A FINISH! ...and that's a UFO!

Good Friday morning from a rainy and windy Mauritius! 

It's the beginning of 'winter', or 'cold season', as the locals refer it to. It's past middle May and the last days the weather is typical for July/August; rain, wind and drop in temperature. Meteo predicts the temperature drops to +11C  / 51.8F on the plateau this 'winter'. BRRR! Some of you may be laughing, but with high humidity and wind, this sort of weather IS cold! Time to wear warm sweaters and socks! 

We took advantage of the sunny weather and did some long overdue yard work. Can't believe how overgrown it was! Not really a surprise; the summer has been hot and lots of rain, perfect condition for all plants, and WEEDS! 

If you have read my latest posts, you know I'm determined to finish as many as possible of the accumulated 15! UFO's. I'm happy to say I do have a few finishes and here's the first one: 

This is #12 (my UFO list).  1728 squares pieced together! Most of the squares are from my stash and others from swaps. There are a few duplicates. 

I made the blocks last year, but never made them into a quilt. 

The back! Yep, I decided to piece the back. Makes it more interesting, doesn't it? 

First I chose the pretty floral fabric and added some matching fabric that picks up the colors of the flowers.  

What was left is cut into strips, and squares measuring 2', 2.5', 3', 3.5', 4' and 5'. Happy to say all these fabrics are used up.

After working entirely on big quilts, I needed something smaller to do. I know I've said I'm not going to start anything new until some UFO's are done......... but.... After finishing 3 quilts recently (posts later), I think it is justified! :) 

I admit it; I have a soft spot for Advent Calendars! I used YLI gold metallic thread for quilting, but I didn't find it easy to use. Usually I use Superior Threads' metallic (my favorite), but I didn't have more and to order to get it shipped FedEx Express costs about $50! Better use what I have, I thought! I've left to hand sew the binding.

Speaking of metallic thread, has any of you tried Yenmet for quilting or embroidery? 

I'm working on another UFO. This is the one that was supposed to be the back for another quilt, but I decided against it.

 

I've quilted (stitch-in-the-ditch) all the 17 'flying geese' blocks. I'm enjoying the process and due to the nasty weather today I'm going to continue quilting the orange rectangles, I think... that's the plan, but with me plans always fail! I may also find something small to work on in between...

HAPPY QUILTING!

Progress on UFO's - AGAIN!

UFO's! UFO's! UFO's! That's what has been going on since my previous post! I have not started anything new, even if that has been very tempting a few times. I'm determined to finish as many UFO's as possible this year and so far so good! The PSQ #1 and the Scrappy Christmas Quilt - here - are both FINISHED! No photos yet. 

The last couple of weeks, I've been working on PSQ #2 and the Pineapple Quilt. For the PSQ #2, the blocks were done last year, but not pieced together. As you can see here, 3 blocks were missing (still not found!). New blocks were made and a flimsy was born! 

Does it happen you add pieces of batting together? I do, I zigzag the pieces together. I'm running out of batting and for this quilt I have pieced five pieces together to make it big enough.

A sneak peek of the pieced backing. I always pin and thread baste the 3 layers together before quilting. I've had my share of puckers when using pins only and don't want a repeat of wasted time ripping seams! I was wondering why the cat was so quiet and to where he had disappeared... HA! Under the table, on the quilt! Cats always find the best place to keep warm.

Poor 'Dear Nina'! This is how the bobbin case looked like after less than half of the quilt was quilted!

 It's all done and I hope to get the scrappy binding on by the weekend. 

42 blocks! Phyllis over at Jambearies suggested I add an additional row on one side and one at the bottom and call it quit, to make it a good size throw. ...and so I did!...so far! I'm not going to make more of these blocks, at least not for awhile! LOL. Elzaan over at Huisvlyt suggests a piano key border! ... which means the quilt would keep growing! I think that would look nice, but really, am I willing to add more work to it? I have to decide on backing too. Any suggestion? Scrappy? I may have some 'ugly' fabric that can be used. 

Removing the paper from each block took F-O-R-E-V-E-R! 

At one point, while making the pineapple blocks, it didn't look like it made any dent in the amount of strips at all! But now, after sorting strips - again - the amount is reduced from two to one box! Yippie!!!

HAPPY QUILTING!!!