Work In Progress

This year I want to try to link up with Work In Progress Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced.

So, I guess, that is one goal for 2013.

Right now I am working on my Sampler Quilt from the Girls' Club (circa 1999 or so).

I have the blocks on my design wall and I just have to figure out how to put them together into a quilt top.  My initial goal was to use only that pink fabric and the blue-and-flowers striped fabric that you see predominantly in the squares.  I then allowed myself to add white I had in my stash and other pinks and blues from my stash as needed.

I bought the pink fabric when our MJDesigns here in town went out of business.  They were selling the fabric for $2 a yard - which was a great deal.  I figured there was about 10 yards on the bolt.  I told the little girl I wanted it all - and she started measuring it.  Well, she lost count of the yards and she was wrestling with the bolt.  After about 5 yards she let out this big sigh of frustration and said something like: "You can have it all for $10".

SOLD!!

And 13+ years later I still have this project going.

Every time I look at it I just smile - because I really like those colors together.. and because I had a handful of Junior High and High School Girls who were sewing along with me at the time.  One of the girls just sent me this picture of HER sampler quilt that she says she uses on her bed.  She did such a great job!!

Just to add a few pictures:

Here is the advent calendar I sent to my youngest at college.  

And here are some tiny Gingerbread houses I made:

They sit on the edge of your mug.

My sister-in-law and I are making more tomorrow.  They were so fun!

If you are visiting from Freshly Pieced (or somewhere else!)  Check out some of my previous posts or tabs to see more fun projects!

Happy New Year!

CathyH

A Glimpse

I have been working on projects.
Really, I have!

But the two BIG projects are gifts. . . and I will post about them LATER.

Sunday, however I finished a small part of my November UFO.

This is part of a block I designed for my Girls' Quilting and Reading Club in 1999.  It is 6"x 6" and will be a part of a 12" block. We were learning about paper piecing...



It is also a part of the Sampler Quilt all the girls and I were supposed to create during those two wonderful years.  What we really created was. . . more UFO's!!



More later.
This was Just a Glimpse.

CathyH

Twelve Years Later - Great Memories

In 1999 I hosted a Girls' Quilting Club.  My daughter and a few of her friends met once a month and we learned how to make patched blocks with the hope of eventually making a quilt.  Since I liked to quilt, I figured it was an important part of a homeschool curriculum.  I don't know if these girls actually like quilting, but this picture bears witness that we had a lot of fun when we were together.

For my birthday that school year, the girls each made me a Pinwheel Block.  Some of their moms even made me a block!  They chose a Green and Burgundy color scheme that coordinated with the bedspread on my bed at the time.

Did I mention that it was in 1999?

So, their blocks sat in a box for the last 12 years.  Most of the blocks had a sticky note on it with the name of the block's maker so that I had some idea who had made these blocks.

This year I have attempted to complete a bunch of Un-Finished Objects (UFO's) and in August this was the project I was supposed to finish.  So I started moving the blocks around on my design wall.

I took one pinwheel apart, added a couple more triangles to it, and used it on the sides.

I added a couple of my own pinwheels and a burgundy frame.

I added another burgundy frame and finished it with a burgundy edge.  You can read about the second frame at this blogpost.  

I added a little bit of hand quilting.

I quilted some pinwheels in the border.

And all the while I thought about these sweet girls who came to the Quilting Club.  I prayed for them and the places they were now.  I thought about the changes in their lives that have occurred over the past 12 years.  And now I have a quilt in front of me to remind me of each of them, to remind me to pray for them and to remind me to thank the Lord for the time we had together so many years ago.

A treasure trove of memories.

Pieced together over the years.

On my lap and in my heart.

You girls are all very special to me.

CathyH

August UFO - Almost Not Unfinished

I will catch up.  I will catch up.

I am almost ALMOST finished with my August Un Finished Object.

These blocks are a set of pinwheels made for me by a group of high school girls in 2001 or 2002.  They each secretly made me a pinwheel for my birthday using Green and Burgundy.

 I have their names on sticky notes. When the quilt is finished I will label the blocks with their names and find them on facebook.  I think it will bring back memories for them.  It was a joy to me to remember our time together and their effort at surprising me on my birthday that year.

I added two pinwheels and a burgundy frame, but did not feel it was done.

 It needed a little bit more - maybe leaving it on point and another burgundy square like this --->

Since I teach Geometry (etc.) I was sure there was an easy way to create that outer frame.  This is what I did:

I measured the first burgundy square - turns out it was a perfect 36" long.

I started with a background square that was 1/3 that length (12").

Framed it with burgundy.

And framed it with enough of the background fabric so the 

diagonal was a few inches more that 36".

I made two of these:

I cut them across the diagonal:

And I put one pair of triangles on the left:

And another pair of triangles on the right:

Now I need to sandwich the quilt. When I received these squares, my bedroom was decorated in burgundy and green.  I have saved the curtains and will use that as the back of the quilt.

(Sigh)
What great memories!
Close to finished on this UFO.


I'm linking up with Patchwork Times 2012 UFO Challenge.

Check out the other Finishes!!



CathyH