Oct 162012
 

I feel like I’m making real progress now! We’ve had a few days of shitty weather, and that combined with dark, cold mornings means I’ve spent a little more time in my sewing room lately than I had been. I’ve managed to get the horse quilt assembled into one piece! It still needs some trimming, a couple corners filled in, and a little bit of border (in part to stabilize the edges), but it almost feels done.

Here’s the last few day’s progress:

10/13/12 –

10/14/12 –

10/16/12 –

At this point I’ve stalled. I need to do something about my ironing board. My old one is rickety and has a badly torn cover. I’ve been meaning to make a new one for months now. I have a piece of plywood ready to become the backbone, and found an old wool blanket to cut up to pad it. Now I need to dig out the staple-gun and something to cover it all, and put it together. I think that might be tomorrow’s project.

 October 16, 2012  Posted by at 9:06 pm UFOs 1 Response »
Oct 122012
 

Another week and I am still working on the horse quilt. I am determined to get this one done, but have had little time in my sewing room. Next week might be better, lots of rain in the forecast. That means less time in the garden and more time indoors.

I managed to get the lower segment sewn on, and now I am not happy with the result. There’s a huge empty space of background between the two lower left horse blocks and the rest of the quilt. I have a lower right corner that begs for one more horse block (I do have one more horse I can use), and the entire thing is longer than I wanted.

This project is intended to be a cuddle quilt for our couch, it doesn’t need to be 7 feet long! So I am seriously considering shortening the thing. I think one horse block, tucked into the empty area, will be enough. It’s going to take some cutting and new strips added, but this quilt is for me, and I want to be happy with the result. Though I’m sure it will be just as cuddly either way.

 October 12, 2012  Posted by at 9:05 pm Uncategorized No Responses »
Oct 032012
 

Slight progress this week on UFO finishing. I managed to sew a few strips on the horse quilt, on two sections, as shown below.

And I dug out another partly-done project to use as a betweener. Other people call them Beginners and Enders, I prefer the term Betweener. It is any project I sew on between pieces of the main project. This way I don’t have to hang onto loose thread ends every time I sit down to sew a strip on the horse project. And, I get two projects sewn at the same time.

The betweener is intended to become a checkerboard style quilt, probably crib size. I’m designing as I go, so I have no idea how many little squares I need. I started with a pile of 2” squares originally cut for a watercolor quilt, which has lost my interest. I would like to use up the 2” squares, and checkerboard seemed like a useful betweener design, so I grabbed a light (more or less) background and cut up 2” squares.

I used some as a betweener awhile back, I forget which project, then packed the whole thing aside when cleaning up, maybe when we moved last year. When I needed a betweener for the horse UFO I remembered the checkerboard and dug it out. Which was possible only because at some point I tried to get organized and put all my projects in their own boxes and labeled each one. I’m now overrun with plastic shoeboxes.

 

Leah Day at UFO Sunday says she just turned 29 and wants to finish all her UFOs by the time she turns 30. I turned 56 last month and my UFO pile is a little bigger than hers (mine is approximately 100, although I still don’t have an accurate count). I’m thinking I should set a goal to finish all of mine by the time I turn 60. I need a threat, let’s see, maybe if on my 60ieth birthday any unfinished UFO has to be thrown away. (GASP! The Horror! Throwing away is WASTEFUL! I can’t do THAT!)

 October 3, 2012  Posted by at 2:14 pm UFOs 2 Responses »