Good morning everyone, once again I don't ride the train and lots of finishes happen.

Rob, loving your two finished completions of one gorgeous quilt. I am following your lead of blending two different tops to make a quilt for my oldest daughter

Retireteacher, congratulation on the new little one, love him to pieces

Grann of 6, it's good to have a goal

Motorcyclemad, glad to read that you mastered the challenge of the pix download. That February finish is great, congratulations

Ckcowl, that double Irish chain with stars looks great also, congratulations

Happy sewing day everyone

cherryb

I'm entering this in as a potential February finish. I was given someone else's UFO with request to "do something with this!" It is a hand-embroidered fifty state blocks with thin navy sashing. Have it longarmed, trimmed on Saturday, made binding Sunday, binding is attached to front, started hand-stitching binding to back last night and decided I either needed more light or new eyes! I need encouragement on completing the binding because the back/binding are dark blue. Have a great day UFO people!

Nice finishes, everyone! I loved those little fishes!

I started out gangbusters this year with two big finishes, but now I've hit a major roadblock: My faithful machine started acting up while I was quilting my latest piece: thread breaking, bobbin thread getting all weird underneath the quilt, top thread shredding and snapping. At first I thought it was just being finicky about the relative thread weights, so I tried some different combinations, no change. After grinding my teeth and pulling out lots of fried quilting, I tried vacuuming and oiling the machine, no change. I think there's something wrong with the tension discs. I can feel some "stickiness" when I pull thread through.

So, it seems I'm at a stall until I can take the machine in and get it serviced. It's been a while since it's been in for maintenance, so it's just as well, but the timing! I was really on a roll!

To be fair, I do have a little Gem Gold that I use as my portable machine, and I could break it out and work on UFOs that are at the piecing stages. But it just feels like a real blow to my momentum.

Please send "Don't get discouraged" vibes my way!

Don't get discouraged, Quossum!:) I know it's frustrating when machine problems occurred and you can't figure out how
to fix them yourself. But I hope the problem is easy for the pros and not terribly expensive. Get that little Jem out and
advance your other UFO's to the next level. It'll all work out.

Quiltmom, whenever I had dark hand-sewing or unsewing, I would find it easier to do in the bright sunshine. So if it is too cold for outside, I would try to put my chair right by a window. Or get a really bright light and shine it right on the fabric.

Well, maybe i am succeeding in posting a couple pics. First pic is the pineapple quilt. if you look close in the upper left you will see a tennis ball my helper strategically placed. Second pic is what I am using for the backing.
Attachment 622350Attachment 622351

That’s gorgeous Grannnof6!

Sending good vibes your way Quossum- working on the ones that need piecing sounds like a great way to keep the momentum going while waiting for your machine to be fixed.

Rob

Gran of 6, what a lovely piece! I Like the colorful pot-a-dots for the back. Keep the bright and fun theme going!

Grann of 6: Pretty top and backing.

Quossum: Please don’t get discouraged. You can do this!

Thanks everyone. My husband is taking the machine to the shop today. Though it feels awful to set the basted, tiny-bit-quilted top aside, I do have UFOs that need piecing attention, too, so guess that's incentive to fire up the mini-machine and give them some attention!

Good morning folks. Thanks for the compliments. The quilt came out better than I had ever expected, and I am glad to have it all ready for the longarm, maybe today.
Quossom, it is good to get the machine fixed. I have several here that i can use when one goes to the spa. But my Aria is by far my favorite of all the many machines i have owned over the years. It by far supercedes the HV Diamond machines i have 2 of.. One I keep for doing embroidery work, which it does a wonderful jub, but doesn't get used much, mainly at Christmastime.

I would join but I have no idea how to post a picture on this new set up!

Thank you! I moved closer to the windows and the light did help and I have one long side of the binding done. Three to go and it will no longer be in UFO Land.

Everyone is chugging away so nicely on their UFOs! Keep it up!

I'm still piecing my big Burgoyne Surrounded. Whew! It might take me all year, lol! I might take a small break from it and finish a baby wall-hanging UFO. We have been renovating our baby room. It got water damage last summer and the drywall and insulation needed to be completely replaced.. It was quite a disaster. I've never been one of those moms who repaint the nursery and decorate it all baby themed but the other day DH asked me to start thinking about paint colors and trim work designs. I've been having way too much fun on Pinterest looking at nursery ideas! And I'm looking forward to hanging my UFO wallhanging up. So there is my insensitive to finish it.

Good morning everyone, QuiltMom2, looking forward to seeing pix on your finish

Quossum, stay encouraged, just keep yourself busy

Grann of 6, that is a gorgeous piece

I am coming along on a new piece, the weather would not allow me to pick up a UFO from the LA'er. Maybe next week I will be able to pick up and drop off of UFO pieces

Happy sewing day everyone

cherryb

luvstoquilt: Welcome to this thread. You can still share what you are working on and, when you finish the UFO, tell us about it.

What are you using to try to post? I have an IPad and I do the Go Advanced below and then to the paper clip. It then let’s me choose where/how I find my picture.

Welcome Luvstoquilt
 

Good afternoon everyone, Luvstoquilt, please come on and join us here on the UFO Train, we would love to have you on board with us. That pix thing is not that important, the thing that important is finishing up some of those project that is just waiting to be shared as a finish.

Happy sewing day everyone

cherryb

Great use of solid fabrics!

What a day to have a birthday. Congratulations Gram!

Thanks, oksewglad! It’s still hard to believe I’m actually a grandma.

It's such a great thing, Connie!

Lots of stuff happening since last time I was able to post.[img]images/smilies/smile.png[/img]

Retired - Congratulation on the grand baby.

Rryder - Awesome quilt, and it scored double!

Gram - Nice pineapples, waiting to see how you quilt it.

Motercyclemad and Ckcowl - those are very nice.

Quiltmom2 - Just take your time and make sure you have good light.


Luvstoquilt welcome yes please join us pictures are just a plus, we like to cheer everyone one!


As for me, just working on a WIP, but did find 7 orphan blocks that I decided to make into 1 table runner and 1 table topper. Made the blocks in 2012, they were some of my first blocks. I was making blocks out of my stash not even trying to use coordinating colors in the different block. I figured it's a sampler why make them match! [img]images/smilies/biggrin.png[/img] Some of them were way too different to put into one quilt.

It’s a new weekend. Can we get some more UFO’s on the completed list by Sunday night? Can we “move the needle,” as it were, toward the February goal of 35?

I’ll be sandwiching grandbaby’s quilt; not a UFO but my top priority now.

Once that is done, I will feel free to return to mt UFO’s.

I was going to wait to have you count the pineapple quilt till i got it quilted and bound, but since i have had company the last couple days, the longarm hasn't been run. So you can count it anyway, if you want. i don't really have any more technical UFOs, but I have lots of projects in waiting that can be considered UFOs. After company leaves I can get back to some stuff.

I am putting borders on a top that I hope to finish tonight or tomorrow morning. It will go to my church group.

Oops, sorry. My bad. Do you think you’ll finish this pineapple one by the end of the month?

Zozee, I just have to put it on the longarm and quilt it. That is my plan for tomorrow. My company just lefft a while ago but I am too tired to work on it today. So it will be done in a couple days. I'll let you know. I need to hunt up the next UFO project, i know there is one somewhere. LOL

Good afternoon everyone, Zozee, love the way you are encouraging us to keep the upbeat momentum of the UFO's. But what I notice is we tend to work steady when we are snowed in. But, there have been some rough storms this weekend on the east coast. Maybe we need to verify if everyone is ok and not suffered any damages or power outages. Praying that none of these things have happen to anyone. Personally I've been enjoying the victory parade and today the sun streaming through my windows. Had big plans now that has gone to the wayside but there is always tomorrow.

First, there will be Church and then I'll continue to work on the new project until I can recover the one UFO from the long-armer. Like I mention before I'll take her another one that is sandwiched and waiting to be quilted

Happy sewing day everyone

cherryb

Certainly didn’t mean to sound pushy or uncaring of anyone’s safety. Forgive me if it came across that way. I hope everyone is okay. There were tornadoes in Maryland yesterday but missed my county.

Zozee: I didn’t take your encouragement that way. I also hope everyone is safe.

Well, my UFO is still languishing but I did watch a 5th grade great niece play basketball this morning and picked up my machine from the LQS for its annual cleaning. Then I came home and my son asked if I wanted to visit grandson Jack. Of course, I said yes! I could only hold him for a few minutes because he is slightly jaundiced so he needed to be on the light mat (bilirubin light thing). I read him 2 books while my son was burping him. Precious. He will be a week old tomorrow.

Awwwww, Connie.....your excitement and adoring attachment to Jack is so sweet to read about... Loving reading about your journey...

And it's never too early to read to them...but then teachers know that!

Good morning everyone, Retiredtecher09, enjoy your little one it is precious

Happy sewing day everyone

cherryb

Well, my pineapple quilt is going on the longarm now, and while that is quilting I will be working on the next UFO.... just a note that you shouldn't look too deep in your piles or bins, because you may find something you really don't want to find. Me, i found about 300 HSTs from well over 5 years ago. They were made back when i didn't know the importance of squaring up....till I laid them out, so they went back in the bin. i am now squaring them up to a nice 3" square, but I only have 80 done. This will be an all day project, if my hands hold out.

Gran of 6, love your pineapple quilt. I have in my pile to do a table runner with spider web prints. Hopefully it will be a quickly and get done soon.

I just finished my Farm Girl 2 quilt over-sized queen. I did it all on the sewing machine! Don't think I will ever do that again. This is my first full sized quilt. I learned a lot along the way!!!!

Zozee- thanks for the encouragement!

Connie- loved hearing about your visit with Jack!

We had ferocious wind and a ton of rain here in central Va but other than some limbs down and our pond heater getting sunk (which broke it) we had no damage. New pond heater arriving today. Still dithering over what to do with the next UFO that I’d planned on finishing this month so I may end up putting that one back in the pile and grabbing something else to work on.

Rob

Nice finish Bugaroo!

Rob

First UFO for 2020 - 20 years in the making
 

OK folks on the UFO journey, here is my big reveal! My sister-in-law, who passed away 20 years ago, left 100 hand pieced blocks named Pontiac Star. I found them in a box with the magazine pattern/directions, her plan for layout and the plastic templates she made and used. I challenged myself to learn to hand piece and finished the additional 32 blocks needed to complete the quilt as she had planned early this fall.

She was a master quilter and hand quilted most of her work with the tiniest stitches imaginable. So to honor her intention, I next my next challenge was to learn to hand quilt and complete the quilt as she would have. My stitches are not as tiny as hers would have been but they are within the acceptable range and yes, I got much better as I progressed. I finished adding the label on Friday night and gifted it to her youngest son and his bride yesterday. He was about 15 when she passed away and did not have "grown up" quilt from her. Now he and his new wife have a quilt from both his mother and from me, his Auntie Linda.

That is awesome WMUTeach!

Rob