Work gets in the way

I work in IT as a Quality Assurance Software Engineer and this month we had a major release.  I put in many long hours doing the month getting the testing completed for the release and then supporting the go live. I lead of team of 18 and we were stretched to the limit to get it all tested, even with the automated test suite that has been written.

Needless to say - had lofty goals that did not come to fruition.

The UFO for this month from 52 Quilts in 52 Weeks was #9.  My number 9 was to get all the blocks completed for the block of the month from 2012 from The Fat Quarter Shop.  I did not get them made into a quilt but today I did get the last block made and that was my goal for the month.  Since I bought this BOM late I did not get a finishing kit only the blocks so I am going to have to come up with a plan for the assembly now that I have them together.

I have loved the Vintage Modern fabric since the first time I saw it so I am happy to finally have these together.  I do have some other fabrics that I am going to audition to use for the finish.

I was disappointing that I did not get the binding sewn down on the quilt from last month but any progress is better than no progress.

It is almost the beginning of a new month and time to set new goals.  Maybe May will be better, June is not looking so good for getting much sewing done.

Past Quilts

Since I want to use this blog to record the quilts that I have made I am going to add a few old ones that I have given in previous years.

I have grandsons that love construction equipment.  So much so that for the last three years these boys have attended a local event called Dozer Days in which they can actual sit in and 'operate' big equipment.   If they go this year it will be four years in a row.  My daughters think that the interest is waning, I am not so sure.

This is the quilt that I made for each of the cousins.

That same year I also made a quilt for a grandson who is just a little older that was not interested in construction equipment.  For him I made an eye spy quilt, of sorts.  Not the traditional and because his mom really likes modern quilts I used gray as the sashing.

All three boys received there quilts for Christmas 2012.

That same year I gave my daughter in law a flannel Christmas quilt.

This was actually my first foray into flannel and I was worried about the fabric stretching but had no problems.  I do plan to eventually make a flannel quilt for myself.  I have a lot of quilts that I want to make.  And many already started, which is way I am currently working on UFO's.

March 2015

The March UFO # 4

This one had been kicking around my sewing room for a while and I am really glad to get it done.  It seems I was always moving it from one place to another.

A finish for a gift for one of my co-workers.  Baby was due earlier in the month and finally made an appearance on my husbands birthday last week.

Actually did finished two of these.  This one was given to a baby girl of one of my husbands ex-coworkers.

My daughter also quilted an older quilt top that I finished awhile ago.  This one is not finished yet but I love this shot of the quilting.  She had just unpinned it from her long arm, the light from the window really highlighted the quilting.  I still need to get it trimmed and the binding on and will take another picture when it is done.

I also took a machine embroidery class and worked on another project that I have finally finished all the blocks for.  Now I just need to get them all sewn together....a bigger project than that sentence makes it sound.

In addition to the above, I have been making binding for my daughters quilts and sewing them on for her.  I owe her big time for all the quilting she did for me last year.

Speaking of which - I almost forgot to include this photo.  I love to see my quilts put to good use.  These little darlings are my best friends grand children.  I made them quilts before Christmas.  There is nothing like a quilt fort.

February 2015

February has been a very long month.  Not so much in days but in busyness and in the fact that I have been sick.

At the beginning of the month I started coughing.  No sore throat, no running nose.  I just started coughing.  A week later I did get a sore and runny nose.  This was the weirdest illness. After about 11 days I went to the doctor and was put on antibiotics.  I am not doing much better now.

In spite the fact that I was fighting the crud I did get some sewing done.  The first item was the #1 UFO.  It was a recent start so that was satisfying.  During the great Christmas sewing spree I had completed 2 Hungry Caterpillar quilts.  But I had cut out 3.  I have two grandsons that share a bedroom and my daughter wanted matching quilts.  One of the boys got one for Christmas and this month I got the other top sewn together.  I am afraid it is not a very good picture and it is not quilted yet but another top completed.

And since I seem to be on a Hungry Caterpillar roll I also did a baby gift for a co-worker.  I have to get this on quilted quickly.  His wife is due in Mid March.

It is so hard to take pictures this time of the year.

I think that what ever Hungry Caterpillar fabric I still have is getting donated somewhere.  I have completed a total of 6 quilts using this line.  That is enough.  I know I had always planned to make the youngest boys matching quilts but I had so much extra.  I am calling it quits.

I have been working a couple of other items but nothing else has been completed.  

2015 Goals

I have a large number of things I would like to do in 2015.

The first quilt I actually finished for the year was actually one that was in the stack from my last post.  I just needed to finish stitching down the binding.  It is a Bear Mountain Log Cabin.  The pieces are small and I completed the top years ago, I think six,  but just got it quilted this fall.  I have given this to my best friend.  Along with three quilts for her grand kids.

I have created a list of 12 UFO's for the year and will follow http://www.52quilts.com/ plan.

For the month of January that is #2.  That is an old one.  I do not even remember when the fabric was purchased.  It is a lap quilt made of flannel.  Snowball and 9 patch.  I have the top made and made the back.  It has now gone off to my daughter the quilter.

I am currently attempting to work on cleaning up my sewing space.  Before Christmas I worked feverishly getting 15 quilts completed between October and December.  That did not allow for clean up between projects.  I need to get organized now and clean up the mess.

I spend one of my weekends this month teaching a young woman that I work with how to piece a baby quilt.  We kept it simple.  A panel with a couple of boarders.  My daughter has quilted it for her now she will need to come back and learn how to put the binding on.

Because my daughter does so much of my quilting for me I often put boarders on her quilts and make quilt backs for her.  I did get two backs made for quilts for her this month.

I am now working on a baby quilt for one of my co-workers.  His wife is expecting a little boy in March so I had to get busy if I want to have it done before the baby is born.  Because he and his family are from India I keep rejecting fabric as something that might not translate culturally.

I have a long list of projects that I would like to get completed this year.  Many so close to being done it is sad that they have sat so long.  I am making progress slowly.

Where did 2014 go to?

I can't believe that it is already 2015.

The last few months of the year simple flew by.

I did however get a lot done.  I made and/or finished a stack of quilts.  In the last 3 months of the year.

You thought I was kidding didn't you?  These were all finished in December or November.  Unfortunately, I can't remember on all of them.   Most had the binding completed in December.

6 of the tops were finished by September.  The other 5 I made and finished between November and December.  It has all become a blur.

First let me show the ones that were actually flimsies and were quilted and bound in November.

This top was completed in July on 2013 and finally quilted and bound in November.  Given to my daughter-in-law.

I have no idea when I made this top.

I know I bought the fabric when Daisy Kingdom was going out of business...That was a really long time ago.  I think I made the top about 9 years ago.  It has sat waiting to be quilted that long.  Quilted and bound in Late November or Early December.  This one is going to a friends grandson.

Next up one I pieced last spring as one of my UFO's for the year.  Now quilted and bound.  This is actually going to a friends grand daughter.

I had the center of this next one completed during the summer.  I put a boarder on it in November.  It was quilted and bound in December.

This one was also on my UFO list for 2014.  The pattern is called Lemon bash.  I made a mistake when piecing it and was not going to rip it out so I just went with the error.  I know where it is and others might see it.  But the person who got this quilt will never know the difference.  I did not let the mistake stall me.

I made this next one for a little boy and needed something quick.  This was quick.

This next one I assembled the top in Late September.  It was quilted in early November and bound toward the end of the month.  This is where the insanity started.  It was after making this quilt that I decided to make a quilt for all 9 grand children.

I made two of this next one.  They were made for cousins.  I had this fabric for a few years and needed to get it done before the boys got to old.

I also made two of this pokey puppy quilt.  One for a grand child and one for my best friends grand child.  Another one that I had the fabric for a while and needed to use it up.

The next one was actually a collaboration between my daughter and myself.  It was one of her unfinished UFO's. I discovered on December 21st that our ex-foster granddaughter would be joining us for Christmas and needed another quilt so I finished this one and we got it done on Christmas.

The funny thing about this one is that she was the only one that was excited about getting another quilt. She loved the colors.

This next one was made for my 4 grand daughter.  It was also on the 2014 UFO finish list.  We and I do me we got it sewn together on Monday December 21st.  My daughter actually finished stitching down the applique so that she could get it quilted before she left town to go to her in-laws for Christmas.  I got it back from her on Tuesday to get it bound.  It was finished about 3am on Dec 26th.   Good think I had until the 27th for our Christmas celebration.

This quilt was made for my oldest grandson.  He like bridges.  So I made this quilt using Violet Crafts Waterfront park bridge fabric.  These are Portland Bridges and he has been across all of them on the Portland Bridge Peddle.  He has also visited them when he took a class at OMSI.  This quilt was inspired by one that I saw at the Sandy Quilt Show last June.  I wish I had taken note of the lady who made it so I could give her proper credit.   I have know idea how close mine is like hers because I made it from a memory.  I know that the colors are of course different.  My daughter did the quilting to look like waters.

This last quilt was actually made by my husband but I wanted to include it.  We took a class in November where this was started.  It started out a wall hanging but he made it bigger.  He then added the boarders and backed it with Minky.  He gave it to our son as he was the last of his family to get a minky backed quilt.  With the temps around here last week it was greatly enjoyed.

That is all but one of the quilts that are in the stack.  There is one more in the stack that I do not have a picture of yet.  I did not finish the binding until New years as the person it is going to is currently out of town and I had time.

Of all that I got done all but 3 pieces of fabric came from my stash.  I sure wish I noticed a difference in the amount of fabric I have.  

There are 15 quilts in the above stack.

4 of the above were on my 2014 UFO list.

2 had been tops for a while.

4 had been on my list to do before the kids got too old to like them any more.  

My daughter has made me promise that I will never decide in September/ October time frame that I need to make quilts for all the grand kids again.  If I had just done them for my own I might have been ok.  But then I did 3 for my best friends grand kids. 

This could not have been done without the help of my long arming daughter and the help of my husband who helped me get the quilts bound.  He bound 5 of mine and his own.

Needless to say my grand plans to work on Bonnie Hunters mystery quilt were put on hold as I finished all of these instead.

Did I mention that I work outside the home full time?

April Finish

April has been a tough month for getting stuff done.  I was pretty sick most of the month so I really did not get as much done as I would have liked.

I worked on UFO #1 but it is a huge project so I did not even come close to completing it.

This last weekend I realized that it is almost May and I have a deadline to get my 'guilt' quilt done.  I hate to admit it but several years ago when I was attending the local quilt guild I was given a charity quilt to piece into a top.  I am sorry to say I found it last year buried on a shelf with other UFO's when I was pulling stuff out of my sewing room.  At the time I could not work on it since the reason I was pulling everything out of the sewing room was because wood floors were going down.  I 'found' it again before Christmas, let's just say that 'life happens while you are making other plans'.  I made progress at the time but still did not get all the block sewn together.  I put it on my list of UFO's to finish this year.  This next weekend is the guild's quilt show.  I decided that I needed to get that top together and drop it off at the show.  I have not been able to attend guild meeting in probably seven maybe eight years because my work hours changed.  So this quilt top is long over due...that is why it is my 'guilt' quilt.  Every time I have run across it in the last year I have felt guilty that it has taken me so long to complete.

This was on the list of UFO's for this year but it was not #1....until I switched them.