Today’s adventure was a rough ride up a forestry access road to Cascade Peninsula on Harrison Lake.  The view was worth the drive!

Rainbow Falls was a spectacular sight along the way.

My quilt guild is hosting another UFO challenge.  We have to take our UFO’s to the guild meeting next week and show them in their current state and then register them for the challenge.  This past weekend I went through a bin of my UFO’s to decide which UFO’s I would focus on for the challenge.

One of the UFO’s in the bin was a wool project in a Ziploc bag.  The bag appeared to contain everything I would need to complete the project–all the wool, thread, needles, marking pencil, templates, pattern, pins, pin cushion, and what was that?  My good scissors?  Yes, there were my long lost Gingher scissors.  It appears that my scissors had been added to the project bag some time ago to make this project ready to “grab and go”.  However, it seems that I never grabbed this project to work on it in years.  I have been looking for my Gingher scissors for years – since the fall of 2009 to be exact.  I never gave up searching for them as I would periodically take a box off the shelf and go through the contents thinking that the scissors may have fallen into it at some point by mistake.  But lo and behold, there were my scissors–lanyard still attached (The lanyard was attached to make the scissors harder to misplace.  Maybe I need to add something larger than a breadbox to the handles next time.)

The wool project is a wool Dogwood pennyrug kit.  The Pacific Dogwood was adopted in 1956 as British Columbia’s floral emblem.  The Pacific Dogwood is a tree that grows six to eight meters high and flowers in April and May.

I think the reason that I never finished this wool project was that the thought of tracing around the templates onto the wool was a bit of a fiddly idea to me and not as portable as I would have liked for a “grab and go” project.  Fast forward some years to today.  I have renewed interest in this project since watching some Quilt Roadies videos on YouTube.  Anna, aka Woolie Mammoth, is a fan of working with wool and she has compiled a few videos on working with wool, including how she prepares her wool projects for working on as she travels.

Wool Tutorial Part 1

Wool Tutorial Part 2

Wool & Embroidery:  The Prep

Yoko Saito BOM Wool Prepping

Anna uses a product called, SF101 which is a fusible interfacing product made by Pellon that she irons to the back of her base fabric.  SF101 not only provides stability for stitching her project, but Anna says it allows her to “travel” with her thread on the back of her project without breaking the thread and having to start again somewhere else with a new knot.  SF101 prevents the threads from the back of the project from showing through to the front of her project.

Anna also uses a product called, Soft Fuse which is a fusible that can be ironed to the back of her wool pieces to attach them to her background–no pins!

Anna says that she starts stitching on the smaller pieces.  She uses a whip stitch on the smaller pieces and then she goes back and does a buttonhole stitch on the larger pieces.  Once Anna is finished doing the whip stitching and buttonhole stitching she goes back and adds any fancy texturing stitches that she wants to further embellish her project with.

With a goal of May 2019 through my guild’s UFO challenge, and these tips from Anna I have renewed energy to pick up this old project and complete it.

This flimsy was finished Sept 30, 2013.  I was in need of some sample quilts for a demo I was doing for our guild’s quilt show and so I decided now was the time to quilt this.

I quilted this one with the Circle Lord Swirls design as I think it makes one of the most durable quilts.  The stitching lines are close enough together to provide dense enough quilting to make the quilt durable for multiple washes without such dense quilting as to make it stiff like a board.

Because the blocks were pieced on a muslin foundation, the blocks are heavy.  I know a lot of quilters will leave out the batting on a quilt like this because of the weight.  However, I like the cuddle factor that a batting adds to a quilt.  I used Hobbs Thermore batting in this quilt which was perfect.  Because the batting is 100% polyester and it is super thin, it added minimal extra weight to the quilt.  I found Thermore to be easy to quilt – very unlike some other 100% polyester battings.  I found a short video on YouTube that describes Thermore:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAAw4DJ-W3o

A while ago I told my kids to let me know what quilt tops they liked and would eventually like to have as finished quilts.  This was a top that my son picked out so I have named it, Matt’s Strings.  One day when I have finished using it as a demo quilt, I will gift it to him as he put his name on it.  🙂

This quilt finishes at 54.5″ x 63.5″.

Our guild has issued a UFO challenge to our members – the Finish-It-Up Challenge! – 1st Quarter 2017 that ran from February 1 to April 30, 2017.  That challenge was so successful that our guild is running a second challenge – the Finish-it-Up Challenge – 2nd Quarter 2017 that will run from June 1 to August 31, 2017.  Again the rules are simple; you MUST post photos on the Facebook page dedicated to this challenge of your quilty works-in-progress by the end of May and they must be completed by the end of August to be eligible for the participation draw.  I just made it under the wire for posting my quilty works-in-progress or UFO’s.

Last quarter I listed 13 projects – a Baker’s Dozen – and that number seemed to work well for me so here I go again with the same number of projects.  I found listing my UFO’s and publicly declaring what they were in this forum held me accountable to get a lot finished last quarter so here I go again, hoping for the same success as in the first quarter.  (Sadly, we could play this UFO game for many more quarters and I believe I would be able to keep listing new UFO’s that had not been listed in prior challenges.  *sigh*

1 – Rock Island Campfire

1. Rock Island Campfire – blocks need to be sashed; then flimsy can be quilted and bound.
   

   2 – Good Vibrations

2. Good Vibrations – flimsy was finished March 21, 2016 – needs to be quilted and bound – Although I have a long arm, I am considering quilting this one on my DSM because I would like to follow the diagonal lines created by the piecing.
   

   3 – H is for Hanson

3. H is for Hanson – this quilt pattern was called, “Hi”.  However, I have renamed this one, “H” is for Hanson. – Needs a border, then flimsy can be quilted and bound.  This was made from a kit purchased in Bend, Oregon on our bus trip to Sisters in 2014.  I wasn’t impressed with the pattern that came in the kit, but the kit was marked down incredibly and fabric in the kit was yardage not pieces so I could adapt the fabric to a pattern of my choice.  It looks like Joey (the cat) decided to photo bomb!
   

   4 – The Simple Life

4. The Simple Life – This one has been partially quilted by DSM for years.  I sure hope I still have the green thread I started the quilting with.  It looks like I had the strips for the binding already cut and they were with the quilt – that is a rarity!  The pattern was a free pattern given away by The Thread Bear in Ladner during a Quilt Shop Hop in 2002.
   

   5 – Log Cabin

5. Log Cabin – This one was inspired by Gwen Marston.  One of the quilts that Gwen showed us at her workshop in March 2017 in La Conner, Washington was a log cabin quilt she made from the tossed scraps she salvaged from one of her Beaver Island retreats.  I came home from that workshop and pulled out my solid bits and made my own version of Gwen’s log cabin quilt.  This one needs a border, quilting and binding.  Gwen said it is possible to continue making log cabin quilts for the rest of your quilting career and never run out of ideas – indeed!
   

   6 – Double Slice Layer Cake

6. Double Slice Layer Cake – Needs to be quilted and bound.  My DIL’s first quilt was made from this pattern which uses just one layer cake.  I loved her quilt so much I wanted to make my own version.  This one has been a flimsy since September 2016.
   

   7 – O Christmas Tree

7. O Christmas Tree – This one is left over from the first quarter challenge.  This one still needs to have the buttons sew on.  How long does it take to sew buttons onto something anyway?  In my case, years.  J
   

   8 – Redwork Hearts

8. Redwork Hearts – This has been finished to the flimsy stage since April 2010.  It is about time it was quilted!  The blocks were made from free redwork patterns put up on the internet by Alex Anderson.  The setting design is by my very good friend, LJ in AL.
   

   9 – Honu

9. Honu – Hawksbill Honu Sashiko – I was inspired to try Sashiko after Val Wojutla attended my traditional guild in April 2013 and presented a trunk show of her work.  This one was finished to the flimsy stage in September 2015.  I just love the Kaffe print that I found for the border.
   

   10 – Circle Log Cabin

10. Circle Log Cabin – This was one of the ideas I was tossing around when trying to come up with my challenge piece for the 2016 Creative Stitches show.  These four blocks are the perfect size for a pillow.
    

    11 – Canada Day (Bridge Creek Blossoms)

11. Canada Day – Named for the Canadian flag in the bouquet on the border.  I need to have at least one of my queen / king sized quilt tops in each UFO challenge so that I remain motivated to get the tops on the shelf quilted.  * sigh* This flimsy has been stuck at this stage since 2011 – Needs to be quilted and bound.
    

    12 – Check Plus

12. Check Plus – Left from the first quarter challenge.  This one still needs to be quilted and bound.  I think I just ran out of time during the first quarter challenge.  My daughter has claimed this one so I best get busy!  J
    

    13 – Baby Bunny

13. Bunny Baby Quilt – This has been a finished flimsy for so many years.  It is baby size and needs to be finished so that it can be gifted to one of the many expectant mothers that seem to be popping up in my life lately.  This quilt top was an experiment in machine appliqué.  I will have to do some digging to find the pattern to finish the documentation on this one.  Note to self—be sure to write down the details of the quilts that I start so that documentation at the end of the quilting process is made a little easier.  J

I have three tote boxes of finished quilt tops sitting on the shelf waiting to be quilted.  I decided to take an inventory of exactly what is there.  Once I have a photo of the top and measurements, I can go through my stash to identify backings and move these tops to the finished quilt stage.

BOX #1

SCRAP CHAOS – 58 1/2 inches square

1.  SCRAP CHAOS – This one will not likely end up as a quilt top.  I will likely loose it in the pieced back of a scrap quilt.  If I were to make this one again, I would disregard Gayleen’s directions relating to the random placement of squares and be more deliberate in placing values.  I much preferred the quilt tops where quilters controlled placement of colour and value.  Started January 17, 2015 and finished to the flimsy stage on February 21, 2015.

STRINGS ON MUSLIN – 54.5 in x 63.5 in

2.  STRINGS ON MUSLIN – These string blocks were pieced on a base of muslin.  The additional layer of muslin makes this top heavier than most and will require a very lightweight batting or no batting at all.  Finished to the flimsy stage on September 30, 2013.

CACTI BQ – 57.5 in x 77.5 in

3.  CACTI BQ – This quilt was finished to the flimsy stage on July 4, 2011.  The backing has already been purchased and is sitting on the shelf – “Desert View” by Michael Miller.

Backing for Cacti BQ – “Desert View” by Michael Miller

WHICH CAME FIRST…THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG – 49 inches square

4.  WHICH CAME FIRST…THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG?  This one was finished to the flimsy stage on May 12, 2008.  I have sufficient chicken fabrics in my stash to piece a suitable backing for this one.

REDWORK HEARTS – 57 inches square

5. REDWORK HEARTS – This was finished to the flimsy stage on April 25, 2010.

BRYCE – 60 in x 72 in

6.  BRYCE – This was finished to the flimsy stage on March 11, 2012.  The backing has already been purchased and is sitting on the shelf – “Rising Sun” by Sara Khammash for Moda.

Backing for Bryce – “Rising Sun”

2011 SISTERS OUTDOOR QUILT SHOW FABRIC – CHALLENGE FROM CHER – 46.5 in x 55 in

7.  2011 SISTERS OUTDOOR QUILT SHOW FABRIC – CHALLENGE FROM CHER – This was finished to the flimsy stage on April 28, 2012.

BLACK STACK’N WHACK HEXAGON II

8.  BLACK STACK’N WHACK HEXAGON II – This was finished to the flimsy stage on August 20, 2013.

COLOUR CATCHER STRINGS II – 52 in x 64 in

9.  COLOUR CATCHER STRINGS II – This was finished to the flimsy stage on September 3, 2007.

PIECEMAKERS ROUND ROBIN CHALLENGE – 39 inches square

10.  PIECEMAKERS ROUND ROBIN CHALLENGE – This was finished to the flimsy stage on June 16, 2005.

ST. PATRICK’S DAY – 39 inches square

11.  ST. PATRICK’S DAY – This was finished to the flimsy stage on January 26, 2006.

CANDY COATED – 63 in x 75 in

12.  CANDY COATED – This was finished to the flimsy stage on October 12, 2015.

STRINGS AND COBBLESTONES – 57 in x 73 in

13.  STRINGS AND COBBLESTONES – This was finished to the flimsy stage on October 12, 2015.

BOX #2

POPSICLE STICKS – February 11, 2012

1.  POPSICLE STICKS – This was finished to the flimsy stage on February 11, 2012.

HAWAIIAN SLIDE SHOW – 90″ x 101″ – May 12, 2013

2.  HAWAIIAN SLIDE SHOW – This one was finished to a flimsy on May 12, 2013.

SOUTHWEST STRIP STACKS – 91 in x 97 in      April 19, 2015

3.  SOUTHWEST STRIP STACKS – This one was finished to a flimsy on April 19, 2015.

DAISY CHAIN – 84 in x 106 in          July 25, 2010

4.  DAISY CHAIN – This one was finished to the flimsy stage on July 25, 2010.

WONKY PINWHEEL – 51.5 ” x 68.5 ” November 21, 2015

5.  WONKY PINWHEEL – LAP SIZE – this one was finished to the flimsy stage on November 21, 2015.

BOX #3

BRIDGE CREEK BLOSSOMS – 98″ x 112″ – March 13, 2011

1.  BRIDGE CREEK BLOSSOMS – finished to the flimsy stage on March 13, 2011.

CRUMBS III – 81″ x 67″ – December 31, 2016

2.  CRUMBS III – finished to the flimsy stage on December 31, 2016.  I have some red tulips on a black background yardage to use as backing for this one.

Backing for Crumbs III

DOUBLE SLICE LAYER CAKE – 52″ x 60″ – September 29, 2016

3.  DOUBLE SLICE LAYER CAKE – this one was finished to a flimsy on September 29, 2016.  I have some retro looking floral fabric to use as a backing for this one.

Backing for Double Slice Layer Cake

WINTER BIRDS – 55″ x 70″ – December 4, 2010

4.  WINTER BIRDS – finished to a flimsy on December 4, 2010.

CANADA DAY II- 48.5 inches square – July 2, 2007

5.  CANADA DAY II – finished to a flimsy on July 2, 2007.