UFO #2: Finished!

This morning, I finished UFO #2, which is now in the wash and will soon be all soft and crinkly.

I even drug the finished quilt out into the yard for a photo shoot... however, the photos aren't all that better than the ones I take inside.   

 

One good thing about having a bunch o' UFOs to finish is that one gets lots of practice quilting.  This is the first quilt I can say that I think I'm getting better!   Perfect?  No...  but no one will notice anything once it's out of the soft and crinkly machines!

For inquiring minds who want to know what's on the back since that was the hold up getting this finished...

 

Now.... onto UFO #3!    Uhm, I can't remember which project is UFO #3... will have to check.   *lol*

A New Project

I am resolved to finish all my UFOs before tackling a new project but sometimes... exceptions can be made IF there is a good reason and I believe I have a very good reason.  My son-in-law will graduate from Duke Divinity School in May and I wanted to make something special for him.  I've been planning this for a while and now it's time to get moving.

Inspired by Crooked Cobblestones 4 - Cross (link) by quilt artist Wanda Hanson of Exuberant Color, which is way beyond my meager skills, I thought I could do a smaller wall hanging using batik squares in a colorwash rather than cobblestone blocks.  I've admired Wanda's colorwash quilts (link) and drooled over Debbie of Stitchin' Therapy's watercolor quilts (link) as well... so I decided to give it a try.

I don't think a single fabric square is in the same position as it was when I first started laying them out.  The project is on the dining room table and I squint my eyes to look at it as I pass by.  It's amazing how what looks okay one day, the next... one square just screams to be moved the next.



Debbie (Stitchin' Therapy) has a great tutorial all about designing/making a water color quilt (link), which has all kinds of wonderful tips and advice. 

One thing I did today after taking the above photo, is to use my photo editor to change it to black and white so I can study the light-to-dark progression...   

I'm still quilting on UFO #2 and will continue to play with the fabric squares until the UFO is finished... hopefully in the next week or two.  Then I will start sewing these squares together.  I have until the end of April to early May to finish this wall hanging.  I even have the wood strip to use in the hanging pocket.

See?  I have been planning this project for a while...   

UFO Update

UFO #1 has been keeping me warm during the past couple of weeks of extremely cold weather (for NC) with lots of "winter weather events" that created snow days for students.  Staff only missed two days; the rest were "teacher work days."

UFO #2 was made into a quilt sandwich and pinned and today I started the quilting.  I'm using gray thread and a large meander  because of all the straight lines in this quilt.

I had planned on finishing this project in February but hey!  I'll get finished in a week or two...  then on to the next project!


I wanted to share this video by Angela Walters with you...  it's a good one.

Enjoy!