How a Project Becomes a UFO

We had minimal damage from the hurricane.  We got off easy this time!

Here are the blocks on my 'design floor'.

 

They are blocks from my 'Test Your Skills Sampler' Variation. 

 

I have been trying to get a lot of UFOs finished up this year, and that got me thinking about why a project becomes a UFO.  I have more cross stitch UFOs than quilting ones.  Cross stitching is more labor intensive than quilting.  You can make a 12 inch quilt block in a half hour, if it is not a difficult pattern.  It would take most stitchers weeks,  if not months,  to cross stitch a 12 inch square pattern.  So size of project is one of the main reasons a cross stitch project becomes a UFO.  It is important to keep up enthusiasm for a project in order to get it done.  If my enthusiasm goes down, the likelihood of a project becoming a UFO goes up, and if the project (whether quilting or cross stitching) takes a long time, there is more of a chance for the enthusiasm to plummet.

 

Loss of momentum is another reason a project becomes a UFO.  If I am working on something daily, I will see progress, and that progress can keep me excited about a project.  If I put a project away, to say, clean up my house for company or get ready for a holiday, sometimes it is hard to get it back out. 

 

A project that I am emotionally invested in like a quilt for a family member will get done on time.  A project that I have been dreaming about for many year and that I have spent a lot for on materials will not become a UFO.  I feel too guilty about spending a lot of money on a project unless I'm going to really complete it.

 

Most of my UFOs are projects that I started on impulse, bought on sale, were a class project or were gifts.  Sometimes I can tell in the first 2 hours of work that this project will probably become a UFO.  Sometimes it is because I'm not good at a particular technique (like surface embroidery, sewing curves or paper piecing).  I'll try to power though these future UFOs, but they eventually wear me down, and I give up.  Some projects become UFOs because I change my mind about the colors or don't like the materials (like floss that wants to shred and tangle).

 

I'm working hard to reduce my UFOs. They take up valuable space and weigh me down mentally.  They make me feel guilty for starting something new if I have a lot of them.  So if I want to start new things with a right good heart, I need to finish up the old ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waiting for a Hurricane

We have taken in the porch furniture and anchored the swing.

 

Turned over the basketball goal, so it doesn't fall on the cars.

 

 

The trash cans, grill and pots are in the garage.  We have ice, food and batteries.

 

  My mom said it had already started to rain in Tidewater, and they already have flooding in some places. Some of the schools there have already cancelled classes for Monday.

 

  They are telling us to expect power outages, and the lights just blinked a few minutes ago.  I'm a little concerned about our trees, but we have been good about taking down the dead ones.

 

 

 

Now we wait.

 

I'm wishing the hurricane out to sea. 

 

 

 

 

Mark's Star Quilt, Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry

This is a 'company' quilt.  I put it on my son's bed when we have overnight guests.  My son doesn't get to use it because the dog sleeps in his room, and the dog has occasionally chewed on a quilt.  I don't want this quilt damaged because I really like it.

I chose the combination of blue and orange when I saw a man dressed in a blue oxford cloth shirt and a bright orange tie.  The colors were so pretty together, I had to try it in a quilt.  After I made the blocks, though, the quilt looked sort of dead.  Then I added the yellow, and the whole thing magically worked.  I've only made one 2-color quilt that I really liked.  My 2-color quilts usually end up getting an accent color added towards the end of the piecing.

 

This quilt is 88x88 inches and includes all kinds of fabrics from batiks to 30's repros.  I didn't worry about the style of fabric, just the color of it.

 It was professionally quilted (pantograph) by A Needle Runs Through It.

 

 

To see other quilts in Amy's Creative Side Blogger's Quilt Festival, http://amyscreativeside.com/2012/10/26/bloggers-quilt-festival-fall-2012/

 

 

Nutty Caramel Corn

I had moment of panic today when I thought I had lost a recipe.  The ladies in my bunco group request my caramel corn when I host, and it took me a over 20 minutes to find the recipe. This is a recipe that was in Southern Living several years ago, and it gets rave reviews even from people who don't ususally care for caramel corn.  If I post it here, I'll have it the next time I need it.

Nutty Caramel Corn

3 regular sized bags micorwave popcorn, popped (or 6 quarts freshly popped corn)
1 cup pecan halves
1 cup cashews
1 cup butter
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 light corn syrup
1 tsp salt ( I omit this because I'm using microwave popcorn which has salt)
1/2 tsp  baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

Pick through the popcorn and remove all the unpopped kernels.  This will save your teeth!  It is much easier to remove the kernals before the caramel goes on it.

Combine popcorn and nuts in a large roasting pan (a disposable foil pan works well).

Melt butter in a large saucepan.  Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Boil 5 minutes without stirring (temperature will register about 250, but I don't use a candy thermometer).  Remove from heat.  Stir in baking soda and vanilla.  Pour over popcorn and nuts.  Stir well (eat the popcorn that falls out of the pan---YUM!).  Bake at 225 for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes.  Cool and break into pieces.

Halloween Stitching

Bunco will be at my house Friday night.   I've been cleaning my house this week instead of sewing, and I pulled out my Halloween stitching.  About 1/3 of these pieces were stitched for me by friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Test Your Skills Sampler Variation

Last year I started working on a 'Test Your Skills Sampler'. I didn't keep up with it very well, and by the time I got back to it, the instructional posts had stopped.  I decided this fall to plow ahead with it anyway, doing the best I could to figure out the blocks.  This week I learned that the women who started the quilt, is going to post the rest of the instructions. 

http://piecemealquilts.wordpress.com/skill-builder-series/test-your-skills-sampler/

Last night I pulled out my completed blocks and put them on my 'design wall', which is actually a piece of batting I lay on my bed.  This is an awful picture since the lighting in my bedroom isn't great at night.

 

My quilt will not be exactly like the one she made because I have changed a block or two.  Also, all her blocks seem to float on the quilt because all the background is the same color.  I knew when I started this one that I was short  a couple of yards of backing, but I wanted to use stash only.  I really don't have a plan of how to continue, I'm just going to see what happens.

 

To see more design walls:

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/10/15/design-wall-october-15-2012/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PatchworkTimes+%28Patchwork+Times+by+Judy+Laquidara%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Pillowcases

I bought enough fabric to make 4 pillow cases and sewed them all this week.

 

 

 

The ones with the fall leaves are for 2 of my favorite college students.

 

 

The Halloween ones are for an uncle who is undergoing chemotherapy.  I know he liked them because he put one on his bed and one on the couch, so his visitors could see it.  Maybe I should make him a quilt too.

 

Used this week: 4.5  yards

Used Year to Date:  74.25 yards

Added this week: 4.5  yards

Added year to date: 38.75 yards

Net Used: 35.5 yards

Fourth Quarter FAL Goals

 

 

I'm going to recycle two of my third quarter goals and attempt them this quarter.

 

 

These are blocks from a QAL that got abandoned half way through the project.  I need to go back and see if our leader ever posted directions for the remaining blocks, if not, I'll just figure out something and finish the quilt.

 

Here's my selvage project.  I've sort of lost interest but hoping it grabs me this quarter.

 

 

 

I have several small cross stitch pieces that need to be finished before Halloween.  The first two need to be turned into ornaments.  The third into a cube. It is too expensive to frame my holiday cross stitching, so I try to finish them myself in other ways.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a Christmas ornament that just needs its beads:

 

 

 

 

And a hardanger emery that has been sitting around for a long time.  All the stitching is done on this one.

 

 

 

 

And finally, I have enough of these blocks to make 2 baby quilts.

 

 

 

 

 

I plan to drop all these projects if Bonnie Hunter starts another scrap mystery in November.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greatma's Cake

My son requested pound cake for his birthday.  Usually I just buy one at the grocery store, but today I decided to make my husband's grandma's cake.  Greatma was a great cook! Here's the recipe. ( If you are on a low cholesterol diet, you might want to skip this.)

Greatma's Cake

3 sticks butter, room temp
2 1/2 cups sugar
10-12 eggs, separated (yes, 10-12 eggs!)
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Beat egg whites together until stiff.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

 In a large bowl, cream butter with sugar.  Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing in each.  Mix in  the flour mixture alternately with the milk.  Add the vanilla and lemon extracts.

Gently fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.

Bake in a well-greased and floured tube pan at 325 for about an hour and a half. ( Check cake after an hour and 15 minutes.)

End of Third Quarter Finish A Long

I had mixed results for my third quarter UFO finishing.  My pillows got done. They went from this:

 

To this:

 

 

 

I got my pincube done.  It took FOREVER to do the four sided stitching on every side of the cube.  Then I had to figure out how to stitch it together and what to use inside, so it would keep the square shape.  This really stretched my finishing skills.  It went from this:

 

 

To this:

 

 

 

I completed a friend's cross stitch UFO.  It went from this:

 

To this:

 

 

 

 

 

My spider web quilt went from this:

To this:

 

The top is complete, but it isn't quilted, so it doesn't 'count' as a finish.

 

My selvage quilt went from this:

 

To this:

But I lost my motivation didn't feel like string piecing any more.  This quilt doesn't count either.

I knew getting this next one done would be a stretch, and it was.  I didn't touch it at all.

 

To see more third quarter finishes: 

 

http://www.quilterinthegap.com/2012/09/709/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feedburner%2FLOhfT+%28Quilter+in+The+Gap%29&utm_content=Google+Reader