UFO-Donation Quilt

Awhile back, I posted a log of all of my UFO's. It's really been bugging me that I have so many unfinished projects and I refuse to start new ones until the only ones are done. So when my quilt guild issued a UFO challenge where you provide a list of your UFO's then get an entry for a prize pack for each UFO you finish this year... I jumped on it.

Because of the requirements, only some of the projects on my UFO log qualified. Those that did are 1) The Little Gem (currently missing after move) 2) Donation Quilt 3) Log Cabin Star 4) Dan's Airplane Quilt 5) Scrappy Happy 6) Christmas Lone Star 7) Country Americana 8) Galaxy Quest BOM 9) Black, White and Bright Block Swap 10) Red, White and Blue Block Swap and 11) Mariska's Tulip Pinwheel Quilt (started since UFO log post).

When I started looking through the UFO's to find a beginning point (since The Little Gem is missing), I wanted something that would be fairly easy to finish so I would feel a sense of accomplishment and be motivated to keep working. I landed on the Donation Quilt. It just needs quilting... I have previously machine quilted this quilt but when I turned it over, the quilting looked like swastikas. That was not acceptable to me so I ripped the whole thing out and that's how it landed in the UFO pile. Seems simple enough right?! So that's where I started. It took a few days but I decided on a quilting design that is pattern but not like the stars in the quilt. I found it on Quilting-Tidbits.com. I ended up marking the quilt incorrectly as I worked from the center down the quilt. The result is not noticeable and I have decided to leave it as this quilt is no longer a donation, the event passed. I will hold on to it and pass it to someone who would appreciate it, I just don't have anyone in mind at the moment. It's not quite done because I had to stop and work on something else more pressing (see Dyson's Weighted Blanket post) but will return to it soon. I am determined to finish this quilt.

Continuous quilting as it appears on the back of the quilt.

Up close look at the quilting on the front of the quilt.

I hopefully will have this done by the end of June and will be able to mark another UFO off the list.

Quilters Guild

I am so excited, I finally found and joined a quilters guild! Every place we've lived, the guilds have not been near my home or were not accepting new members. So this is a first for me.

After moving to Morgan Hill, I met a mom through my mom's group who quilts. She invited me to visit her guild, Piece by Piece Quilters Guild, for the March meeting where they held a member's showcase. I really enjoyed the meeting so I turned in all my paperwork and fees at the next meeting. I was named a guild member in May 2012.

The April speaker was a gentleman from the local sewing and vacuum store about machine care. I learned a lot about what not to do with my machine... I do a lot of bad things to it. I really enjoyed hearing neat little tips and hints on how to keep my machine healthy to minimize trips for service, which I will take advantage of as it can get costly to take your machine in every 30K miles.

The May speaker was very impressive! We had a visit from Mary Mashuta; she spoke about color. Some of her quilt examples and inspirational photos (of Berkeley area houses and cars) left me speechless. I immediately went home and looked up some quilt patterns that I could use to play with different color craziness. She is such a creative lady.

I've been participating in the guild's block of the month. Basically, we make a block based on the pattern chosen for that month and for each block we submit, we get one entry to win all the blocks made that month. The April block was a buttercup for which I made two. I really wanted to win that month as I loved the pattern but so many people participated that the odds were stacked against me. The lady who won got some AMAZING blocks.

My Buttercup blocks for April BOM drawing.

May's block was a Pinwheel in a box of which I made only one with a yellow with medium white polka dots and a white on white. The entries were very colorful and it would have been nice to win them but alas, I missed out again. June's block was a Floral Wheel and I just wasn't interested in winning, so I didn't make one.

I finally got around to making my quilt guild name tag. I am quite proud of the color combinations as it was made completely of scraps. The embroidery letters were done on my machine. I used a stabilizer but it still went a little crooked but I've never really messed with this function before. So for a first time, it's not too bad. Especially since the machine is a quilting machine, not a embroidery machine.

My quilt guild name tag.

Two meetings ago, I signed up to participate in the Breast Cancer Quilt. I've done a number of blocks before for various Breast Cancer Donation events. I am looking forward to participating in this event with my new guild. It is all that more special since it is a cause that is so close to my heart. Stay tuned for more on this.