year. I'm not sure how successful I'll be, but I'm going to try. We need to have something in our wallets or our heads or attached to our VISA cards that will remind us that we don't need more stuff unless we have an immediate plan for it. I was at the mall the other day with M. We went into a tea place and I ALMOST bought a cute little teapot for using loose tea. I even took it to the cash and then thought that I didn't need it. I put it back on the shelf! We need a code word to make us think before we buy. Hmm - what kind of code word?

 I have a small project in mind where I can use that leftover piping cord so I'm going to dig that out - well, it's already out. Something small that needs to have binding put on it.

I'm close, really close to completing the projects that I committed to in my blog yesterday. There are still TWO quilts that need to have the binding stitched to the front. Let's push and get this done! I got one done this morning.

Binding on construction quilt #3

 That leaves ONE more quilt to put the binding on today. I have all day to do it and it only takes about ½ hour.  If I can't get it done, well, I've no one to disappoint but myself and The Task Master of course!

Let's go back to that UFO list for 2017.  While there were a total of 13 items on the list, in fact, there were 20 quilts on that list. TWENTY! And some of them had to be started almost from scratch. I obviously had dilusions of grandeur! While I completed 6 of the 13 items on the list, in fact, I finished 11 of 20 quilts. Including the one that I'm going to finsih today!  I feel pretty good about that! No I feel FABULOUS and I wouldn't have done it without The Task Master to keep reminding me of what had to be done.

I forgot to post the link to the last QUILTsocial post that I did last Friday. In case you haven't seen it - check it out. There is some really good stuff in how to design a quilt.

I didn't post pictures of the quilting of my table topper, but here's a better look. I'm super happy with it! And if you want to learn machine quilting and free motion quilting, in particular, I'm teaching an awesome class. More details on that in the new year when I post my class listing.

Quilting on the table topper

The back of the table topper

And there you have it - a very successful year in the quilting world for me!

Tomorrow is Monday and I'll be back with more details about The Task Master as I believe there are new people who have joined the Facebook group! I've got some great plans on what to do with my time in 2018 and I can't wait to share them with you. We're all in this together!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!