When Pigs Fly Challenge, My Day

 

The When Pigs Fly Challenge started on Monday,  hosted by the fabulous Joan @Moosestash Quilting.   The challenge this time is to get those projects out of bags, bins and closets.  PIGS-Projects in Grocery Sacks, UFO's-Unfinished Objects, WIPS, Works in Progress.  There have been so many great finishes the last few days.    

Many thanks to Joan for this great challenge, as I have innumerable works in progress, I really don't have Projects in Grocery Sacks, but I have a lot of those scrapbook boxes filled with projects, plus I have a lot of those zippered bags that sheets come in filled with projects up in my sewing room closet.  

Back in May, for the Little Green Apples Challenge, hosted by Carol @ Just Let Me Quilt I got a  UFO out of the closet.  This was started in the late 1990's when I was a fairly new quilter.  I took an Apple Core class at the local quilt store.  I cut out tons and tons of apple cores, assembled 5 rows, and it has been in the closet ever since.  For the Little Green Apples Challenge I assembled the whole quilt top.    I even had the backing in with the rest of the box of apple core pieces.   For this PIGs flying challenge, I quilted it, and bound it, and it is ready to gift to my son-in-law Jeff next week for his birthday.  It was a windy day to take a picture so had to clamp it to the fence.

The second project I finished up was a relatively new one.  Last year I was working on Kathy Schmitz's Gathered Blessings.  We were supposed to complete one section each month.  Mine was stuck at the half-way place, June,  and we were supposed to have finished by December.   I finished the embroidery, and even did a simple hand quilting.  

My next finish is a relatively new project.  Last year I made my brother Bill and sister-in-law Char a lighthouse quilt.  This was their payment for putting a new kitchen floor in for me.   I finished last fall and gifted it to them when they came up for Christmas.  For the past 6-8 months I have had 8 leftover Storm-At Sea blocks, plus fabrics I used for the quilt sitting in a pile in my sewing room.  I intended to make some pillow shams to match the quilt.  I made a point for this challenge of making these pillow shams.  I think their king sized pillows are larger than mine, but here is the quilt on their bed, and the pillow shams.

My fourth intended finish was an over-ambitious thought, considering a lot of it involved hand embroidery and 3/4 of the quilt was unfinished.  Back in 1996, I was in a yahoo group online quilting group, and we had a quilt-along for a quilt named Blessings by Jennifer Lokey and Karen Roosien.   It consisted of four sections, and each section came in a separate book. Each section could be a stand alone quilt, or could be put all together.  I finished the first section.

This is the entire finished quilt from the book.  

This was another project in one of the zippered sheet bags.  I had all the fabrics I intended to use, plus the instructions.  I traced out all of the designs, and these are the ones I finished the embroidery on for this challenge.    I have 2 left to embroider.  I still need to assemble the pieced portions of the quilt.  But it is out of the closet, and I hope to finish this one and give to a long time friend.  

So that was all the PIGS I was able to round up and get finished this time.  I even have a tiny blank space in the top of my sewing room closet.   Thanks again to Joan for the encouragement! 

Be sure to visit the other bloggers.  The entire schedule is below.  

Monday June 19

MooseStashQuilting

Quilting Gail

Songbird Designs

Quilt Schmilt

Words & Stitches

Scrapdash

 

Tuesday June 20

Quilted Delights

Ms P Designs USA

Selena Quilts

Just Because Quilts

Stitching Farm Girl

Bumbleberry Stitches

Wednesday June 21

BeaQuilter

crazy'boutquilts

Days Filled with Joy

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Texas Quilt Gal

 

Thursday June 22

Just Let Me Quilt

Karrin’s Crazy World

Inflorescence

VroomansQuilts  

The Quilted Snail

Slow Sunday Stitching

Last week was another busy week.  I had my usual choir practice on Monday. Tuesday morning I went to a local quilt shop and attended their wool club for the first time.   I stayed about 3 hours, and left early.   Traffic coming back from that town in the afternoon is atrocious so I wanted to beat that.  

I almost finished one of my Wooly Christmas Gnomes blocks.  These were offered late last year on Facebook by various shops.  I thought if attended these meetings once a month I might be able to finish this before Christmas, maybe next Christmas.  This is the whole quilt.

I've almost finished the first block.  This guy needs his mustache, and he is supposed to be stringing some lights.  I didn't have the proper thread at the shop to do that.

And I started on the second block.

Tuesday evening was Begonia meeting which is always fun, but makes for a late night.  

Wednesday was quilt guild community service workday at my house, which meant I had to clean up my usual work area of the kitchen and dining room on Monday as Tuesday was chock full of activities.  We usually have about 6-7 people attend, but there were only four of us this week.  We did get quite a bit done anyway.  What we do is cut batting for the quilt tops and backs people have donated, and also cut out the binding.  We will pin baste these at the first of the month, unless they are going to a longarmer.   We had no longarm quilts prepared so we worked on a bunch of those.  

Wednesday was also my day on the Green Apples Blog Hop hosted by Carol @Just Let Me Quilt.  I finished up probably one of my oldest UFO's (unfinished objects).  Once quilted it will be a BD gift for my SIL Jeff.  I remembered this as being really intimidating 20+ years ago, but I was able to finish a lap-sized quilt.  

This week I finished up my little Valentine stitchery.  I was trying to make it the same size as the one I did last year, because I wanted to hang it on this hanger.   But it is slightly smaller.  

Several years ago I made a spring cushion.  When daughter Kristen was over last week she said "I don't have a spring pillow".  So I am making one for her, daughter Katie wants a wall hanging, and am making one for a friend.   This top is finished, I need to assemble the cushion now.

I have also worked on the Winter Blues wedding quilt.  This is a pattern by Bonnie Hunter.  I am actually 2 seams away from the main top being done.  I had hoped to have the whole thing to show, but as I was pinning the sashing on one of the seams, I must have cut one of the pieces slight bigger, so I need to take out two short seams and then I can sew the sashing on both sides of the quilt.  This is one half done.  Next will be the braided border.

It continued to rain throughout the week last.  The reservoirs are the best they have been in years.  I have heard we are going to be off drought restrictions.  More rain is expected next week.

I have these peonies coming up.

As I was pressing Winter Blues Saturday afternoon, I looked out the French Doors onto the patio and saw this lizard enjoying the sunshine on the doormat.  Next time I looked out they were to the side of the mat and had their arm propped up.  It looked like an awfully fat lizard.  I think it is pregnant and was trying to get comfortable.

This next week promises to be another busy one.  Wednesday is 5th Wednesday in the month.  On 5th Wednesdays our guild community service gets together at a local church and we bring the quilts that are ready to be quilted, or assembled, or need binding and we work for about 4-1/2 hours.  We are  also going to have a potluck.  

Right after that, I am going to head on over to the first day of Day Camp.  It will have started at 9 am, but I am going to go for 1/2 day.  Day Camp is Wednesday-Saturday.  We will have a potluck the first night, and the rest of the nights will be served lunch and dinner.

I have been rounding up projects to take with me, and getting things cut out.  One of our guild members donated a bunch of jar blocks, and I am going to put them together.  Another guild member passed away, and there are some unfinished Sunbonnet Sue blocks, all cut out and attached to freezer paper.  I will assemble those also, and then will eventually quilt both of those for community service.  I also have several of my projects I am taking with me.  

For Slow Sunday Stitching I will be working on the hand embroidery on the 2 remaining Think Spring Bunnies.  I'll be linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  

Thanks for stopping by!