Anothe Big UFO

Here are pictures of a big, unfinished quilt in an old chest. The body of the quilt is almost entirely hand quilted, but much quilting is still needed on the sashing and borders which are the plain green print. This is also machine satin stitch applique - long before the buttonhole stitch became popular. The secret to satin stitch being pretty was how the thread matched the fabric piece.

This quilt dates back sometime in the late 1980's and I simply can't remember why I stopped working on it......probably got immersed into the making of another one then just never came back to the job of finishing the quilting. In some of the pictures, you can see the thread dangling waiting to be picked up again after moving the quilt to another position in the hoop.

In my quilts, I notice that there are many of the applique blocks that I have used more than once. Some are just so pleasing that I have repeated them. I also like the fact in this piece that I have handquilted motifs in the center of some of the designs. Most of my handdone quilts have crosshatching as a background filler. That seems to be very, very common in the older pieces.

Quilting by hand allows you to put a lot of texture in the actual individual flowers, leaves and other motifs in the block. In the above picture, you can see that the sashing is just three lines of stitching - plus, there is stitching in the ditches, also.

In this block, I do like the little bunches of grapes I quilted in between the buds that jut out from the flowers.

Nice little spiderweb, also. I should put this quilt back in the hoop and finish it - but I'll bet I could not make the nice little even stitches now that I did back then. I even have the fabric still tucked away for the binding. There is one more big UFO hidden away in the chest from the 90's that I will take out one day and photograph. That one is hand appliqued and hand quilted and not nearly so far along as this one. Do I get the prize for the biggest UFOs? (Click to enlarge)

An All Time Favorite Book

This is one of my favorite books of all time that I have in my collection. It is from 1981 and I still adore the beautiful string piecing and embellishment done on the clothing .

As you can see, Jean Wells is the author - she is the one who has a shop in Sisters, Oregon, where the big outdoor quilt show is held every year. I have never been to one but know that it would be such a fun thing to do. The illustrations by Marina Wood are glorious! Those are great enough to buy the book for!

I had almost forgotten about this book until I started looking at references for crazy quilting and there it was tucked in with those.

Aren't these just as sweet as can be?

More cute illustrations.

The little girl in the picture is Valori Wells, Jean's daughter, who is well known in the quilting world today, also.

Another UFO that belongs to me!! I did this in the early 80's and never finished it. It is almost finished! Needed the lace (which is hanging there), embellishment, hemming and a closure for the yoke. The fabric is the wonderful velour we could get back then that washed like a dream. I loved that stuff.

The back of the yoke. Cannot imagine why I never finished it - but it is still in pristine condition. Maybe I will - or maybe Sher or one of the girls will. What have you got tucked away? (Click to enlarge)

From a Plastic Bin in the Basement

In the basement again this past weekend and got out a big old plastic bin that contains unfinished projects--it's been a long, long time since I checked it out. This top was in there. It is one that I worked on at one of the first retreats I after I joined our guild. I actually had all this fabric in my stash and I do just love all the old prints. Wish I had more of them. Wouldn't it make a great hexagon quilt? I even have a backing pieced for this and I will have it quilted by one of the gals in our guild who has a long arm. It's not a full bed size - but would make a cozy couch quilt.

Next up--two pillow tops.

These are the same fabrics as the quilt on my bed. I did these a long time ago and that is some of my first machine quilting. It is not very good, but I did it in invisible thread so doesn't look too bad. Now, why don't I finish those. It would be so easy. I will leave them where I can see them and maybe get that done as they would look pretty on the bed.

And yet another quilt about the size of the first one. I had lots of fabric that looked mottled and pastel so did this one. I started machine quilting it but it was a hassle. However, there is too much done to rip out so maybe I will try and work on it more now that I am more comfortable doing it. Yet another one! This time a watercolor. Started handquilting this one and that is definitely not going to be finished by hand quilting. So I could machine quilt this little thing quite easily now and may just do that. I found a couple of other smaller ufo's which I will post later. One day I will get into the chest in the bedroom where I have two very large, very old quilts that are handquilted and unfinished. OMG, shame on me! Tell me I'm not the only one with these things squirreled away! (Click to enlarge)

From my Needlepoint Days

In one of the big plastic storage boxes in the basement, I found a big box which contained many skeins of needlepoint yarn. I was not too neat with my floss and yarn then and and have not mended my ways. This project as from 1979. I was totally into needlepoint and made many, many pillows pictures, vests, etc. Quilting was new to me at that time and had not taken over my life yet.

This picture was in an issue of McCall's Needleworks and Crafts Fall 1979 issue. I was fascinated by all the flowers, trees and really great house. It actually is done in embroidery and not needlepoint, but I figured I could adapt it. I don't remember how I got the markings on the canvas - whether I did it or had my son draw a picture and then I traced it on the canvas. Regardless, you just needed the shape and form of the objects since the stitches would give the dimension and texture.

In this picture you can see how I was laying the garden in. Earlier in my blog, I posted a picture of a needlepoint similar to this that I had done in the same manner. However, this one is a lot more ambitious than the earlier one.

This little bunch of flowers looks kind of neat, I think. I really loved doing this and don't know why I set it aside. Probably the quilting was taking over.

Two more little unfinished flower clusters. The top one is part of a path in the picture.

Evergreen trees by the porch - there were going to be more of those. Even more flowers and a climbing rose.

I had already signed it.

The birdbath in front of a wall covered with vining flowers.

I really like the hollyhocks - the whole picture would have been quite pretty if it had been finished. Just thought you might enjoy seeing one of my UFO's. I don't think I am the only one who has projects tucked away unfinished - seems to be a common thing for people who love to create things. One day other folks will be thrilled to find all the old things hidden away. (Click to enlarge)

The Really Old Quilt I Never Finished

I told about not finishing a quilt that I did in the "quilt as you go" method that was popular in the late 70's. This afternoon I got it out and took it's picture - mainly because I think you will enjoy seeing what kind of fabric we had to work with back then. I still have a little bit of some of those calicoes tucked away someplace. The prints were so tiny and the colors usually bright. Actually, I think this is not a bad looking piece and would be pretty if it were finished. However, I doubt if it will be me that finishes it! The center part is all done and a couple of the borders. When the borders are applied, it will create a triangle border all around the quilt. (Click to enlarge)