Sunday, March 21, 2010

A few more finishes

Dang. I forgot to take a picture of this one completely finished before passing it off to my niece. This is Mom's New York Beauty (Karen Stone design)--I took this picture for Mom when she'd just picked this one up (with a couple of others) from Mt. Pleasant's quilting service. The date on this picture is 2006, so Mom must have pieced this sometime around 2004-2006. This isn't the kind of UFO she'd have left sitting around for too long before having it quilted. (NOTE--later comment rec'd from one of Mom's friends, Gail, that it was probably 2000-2001 since Gail had made one at about the same time.) She was never able to get the binding on it, though, because her fingers had gotten so bad with the neuropathy. So I just finished the binding on it this January/February. This was the last of the "Mom UFOs" I had to finish for distribution. Michael Anna had dibs on this one and she just picked it up yesterday. My first curved binding, btw. (Note the two curved corners--the batting is sticking up but I trimmed that off.)

From here on in, any other of Mom's UFOs that I complete I'm either keeping for myself or giving as gifts. They all need a whole heck of a lot of work done to get them finished--therefore, she who does the work gets to reap the benefits!

To whit:
This is the first "Mom UFO" (guess I'll start dubbing these "momufo"s, pro. "mom-oo-fo", LOL) that I'm keeping. I have a lot of memories about this one. Mom and I had gone to Material Rewards in Dansville one Saturday morning several years ago. A big flag wallhanging was in their window and both Mom and I really liked it. So we each bought the pattern and chose fabrics (mine in more country-colors than this), and then went back to Mom's to start working on them together. I'd never done bargello before so Mom walked me through the first steps. Unfortunately, after that, it took me a couple of years to get back to mine and by then, I'd completely forgotten what I was doing and messed up so many times that I finally bagged the whole thing and filed the pattern away. I talked to Mom shortly after that and she had just decided to pull hers back out, too, to finish. I found the finished top in Mom's quilt studio after she passed away, and took it to Mt. Pleasant to have it quilted in January. I just got it back a couple of weeks ago and have finished the binding and label. Since this particular Momufo carries with it memories of Mom and I quilting together, it's a definite keeper. Plus I have nothing patriotic done yet for summer holidays, so it'll come in handy!

Then, since I needed a break from UFOs (mom's or otherwise), I decided to take today and treat myself to a completely new project, but one I could get done in one day.

I've had this prequilted fabric yardage on my shelves for probably 7 or 8 years. Finally got tired of it taking up space and decided to whip up a quick tote bag. First tote I've ever made. It wasn't hard, but the directions were written as if they assumed a certain amount of knowledge on my part that I didn't have, so I don't think the corners are quite right. But given that it's destined to be a gym bag, it's definitely good enough.

It was fun to do, and definitely rewarding to have a completed something-or-other after only a few hours, so I plan to do more in the future!
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