2018 – UFO Finishes

As a quilter, as many of you are, I love to buy fabric, patterns and design and see all the amazing possibilities there are to create! But finishing them is another story.  I found the American Patchwork & Quilting UFO challenge a few years ago and it is a great way to stay on task.  There program is a lot of fun and really community building. You create a list of 12 and each month they randomly pick a number for you to work on.  There is a huge Facebook group to post your progress and cheer on your fellow quilters.

For those who are not familiar with this quilt terminology, a UFO is an Unfinished Object.  I wrote my list of 12 UFOs in 2017 and completed 4 that year.  A nice start, which led to some rollovers for the following year.  This year I completed 5 off my list!  See that? GROWTH! Let’s take a look:

Kandinsky Quilt

Origination: Fabric & Idea since 2014. Completed January 2018.

When I first started falling in love with quilting, I had eyes bigger than my skills.  I would buy fabrics, patterns, and kits that I would dream of making.  A semi-problem that has continued through my life, even though skills have definitely improved!  For this project, I wanted to learn how to sew circles.  You don’t see them very much.  But I didn’t want to do inset circles, I wanted to make reverse applique of circles.

During a cleaning session I found my little fabric pack I found of 4″ squares.  The fabric is Fossil Fern which I loved at the time and was perfect for my idea.  For a while the little pack of 112 squares went into my stash, hidden for a few years.  I wanted to create a version of the abstract artist Kandinsky and his color studies. This print of his is hanging in my entry hall and always thought it would be a good quilt.  This was the year!

I decided since it’s a mini and just for me, I would take the easy way out and do raw edge applique.  Organizing the fabrics, I stacked the lights on the bottom, added the next medium layer.  I sewed a small circle on the two layers and then cut out the inner circle.  I repeated the process for the next layer, and then pieced into a top.  Since the aspect was about the color and circles, it did not need a lot of quilting.  Simple quilt in the ditch was enough and I had my first UFO complete! The circles are not perfect, the raw edge a little tight, but I love it just the same.

SEW – Alphabet Soup

Origination: Letter S since summer 2017. Completed: May 2018

I’m not sure when I first found JayBird Quilts patterns, but they are my favorite!  She created two amazing rulers and a plethora of patterns to use them with.  I have so many of her patterns I keep a list on the ‘notes’ section of my phone.  If I spot a pattern of hers in the wild I can quickly check my stock to see if I have it.  This has saved me in double purchasing patterns I love!  I have 55+of her patterns which include the minis, the standard patterns, and her blocks of the month.  In 2017 it is time to start actually making them!  Since then I have now made 12 of her patterns. See that, more GROWTH!

The letter S was made for a class sample. I taught this technique at Happy Apple Quilts.  I love text fabric and when she created an alphabet pattern, I knew I would be hooked.  There are lots of little pieces and you need to use both of her rulers to create them.  The Hex N More and the Super Sidekick. The letters can have really great effects depending on the fabric you use.  For this one, I decided to use Carolyn Friedlander’s fabric of neutrals.  I knew the patterns would blur as one.  This now hangs in my sewing room. I am hoping she creates a miniature version!

Creamsicle

Origination: March 2017, class at Lakeland Original Sewing & Quilt Expo  Completed: June 2018

We are very lucky here in Tampa to have access to lots of great quilt shows.  The Original Sewing & Quilt Expo comes every year in March nearby to Lakeland, Florida.  It’s a tradition of my mom’s and mine to go every year.  My guild even has a table and quilt show with them for the past 3 years!  This design came from a class there.  You start with a layer cake, create some triangles, and do a lot of chopping and rearranging.  Not difficult at all, and in class I had finished a few blocks.  But like most quilters, I became distracted and this beauty was put in a box.  I just loved the fabric and decided this year it needed finishing.  Fabric is by V & Co, her Simply Colorful line.  Orange is my favorite color.  It is so bright and cheery, and is well underutilized!

Snack Time

Origination: 2016, maybe? Completed: July 2018

Time for another Jaybird Quilts pattern! This Snack Time pattern works from a jelly roll and the crib size uses half a roll.  I didn’t want to make a huge quilt and I thought instead I could make two quilts from one jelly roll, and then donate these to my local Project Linus.  One reason I love JayBird Quilt patterns is they are super fast to make.  The Snack Time pattern took a little longer, due to lots of cutting and forming the ‘donuts.’  For a while it was my project I took to guild sew days which is really why it took so long to create.  I split the jelly roll into two color ways and chose different background fabrics. I really love how it made it look like two completely different quilts this way!

My final finish for 2018 was a major project, my Technicolor Galaxy quilt. This beauty deserves it’s own post.

I have my 2019 list created, with 6 rollovers and 6 new projects.  Here’s hoping to more growth next year!