Ugly Fabric Challenge Quilt is Bound-Labeled-Done

My ugly challenge quilt is finally bound labeled done!  After I had pieced the front, we received clarified instructions about the challenge and this will have to be disqualified.  Some of every fabric has to be on the project front and I had saved the little piece of cupcake fabric to use as a label on the back.  

I pieced the top during the holidays and it came to be my sanity project that allowed me to retreat from the hustle and bustle of the season a few minutes at a time.

For my personal records:  The quilt is about 51 inches square.  With the exception of the black fabric, all of it including thread and batting came from either remnants in my stash or fabrics exchanged at the Christmas party.  It was made using a “Trash to Treasure” tool and book by Gyleen Fitzgerald.  

The back was also pieced using Gyleen's “Baby’s Got Back” technique which is fat quarter friendly.  Gyleen will be at our February Quilt Club meeting and I’m excited to have one of her projects to show.

I had a particularly hard time even thinking about blogging this past week.  Partially, it’s because so much of my quilting time has been spent cutting scraps for Texas Tumbleweeds, the Bonnie Hunter project I’ll be working on later this week.  Cutting is my least favorite part of the quilting process, but I was able to use up a lot of odd sized batik remnants getting ready for this project.  I think my fabrics are finally kitted up.  Either tomorrow or Wednesday I’ll  give my little Featherweight some spa time.  Tonight is Bonnie’s Quilt-Cam night, so maybe I'll find something fun to play with during that.  

Ready, Set, Go!...for Slow Stitching on Super Bowl Sunday

I have my squares for hexagons ready for basting and the binding ready for hand stitching on my ugly fabric challenge quilt.  The lovely scrap of cup cake fabric is all that came home with me from that particular fabric.  I've decided to use it as a label on the back.

I should be ready with plenty of handwork for tonight’s Super Bowl.  Hubby watches the game, I watch the commercials.  It’s one of those rare television events that offers  something for both of us.  Oh, yeah…which teams playing again?

I'm linking to Kathy's  Slow Sunday Stitching.

Progress

The ugly fabric challenge quilt is quilted.  I hope I can find the strips I cut for the binding. 

We've had several cold, rainy days in a row here with an accumulation of 1.37 inches over the last 48 hours.  No one is complaining for the inconvenience and discomfort, not even the soggy grocery shoppers I encountered at the store.  The rain is very much appreciated.  The lake levels had come up 4 inches as of last night.  Not all that much, but moving in the right direction.

My white Christmas cactus has started blooming again.

Ugh!

I had such ambitious plans yesterday about making progress on quilting the ugly fabric challenge.  Then I flipped it over and saw part of the edge was folded over and stitched onto the backing.  Oh, well... So, I plopped myself down in front of my computer monitor and watched an episode of The Quilt Show while I did some frog stitching.

My amaryllis and red Christmas cactus are beginning to fade, but both are still in bloom.  I have really enjoyed them this season.  I had a friend in the Dallas area who re-planted the amaryllis bulbs in her flowerbeds.  That is somewhat problematic here as we have cloth mulch and I don't want to poke more holes in it.  I am thinking about sticking it in a pot outside this spring and seeing what happens.

It's a Start

The ugly fabric challenge quilt has been sandwiched for a couple of days, and as usual I have procrastinated beginning the quilting.  Finally, tonight I sat down to the machine and started work on it.  If hubby is released from the hospital to come home tomorrow as anticipated, I’ll be at home more.  I don’t know if that will result in more or less opportunity to sit at my machine.  At least if I do get the chance, I’m ready to go.

A Pieced Backing

I finished piecing a backing for my ugly fabric challenge quilt last night using fabric remnants and fat quarters.  The instructions for this technique are by Gyleen Fitzgerald and can be found here.   This is the project that specifically called for a 15 inch square ruler.  I also found a batting remnant so I should be able to get this project to sandwich stage fairly soon.  Gyleen will speak at our Quilt Club in February and I hope to have it finished by then.

Starting 2015 with a Flimsy

We are in wait mode for our next round of company to arrive sometime later today, so I used the time to finish my ugly fabric challenge top.  The next step is to piece a backing from some fabric I've pulled from my stash.  Due to some family plans, I doubt this project will be finished in time for the January Quilt Club meeting when we were asked to bring whatever we made from the challenge fabric.  I would love to finish it by the end of February.

2014 was not all that productive a year for completing projects.  I know it’s unwise to compare, but the year-end summaries that have popped up on the blogs I follow blow me away.  Life permitting, I want to pick up the pace in 2015.  My goal with regard to my quilting is to have fun, and not to fret over its imperfections.

If I have a word for 2015, it’s “enough!”  …well, maybe not quite enough fabric.  :-)

Progress on Ugly Fabric Challenge and Stash Additions

As time permits, I've been working on my Ugly Fabric Challenge quilt.  All center blocks are done and on the design wall.  I've already changed the arrangement since taking this picture and will probably tweak it some more.  This has become my “sanity” project for the holiday season. 

Santa Claus arrived early for me.  Hubby suggested a spontaneous outing yesterday that included a stop at a quilt shop.  These came home with me.  They will be the borders and bridge fabrics for a workshop scrap quilt I will be making in February.  I also picked up some neutral fat quarters that may go in the quilt as well.

To all my readers I extend a heartfelt Merry Christmas wish.

More Pineapple Blocks

It doesn't take me long to make a mess when I’m working with 1 ½ inch strips of fabric.  

My collection of pineapple blocks using the ugly fabric from the Quilt Club Exchange has grown to 16.  I think I will aim for 25 to make a usable throw.

She's Back!

Somewhere in my collection of old cookbooks, I have one with the notation “Beware of friends bearing gifts.  They may make you fat!”  Our winter Texan quilter friend, “North Dakota Carol,” has rejoined us for Tuesday’s Sit ‘n Sew gatherings.  She gifted us with these cute containers of honey which had been harvested from bee hives on land owned by her family.  It’s so good to have her back with us.

I have made two blocks for my ugly fabric challenge.  I’m using Gyleen Fitzgerald’s pineapple block tool and find it really is an easy process and a great way to use up scraps.  Hopefully I will pick up speed and get the 16 made I need for this small top.

I have a plan, of sorts...

Our final quilt club meeting of the year is a pre-holiday party and usually includes some kind of quilty game.  This year we were told to bring one yard of ugly fabric.  The rules were that the fabrics would be passed around the table (we had 7 at our table) until we were told to stop.  Then we would tear the piece we were holding in half, keep half and pass the remaining piece for the next round.  By the time we finished, each of us had a mixture of fabrics ranging in size from half a yard to a small rectangle a little bigger than the palm of my hand.  We were then told to make something with it.

I have to say that some of the fabrics were okay but others, well, what were we thinking when we paid good money for them.  Happily, none of mine came home with me.  We are permitted to add other fabrics to the mix, but we must use at least some of everything we received.

So this….

Has become this….

We’ll see how it turns out.