Thread Tales From A Scrappy Quilter

I did not get to work on as many of my UFO's as I had planned nor did I finish by Bali Wedding Star but it is on the long arm table, design board, sewing machine... just all over the place right now.   Maybe by the end of next week it will be a flimsy!  I did take several classes (maybe too many) this year offered through the 3 guilds that I belong to and NONE of them are finished.  I really need to stop juggling so many projects, it makes me nuts!  But when incredibly talented, nationally acclaimed teachers are scheduled for our guild meetings, I just have to participate.   Being in the Houston area, our guilds get some of the best.  Also, some of my most fun work is in custom quilting YOUR finished tops.   But this post reflects on my  finishes , some that had been UFO's for years that I am especially happy to have gotten quilted and bound this year. January I pieced and quilted Fracture, compl...

I did not think I was ever going to get this one done!  This is an old UFO that was set except for the final borders which had been purchased many years back.   Not really to my liking today and was too big to quilt on my small frame way back then.  Series of bad choices, it really needed 3 thread changes but I did not want to do that.   I used a muslin wide back and those are so hard to keep from getting puckers and gathers when you have to roll, advance, roll back and repeat for all those color changes.   I used a light celery green Glide thread on top, magna glide cream on bottom for all.   I lost count on the number of bobbins I used.   Here's a peak at some of the backside.  I do love the texture of quilting on muslin!       I used a template to stitch out a fast scallop border.   Opted to wait until I finished all the quilting to determine if I was going to ...

I can't believe this has been on the frame all week!  I've hardly touched it between me catching a summer cold, scheduled annual checkups and summer activities.   A few photos of the progression.   I am quilting this old ufo with easy, no mark designs.  I'm using 1 thread color also  and not crazy about the look...but finished with minimal hours is more important to me right now.  The back looks great.

Finally, after all these years, this one has grown into a quilt top!  It's 108" square and the setting was planned 5 years ago.  Most of the blocks are from 2003.   Now to find or piece a backing and maybe this one goes on the frame tomorrow.   Its not what I would plan today...but I'm thrilled to be able to get it finished.

I'm hoping that I can make some progress on some of my old UFO's this year.  Once again I find myself thinking that this year is almost half gone already!   My Round Robin is in the forefront with ideas for quilting it brewing in my head, meanwhile I decided to pull out my old Red/Green BOM project from my online group.   The last I remembered, I had set it up to quilt in sections on my DSM.   I was tickled to find that I had joined the sections of the quilt top together but the borders had not been cut or added yet.   I don't have any photos of the quilt top in my computer so I went back to my yahoo group and pulled a few photos from there to post and remind myself of the journey.   The above photo was taken in 2008!   The blocks are much older.     Angie claiming this quilt as hers.     Guards posted as I decided layout for the quilt.   Borders cut and 2 sides s...