Stories from the Sewing Room

First, let's start with my final 2024 PHD update. 

I finished all 13 of my UFO projects. I finished almost all of my starts--I started the Meadow Mist mystery quilt, which doesn't have its reveal until this year. I didn't finish the quilt from the class I took with Gyleen Fitzgerald in March because I need a lot more fabric. She said you'd need at least 100 fabrics and I brought around 50 for the class (a jelly roll plus anything else I owned that coordinated). Even though this was supposed to be a scrappy, anything goes project, I don't work that way. I need more fabric $! 😄

I also didn't quite finish Bedford Tiles. There was a mistake in the fabric requirements listed, so I was short on border fabric. I found ONE place online in the U.S. that still had some in stock, ordered everything they had, and then had to wait for it to arrive. Add in some holiday travel and it didn't quite make it over the finish line. It just needs to be bound. I want to bind this one by hand.  

You might have noticed that I added in the serger cover for starts in 2024. I finished it a few days ago. Mistakes were made. The cording I bought from JoAnn is too big (but the smallest size they had), I cut the bias too large and had to trim it down after stitching, and I broke a needle. It's definitely not the most attractive thing I've ever made, but it is serviceable.

I've decided to join the 2025 round of PHD since I did really well with my list last year.

1. Marble Mystery

This one is still in progress. I think the final piecing clues are usually released in February. I have backing fabric. I don't yet have a quilting plan.

2. Julia Quiltoff applique class

I purchased a kit for this class and it came with the wool batting. I tried to quilt this once before, but I couldn't get the batting under the foot. The wool is about 1" thick. I'm not sure what to do--maybe reduce the wool layers by half? Or just use a different batting. I don't really want to adjust the machine as much as it would need to accommodate 1" thick batting. 

3. Melodic Mystery

This was the 2022-2023 Meadow Mist mystery quilt. I thought I'd custom quilt it, but it never got done, so now it will be quilted with a dense edge-to-edge.

4. Lone Starburst

5. Runway #2

I made Runway #1 last year and didn't realize the jelly roll strips I was using were 2.75" wide, so I had to recut all new solid blocks to match. I will use the leftover solid blocks from the first attempt to remake it with this fun Ruby Star fabric. I'm planning to work on this at the winter retreat I'm going to later this month. I already have a quilting plan.

6.  For the Love of Geese

I think this one needs to be custom quilted, but I have no ideas. There are some thick intersections too. I need backing fabric and possibly binding.

7. Pink Grapefruit in Blue

This quilt top was started in a guild class with Coleen Merte in November of 2019. I finished the top as my OMG that same month. I thought it needed custom quilting, but I don't know what. It may just become another E2E so that it can be completed. The unevenness of the orange peels kinda bothers me. It was supposed to be "modern".  I don't have binding fabric and I'm not sure why.

8. Alligator quilt

Stalled out at the appliqué part, just like many other projects in my master UFO list. I will probably do some sort of light custom quilting, but that part will be easy. It's the appliqué that I dread. Also, this one has been hanging around so long that I accidentally bought backing fabric twice. 😆

9. One clothing item, tbd

10. Blue and white quilt

I think this is my oldest UFO. I made it prior to 2000. The white fabric is thin muslin. The points don't match very well, but I still love it. It's unfinished mostly because I don't know how to quilt it. This pattern was published in American Patchwork and Quilting and it was finished with very light hand-quilting, so that isn't much help to me. I bought backing fabric for it in 2023. 

11. Something fun from my stash

My list is very quilting, and thus, binding,-intense this year, so I'll need something fun to piece. Not sure what this will be yet. My requirement will be that it's something I already own.

12. Bedford Tiles

As mentioned above, I ran out of time due to the fabric requirements in the pattern being wrong. 

Here is my proposed list in chart form.

Linking with Quiltery.