Another UFO Bites the Dust!

About a year ago, at the height of my Farm Girl Vintage frenzy, I was doing projects left and right. It was around this time that I realized my "style" or quilting, so I took advantage and made project after project. No harm there! However, I have a few unfinished projects here and there in my sewing room as a result fo the FGV mania. This weekend, I finally finished one of them.

First up was getting the batting ready. I have so many 6" or 7" wide scraps of batting, most of them leftover from quilts taken to the longer-armer. I can't say it was a real joy to piece them all together, but it did yield enough batting to finish the project.

I butted the pieces up against each other and sewed them together with a wide zig-zag stitch then flipped them over and did the same on the other side. Stitching a second time may not have been necessary but I wanted to be sure they wouldn't come apart. A good pressing with the iron flattened them out nicely.

The main aim was to "git 'er done!" so I opted for a quick straight line quilting job. Easy peasy! Typically, I'm a fan of attaching the binding by machine and then hand-turning it. I love the look of a binding with no visible stitches, but lately I've gotten a lot better at doing the binding completely by machine. That's now my go-to binding method for some projects, mostly quilts that aren't going to end up on a bed or a lap. Within four hours, I had four of these little cuties quilted and bound...

The design was inspired by the Blue Plate Special pattern. This particular placemat is mine; I'm a lefty, so the cutlery pocket is on the left. ;) Although I have a couple projects that I've yet to finish from when I first learned to sew and quilt three years ago (don't judge!), I was happy to tick this year-old project off the list! Not only did I get satisfaction from that, but the patchwork pumpkin design also somewhat sated my desire for autumn. I am not a summer lover, and I'm looking forward to cooler temperatures, shorter days and those comforting foods of fall. These will be on our dining room table for a while.

Lastly, I finished my aunt's quilt - the Jinny Beyer project that scared me half to death and ending up being not so terrible - and mailed it off to her, but I completely forgot to take a photograph of the finished quilt! Ugh. She was kind enough to share a photo of it with me.

I'm happy that she is so happy with it!

I'm linking up again with Sew Fresh Quilts this week. Lorna is so creative and makes beautiful patterns...go give her a visit. Now if you'll pardon me, I have to make a torturous decision - start a fun, new project or tackle a long-idling one. Decisions! Decisions!

Boy, Oh Boy!

Pardon me while I dust off the blog! Achoo!

The past month saw zero quilting projects to completion. ZERO! I barely had the energy to do any sewing as I was battling a really awful and annoying summer cold. Unfortunately my asthma and allergies make colds linger for a lot longer than they normally would, so it lasted about four weeks. Yuck! Nonetheless, I'm back at it...finally.

I did a quick project for a fundraiser. One of my cousins was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and the family put on a fundraiser for her which included several auction items. One of my aunts asked if I'd be willing to do the quilting and binding on a top she sewed 46 or 47 years ago so that it could be donated to the auction. It's the first time I worked on an old top (EDIT: no, it's not - I did the binding on a quilt my great grandmother hand-sewed sometime in the 1950's), but it was a small baby quilt so it wasn't difficult at all.

The picture isn't the greatest quality, but this is the near 50-year-old quilt top.

I think these were poly/cotton blends, but it didn't cause any issues. It was a good way to ease back into some sewing. The good news is that the auction raised over $3,000 to help cover her medical costs!

The sectional in my living room is in need of some new pillows, so I sat down last week to sew some blocks for a new pillow. I again used Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage book (along with a supplemental pattern) for the blocks, and the end result is really lovely!

I used an envelope style backing so that I could fill it with a pillow form or use it as a table runner. Now that it's in place on the living room console, I'm having a hard time putting it to use on the couch. I'm really in love with using solid colors as the background fabric lately. The block designs can sometimes blend into the background with whites, and this is a great way to show off the color and design of the blocks.

There are a ton of half-finished projects in my sewing room, and I'm bound and determined to get to them rather than starting any new projects. With Halloween and Christmas approaching that commitment may be easier said than done.