All People Quilt UFO Challenge

In the fall of last year, I was reading a blog and came across a post that referenced the All People Quilt UFO Challenge .  I liked the idea of the randomness of it so I decided to join in for 2018.  Sometimes I wonder whether I spend too much time working through the old UFOs and never starting anything new.  Since many of the ESF groups shut down and now I’m not there for the monthly Diva challenge progress, I don’t have much reason to start anything new (besides doing something with the new fabric I buy).  I don’t buy a lot and it is mainly targeted towards finishing something.  I’ve been using the generous gift cards from the Divas to fulfill those fixes. I’m down to one card and I’m looking forward to visiting that shop since it may be becoming the closest one to me after this week.  Sadly, two of my favorites have closed or announced they are closing in the last couple of months--first, Three Dudes and now Quilter’s Ranch.  Apparently, Quilter’s Ranch has been in business for 40 years. I was worried when they announced they were giving up their Bernina dealership.  Sigh.  I will skip the closing sale this weekend.  There’s nothing I really need and the stories about the crowds and the Fire Department queueing at Three Dudes didn’t sound appealing.

But I digress …  Since I’m doing the APQ UFO Challenge, I should do some blog posts to monitor my progress.  I thought it may be “a sign” in January when they pulled the number that corresponded to a quilt that was ready to sew on the binding.  Wahoo!  It was January 1 and I was already almost done!  The photo is underwhelming but it is a mostly a vintage kit from ESF with all of the wonderful, thick flannel that Mary used to buy (maybe Maywood).  The more peachy pink was never a pink that I bought but the bundle was too pretty to pass up.  I finally pieced it at a March retreat (maybe 2 years ago) after buying some coordinates to finish it off.  I had a lot of the border print so I made it fairly wide to make this a bit bigger and put the same print on the back.  You may be surprised to know that our favorite quilts here in Arizona (and those that get the most use) have flannel on the back so this is intended to be MY couch lap quilt.  For a few months of the year, throughout the course of the day, it goes from downright cold to hot and then back to cooler in the evening.  The desert temps combined with leather furniture keep us coming back to the flannel.

In February, they pulled the number corresponding to the Have a Jolly Little Christmas QAL.  I’m in no rush for this quilt so I had hoped to get a few more blocks done but didn’t necessarily have a goal to finish it. I had kitted up all of the blocks last year so I could easily take them to retreats.  As luck would have it, I had gotten 3 blocks done at the January retreat. I finished 3 more when I got home and, still, I’ve been inspired to work on these since they are easy but each one feels like a mini quilt.  I have two blocks nearly finished (I needed to recut a piece for the cardinal and partridge) and then 3 more before they are all completed (wreath, reindeer and moose).

In March, they pulled the number for a new table runner for my office.  Since I wanted a couch and coffee table in my office instead of a desk, the coffee table from our Ohio living room is in there. We used the big ottoman table from the basement in our living room here.  Knowing my boys, when I bought the table from friends, I made a quilt to cover it.  It’s basically a giant placemat and, as such, it’s seen some hard wear.  It needs to be rebound since it is fraying a bit from all of the washings.  Ironically, two of my Ohio friends asked me to make them one like it for their tables.  I’m not sure why they liked it so much since it is so simple.  I’ve always liked pinwheels so I decided to just remake it with the new office colors.  I also chose to use Bonnie Hunter’s HST techniques to see if I can embrace them or if I’ll just go back to using triangle paper.  In that vein, I’ve been working on these HSTs for a while, carrying them to meetings to finger press and trim dog ears, etc.  If my math was right, I have all of the HSTs I need but I need to make blocks and finish the quilt. We’ll see how that goes.


Here is the original one.

This is the color scheme for the new office.

In the midst of these projects, I’ve been spending a lot of time on my community quilts commitment to my guild.  We committed to making 30 twin sized quilts for a project that helps a group of homeless people get jobs and homes.  The quilts stay with the program so we’re trying to get them done ASAP so that people can start benefitting as quickly as possible.  Since I keep the charity stash, that’s meant lots and lots of cutting.  I’ve also been making quilts from the bigger panels in our stash.  I had cut nearly everything in our stash to be used for these twin quilts when, by complete coincidence, we got just the fabric donations we needed to start making backs for the twin quilts. 

We also got a huge donation of precut flannel squares with about half of them already prepped for rag quilts.  Since it is isn’t practical to kit those for the guild, I’ve been making rag quilts of all things.  Kind of odd, I’d say but I’ve been having fun with them.  The prints are really adorable and they are only 5x6 blocks so they go quickly.  It’s a challenge to make a reasonably combination without looking like a hodge podge.  I have four more to make then the rag quilt blocks will be gone and that will be one less box in my quilt room.