A UFO is a unfinished object term for Quilters. They are projects one sets aside for another time. Perhaps the theme was not what you thought, or fabric was not coordinating or the pattern was difficult... Whatever. Out of sight, out of mind. Not so for me. There are two of my projects I know about. One is a holiday quilt made of flannel pieces with points for treetops and roofs. The other I remembered is this Holiday Tree Skirt.
Thing is, I made no notes to self. I had an idea what it was supposed to look like and why the scraps were saved. After sorting them by color, I sorted by size and tossed the small pieces. What was I thinking? I do not want to work with those small pieces, so in the trash they went. After reading the pattern, if I WAS to make this pattern, it would be with much larger pieces and I need to relook at this pattern.
I worked in my East garden yesterday and this morning, coming in too exhausted to quilt. I dug the hard clay, watered, raked and set a planter in place for a tree. I moved rocks, some of them mighty large. Then I trimmed a rose bush and brought out the leaf blower. It had been a UFO project too. And it is not done. I want to redo the rocks so they look like a tumbled flow in back of the plants, closer to the house. The plan is to get a tree and plants that are more drought tolerant. It looks so much better without the fallen leaves. They made it look cluttered. I need to put a double faucet and install those watering tubes. So the project may go into September before it is finished
I've been going to the Pacific Ocean on Mondays this summer. And as I got ready this morning, I picked up cat toys to put in his chest. It surprised me to see a stack of those Log Cabin blocks, first round.
He is really a good cat, but that made me laugh. It gave me an opportunity to introduce another fabric. Its going to be tight to finish the last round with all of these. I worked to get them to the same stage as the rest of the blocks. They are ready for the first half that is the white side.
The Ocean was lovely. The marine layer covers the sky in the morning, and suddenly the wind picks up, blowing them away. Yet it brings a chill and even more fierce waves. The tide comes in and the day changes. It blew the tent over, so it was time to pack it up and head home. It is a rocky beach, but not the boulders that the last beach had.
Ventura is closer to the Tehachapi valley, so a stop at Michaels was in order to buy some Hallows decor. I picked up a variety of things to finish off the Whimsy Pockets & apothecary jars I am making the Grands for Halloween.
Tomorrow, it is back to work. Labels, a fleece Quillow and this MN Wild quilt, which has a name now. You Got Game.
The process for this step is to do three rounds for the Log Cabin block. Between each round, the requirements are to trim the blocks with the template. What I learned or am learning with this project is that most of the time a person has to let go of what they know or expect and just be open to doing things differently.
Laughing at myself to think of how many nightmares I create by trying to do things believing I know how it should happen, when it should happen and how it needs to play out.
This quilt is made of two different blocks, and somewhere over 80 of each is required. Each log cabin block is made of three rounds of blocks, one scrappy, and one white. This is the second block and second round of logs before getting trimmed. I have no idea if the scraps that are left will be enough for round three.
It all means surrendering to the process and seeing what the outcome will be. There is no way to manipulate the outcome in the first stages of planning for a scrap quilt. Maybe it is more like real life than going to a fabric store and buying exactly the fabric in exactly the coordinating colors. We think we can control our lives but the best we can do is use what we have and work towards personal growth. We set things in place like where we live, go to school, work, vote, partner. But we are not really the only factor in how our lives play out.
Perhaps this is why I love the challenge of scrap quilting and even those darned Mystery Quilts which I keep saying I will not join and then end up loving them each time I do sign up.
For now, its all about trimming. The last round of logs finishes up this block and it gets trimmed to a 6" square. The next step is laying the two blocks out in the pattern and playing with how they look. That one is clearly a mind game. Almost 200 blocks will need shifting before the final pinning, so my guess is that this project will wait til mid-week for that part.
Monday takes me to the Pacific Ocean again. Another trip West and this time to Ventura Beach.
It is a challenge to make something for the Grandson who is 10. Luckily, he brought me into an interest of his that is called 'Minecraft'. I watched several videos now and see it as a expansive pastime for many kids growing into adulthood. It is actually a game that teaches them to build rather than destroy. It is fast becoming an industry. I learned that Microsoft bought it and is simply sitting on it.
Thusfar, I have made a couple of pillows and he wanted me to make him another quilt because his family members 'steal' his. That is what gave me the idea to do a Quillow which combines a quilt with a pillow.
I found a printout for a Fleece version, which is not lined and therefore doesn't have batting. It folds first into thirds from side to side and then up from the bottom to the top in fourths where it is tucked into a pillow. It can be used only as a pillow for the head or to sit on, and the opening serves to carry things if it is used as a stadium cushion. I found other fleece and flannel scraps in my stash to make the face for the outside of the pillow. It is purple even though it reads blue.
Minecraft visuals are all done in blocks of squares and rectangles that create the faces, heads, bodies, arms, legs and (wings, antenna, tails etc.) The folded fleece measures about an 18" square so 2" gets added to allow for the quilt body to fit inside. I trimmed the selvages off and cut fringes 1" long by 1" wide all the way around it and now need to plan for the face. I need to sketch the face before cutting and want to watch more videos first now that I know what I am doing.
After watching how the more modern Log Cabin quilts are being created, I returned to the MN WILD quilt project that I was working on.
This one is a little different because it uses a template to trim each round in order to give it the look of a twisted swirl. The count is at 107 though I am not sure if this is more or less than what I need. I enlarged the quilt twice to make it both wider and longer. I am keeping scraps in case I need to make more and if not, the orphans will go in the Gypsy Orphan quilt.
I laughed at myself, yet again, for not writing notes to self about my next step on this project. Clearly, this was the step that goes next, but hey!
Ordinarily, I would not trim like this. Its almost shaving. The template is marked for the trimming of each round for each of the two styles of blocks. What I like about this is that each block finishes off the same so they will fit together as if they were made for each other. Oh. They are.
And I think about Marianne (the Mother) wanting specific seams, and Mary (the Daughter) who suggested consistency. Both had good points. I will pay more attention the next time around. However, this time, I am going with Mary and being consistent.
Today sucked actually. It is lovely outside, but the smoke from fires so many miles away have settled in the valley making it impossible to be outdoors or to have open windows. I do not want smoke coming in and settling on fabrics for projects I am working on right now.
I watched several of the tutorials from Quilty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PPcP1eHbdo&list=PLsYvTdlNYsS6WvLOnEL5-ZoNDLst7HQ2K
and Missouri Star
https://www.youtube.com/user/MissouriQuiltCo
Sometimes I flipped through them, sometimes watched for awhile and sometimes watched the entire video. There is a lot to be learned even when I think I know what it is about.
One thing I learned on a Quilty tutorial was about accurate 1/4" seams. The two women on the show were Mother & Daughter and are legends in the quilting community. Of course, they have wisdom born out of experience and from being with, and teaching so many quilters.
Yet. One needs to know herself too.
Marianne Fonz measures the squares. A 3 1/2" raw square with accurate seams finishes at 3". She joined two squares and measured to see if they finished at 6 1/2". Less meant the seam was too scant. More meant that it was too heavy. Mary Fonz said that if they were all the same it didn't make any difference. Her Mother said it did if you were using triangles. Mary also said she had a tool on her machine that helped her sew to the edge and be done with the stress of measuring. Her Mother countered with birthing and growing up stories, and scoffed at the tool saying they were not for all machines. Sigh.
I am on the side of the Daughter. I am only making quilts with squares and rectangles and sew the same seam, and do not care what size the quilt is when it is finished. I plan to look for that 1/4" guide. One video was also on a similar Log Cabin quilt pattern that I am currently making, so I watched with interest.
The other tutorials from Missouri Star always seem to have shortcuts to traditional patterns, and I like what I see. I flipped past the triangle patterns. And the thing is that I am doing so much now that I have no time for anything NEW.
So why do I say today sucked? I have several bins out of my closet on the floor that are opened with fabric spilling out. The doors to my closets make them look stuffed. I am just feeling sorry for myself that there is so much here. And yet, I am grateful for all I have been given and have and feel quite pleased with what I make from it all.
What else I did was to sew up one of the baby quilts, add the batting, turn it and pin baste so it is ready for tying. Then I baked two onions for onion rings. OMGoddess are they good! And my housekeeper came. She spent several hours doing a few things I passed onto her.
As for the new computer setup. The geek is returning with an extension to the keyboard and will answer any questions I have. I have a growing list. I miss the Mac and he says I can do the same things with this system. Hah! I have a full page of questions already, and a lot of frustration.
I had help figuring out how to make them and made 8 of the 11 needed. Yet, while they were finished, I am not sure I like them.
It is a struggle to program one letter at a time and then have the machine print them out vertically top to bottom. All those loose threads needed cutting and the ones between letters. Ends of them all. Again, I am not sure I like the look, yet, for now, they will do.
And then I finished the first Twister quilt. This one waits now for a recipient. I thought it was pretty busy when I first made it and after seeing more of them online, it is what it is. It makes a nice personal nap/lap quilt.
The other fun thing today was that the computer geek showed up and installed a new tower and brought a small screen for the desk, so that both it and the SmartTV are set in place. Of course, its another learning curve. My vision is not all that good to see far away to write from even the big screen. I can use my keyboard in front of the big screen but it is too much. So once again, I wait for the extension cord to fit. Meanwhile, I am playing with a mini wireless keyboard.
