Number 8, Please Step Forward!

Judy at Patchwork Times has pulled number 8 for the next UFO to work on.

And I will use this and the Asterisk quilt for REME Guild as my One Monthly Goal for March.  I can't figure out what color to make the center.  If this continues, it will be plain blank.

I am pleased to introduce to you (drumroll please)

 Nummmmmm - berrrrrrrrr 8...........


The Bird Quilt! It is my new favorite thing in the world!  (get it??)

It has several names,  and I guess now I really should figure out what to finally call it, for once and for all.

The Daily Bird - because every day in December I made a new bird and there are 31 of them in the quilt.









 Bird Is The Word - If you remember, every bird had his (or her) own story.  It was sometimes a color story or it could be a person story.  Or just some crazy imaginings in my head.

And if you are my age, you might remember this ditty:

The Bird is the Word     oh, you gotta watch this to the end!
Frank  used to imitate this guy all the time.  Must have been in his manic episodes!  



But if you are younger, you might remember this one, and think it was written for this episode of the Family Guy:

bird is the word 



or this one......  bird is the word

OMG.......now the stupid thing in in my head forever.

Definitely found the name, huh?   Now to find the quilting design.  Lynne, how did you quilt yours?

OMG and UFO Challenge Finishes for Feb 2018

I have two finishes for these two challenges.  And it feels good to get them both done. I am linking to both the UFO Challenge and the OMG (One Monthly Goal). Click on the projects to see what others are doing with their challenges.

I get to a certain point in the quilt piece construction and it becomes less than imperative (or  fun) to continue going.  I want to start the new stuff!  I love these incentive programs to spur me along to  a couple of finishes.

First finish for February - whew, say that five times fast

100 Meter Swim - Just in time for the Olympics.  This is from a book written in German by Bernadette Mahr.  I love her work, so improv wonderful.

It is basically a Chinese Coin construction with watery blues to look like the shimmering water in a crystal clear swimming pool.  The diving board and starter blocks stand out in stark contrast to the cool of the water.

I really love this piece.  I am thinking it will be an entry in the CFAL show later this year.

The second finish is Triangles.  This is a quilt that started from nothings.  What I mean by that is multiple years ago Connecting Threads was having a clearance sale and I bought several packs of solid pre-cuts.  There were half yards, fat quarters and 10 inch squares.  Most of them are still sitting on the shelves.

I wanted to make a big block triangle piece so  I grabbed one of the 10 inch groups and just cut and sewed.  No pattern.  I ended up with a bunch of triangles and put them in a box for a year.  When they didn't  magically sew themselves together, I guess the quilting fairies didn't see them in the box, I  had to do it.  Then it needed to be larger, so I had a sheet from my mother's stuff from assisted living.

So the blue in the borders and on the back is that sheet.

It is a bit different to work with a sheet than it is to work with fabric.  And if you are hand quilting it would be difficult due to a higher thread count in the sheets, but I was going to put it on the long arm.

I also wanted to use it as a practice quilt for different free motion techniques.  I got out my Natalia Bonner and Angela Walters books and tossed in every design I could muster.

I totally love the solid blue back and the individual triangles.  Some are more shaky than others.  I found I had straight lines and ruler work down, but needed serious work on the curved designs!

So finish number 2 this month is done.  I have a thousand million threads to bury.  the back is finished and about 1/3 of the front done.  But it is done in all other aspects.


 Now on to the March finishing challenges!

UFO Challenge from Patchwork TimesIm

I generally do the UFO Challenge every year.  Last year was Flood Year so it was a non-UFO Challenge year.  I will do it this year though.  I couldn't resist a good list!

The gist of the game is to list 12 UFO projects and each month Judy will call a number.  You work on that one and post the end result.  And hopefully get 12 finishes in December 2018.

I will need to combine UFO Challenge projects with OMG projects.  Otherwise I will overwork myself to death by June.

Here is my list for the year:

1.  Bind Swimming Pool and Triangles
2.  Red Riding Hood - Paper pieced
3.  Finish London Tea Towel
4.   Finish Bird is the Word
5.  Quilt Orange Mystery Houses
6.  Quilt Foxes
7.  Finish GreenSquares BlackTriangles
8.  Quilt diamond Dogs and finish
9.  Make Birds of the World for Frank
10. Zig Zag needs quilting
11. Quilt Modern Guild Houses
12. QuiltCorner Traditional needs quilting


I guess I need to  post photos of these and put it on my blog header so I can find it again.

There are a couple other quilts I want to get done this year.  One is the Elizabeth Hartman Llama quilt Lloyd and Lois.  The other is a Yeti Quilt for Sawyer.  I want to get more modern and improv through the year as well.

I spent a lot of time doing quilts I liked OK, and then fell into the Modern genre.  That is where I want to live now!  Like my closet after the flood.  I only buy with a LOVE now.

It is amazing how cleansing losing everything can be.  I still don't understand why my clothes got tossed though.  And all my underwear.  And socks.  I didn't have one pair of undies to my name!

12 UFOs for Patchwork Times Challenge

OK, here is my narrowed down list.  I am ready for Judy to pick her numbers!
I have combined since there were so many and some are in a more advanced state of being.  Some are blocks and some are tops just waiting to be completed.  Carrie says I have to give away some of these quilts before making more.  So that might be in the future as well.  Although how one can give away a child of your own making is beyond me.  I didn't give HER away, did I????


1.  Elephants from Sri Lanka
2.  New Year's Mystery Dog
3. Cow I and Cow 2
4.  Stacked Posey and Blue/Beige Row Quilt
5. Frank's Transportation Quilt and Progressive Jar
6.  Outhouse Blocks and Mystery Orange Snowballs
7.  Mystery Blue Snowballs and Patch No Work
8.  (3) Bumble Beans 15 Minute quilts
9.  Progressive Jar and Karen's Watermelon Quilt
10.  Virtual Quilting Bee Warm/Cold and Christmas Scrappy
11.  My House Hanging and Sassi Strippers Red/Green Mystery
12.  Matthew's Saints and The Polar Bears