Tuesday, March 29, 2011

UFO Challenge - March Finish!

First of course is a photograph… a flower. A Bird of Paradise or as they are known here, a Crane Flower.

cr-brd-of-pdse

I don’t just have one finish…. I have TWO. Actually I did quite a bit of sewing in March.

There are 2 small items I can’t show you yet. One is a Sparkly Chickens Group ‘Receivers Choice’ swap block, and until the receiver receives… I can’t show it. The other is a surprise for the recipient and well showing it would ruin the surprise. I also messed around with creating a new luggage tag. I made a couple for DH… before he went to Rwanda, which is when I realized ours were all out of date… In the states I would just print new ones up and laminate… but I left the laminator in storage… (wish I had brought the thing with us). I made 2 prototypes, then the 2 for DH and yesterday I was messing with it again… and am half way through making 2 more. Of course you learn each time you make something… and this time I wanted to use button holes instead of eyelets (since I am almost out of large eyelets). I have only made them once on the Janome… and couldn’t remember the start/stop… on the automatic ones… every machine makes them differently!!! but I think I am liking these luggage tags. I still need to figure out how I am going to attach to the luggage…

The number drawn for March was Number 1; a hand appliqued hand quilted baby quilt, begun for my sisters oldest daughter, sometime in 1988.cr-C-quilt

It’s been a long time getting to this point. Lots of reasons for it -Like my life changed direction several times… The center wreath was taken from a Judy Martin book/ pattern. Once it cr-C-quilt-app-detail

was done I thought it needed more and not just borders, so I created the corner vines. The stumbling block was the hand quilting and the cross hatching. It’s crooked, something I learned- mark cross hatching before you start… the top will stretch and shift and the lines won’t be in the rightcr-C-quilt-back place on the other side. Finally worked it out… but well I would do it differently now. The other stumbling block was I had marked one corner of the border with a cable…. and in one of my ‘life direction changes’ I disposed of the stencil… that was used. I found another and thought it was the same… but it wasn’t… anyway done is done and I am hoping Christie will still enjoy it as something to look at rather than sleep under it. Of course getting it to her… is another matter all together. I cannot ship it from here… So it will have to wait a little longer. I may add some more line quilting in the corners 2” cross hatching… and the label well need to be done, but since I still have some cogitating time… I will think on the added quilting and make a label and add a hanging sleeve.


***One other thing I want to share about this quilt. The quilt was marked with a blue washout marker, way back in the late 80’s, and it stayed there until sometime in 2009, when I worked out the fix. It was re-marked with a blue washout marker… As you can see none of it remains. I will tell you also that it was pressed in some place with the blue marker still in… and it also washed out! I have never had a problem getting blue maker out… of a piece. Of course items marked were not exposed to long periods of light or heat, and stored well over the decades.

Remember the February project that was stopped before it started with the need for a design wall? Well it has gone from this:

sparkly-chix-2

To this!

Chickens

So February UFO is done as well. I really wasn’t keen on using the brown stripe used as the posts as the border, but I didn’t have another brown to use (that I liked)… so this is it. I am thinking about adding some additional chicken things in the border… a fox, or a foundation pieced barn, or maybe some chicks, or eggs…

Well the list as usual could go on and on and on. But I am happy to report I got some things done, or at least as I stated when I started the UFO challenge to the next step!

As always…. MOre LAter!

Beth

15 comments:

  1. All the applique and then hand quilted? Wow. I am impressed. I really like the February finish - the cornerstones set off the blocks, I think. The photo of the crane flower is spectacular. It seems like it would be a gorgeous pattern for a Beth-made quilt.

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  2. Now my first thought before reading the words was that I like the brown you have used for the border. It think is soothing, lets the blocks have center stage, and is the right value.

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  3. Beth, they are both fabulous! Thanks for sharing your experience with the cross hatching. I admire all of your work. Such an inspiration. Take care of yourself and if you need anything, just ask and I will send it your way. Jan

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  4. Love those Sparkly chickens! The blocks look good in that setting. Is it quilted?

    Love the bird of paradise -- it's Mickey's favorite flower -- he used to always have the florist add one or two to the bouquet whenever he bought me flowers. They look kind of interesting with roses. My mom had a giant white one growing in the front planter.

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  5. Both your finishes are fabulous. Congratulations! Sadly I'm only 2 for 3 (March let me down). Looking forward to seeing what you finish in April!
    Cheers,
    Dionne

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  6. I love both of your finishes -- applique is a challenge I haven't attempted yet but would love to. How wonderful to finish a quilt from so many years ago!!

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  7. I sincerly hope that a baby does not get that beautiful hand applique/hand quilted quilt. It is just too much work for stains. I love it!!

    I also love your chickens. They are both wonderful projects. I hope to see more all year from you.

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  8. Wow! Love the flower and both of the quilts. Not sure you could have picked 2 more different ones LOL! But I bet that's why you finished both of them!! I'm so impressed with the hand quilting!

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  9. Beautiful quilt--what a lovely finish! (your chickens are cute too) I've had the same problem with some crosshatching I did on a quilt that's still UFO--live and learn I guess. Yours looks great though--bet it will be treasured!

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  10. Great sewing month for you! And your hand quilted master piece is absolutely amazing!

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  11. These both are remarkable quilts! I'm so impressed with your applique and that fact that you hand quilted it! So rare in this day and age.

    The chicken quilt is adorable. I really love the way you sashed and cornerstoned it! Really sets off the blocks. It's a simple idea but something I would never have thought of doing.

    Great job!

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  12. I love both of the quilt. Congrats on your finish.

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  13. Nice job hanging in there on the applique quilt! And the results - wow! The chickens are adorable too!

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  14. You are wonderfully creative! Thanks for sharing your story of the progress of the baby quilt ... it's a lovely finish.

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Please leave a comment- big or small.... I love hearing what the pictures say to you too.