Finished Item #6- 14 year old UFO Completed!

Just about half way through the goal to finish 14 items in 2014! This is a pattern that Eleanor Burns had on one of her shows, "Quilt in a Day" back in 2000. I made the quilt top, then it sat there in a box for 14 years. I dug it out and finished it- yay!. The muslin areas are quilted with cream coloured Aurifil thread, the coloured parts are quilted with a variegated Signature thread. Using two different kinds of thread meant there were lots of thread stops and starts. I'm still working away at the stray threads, getting them tied off and buried. I'm trying to use a different free motion design on every quilt I make lately, it's a good way to learn new things and not get stuck in a rut. I'm going to keep this one for myself after putting all that work into it. :)

"Little House" Potholders by Linda H.

Linda H made a set of cute potholders for her friend who moved into a new place. Too nice to use, I'd say!

Charity Quilt, Finished item #5 for 2014

I just finished this charity quilt which I'm going to hand in to our guild tonight. I made the deadline that I set for myself- yay! I find if I don't have a deadline, then it remains open ended and I have no incentive to finish something. I used to have a fabric store, after it closed, I sold off the excess fabric, but ended up keeping lots for myself. I decided that it's not worth garage sale-ing it off for pennies on the dollar. Instead, I'm going to make a charity quilt whenever I get the chance. It takes several metres of fabric for the back of a quilt, so that will use up the stash eventually. This quilt has a back pieced from three different fabrics. I had a bit of trouble when I was quilting this, I got the straight lines done, then flipped it over to see the back. To my horror, there was a big fold in the backing. I picked out some of the stitches, then folded the pleat up against one of the quilting lines and sewed it down. I was happy that the error

doesn't show at all. When I got to the border, I picked a design from a book and tried to follow it. What a joke! My free motion quilting took on a life of its own and doesn't even resemble the original plan. Oh well. I always like to include something silly in every quilt I make, this one has a square of ant fabric. :)