It’s time an out of this world blog hop! AND OBVIOUSLY I don’t know my calendar and had this scheduled for Tuesday instead of Wednesday! but hey, rather early than late…..
I’m not “into” aliens at all but I’ve often used the term UFO for un-finished objects for my quilting…. so I was trying to see what UFO I had on my shelves.
As you may have seen on my previous STUDIO blog post, I keep my projects and fabrics and Accuquilt dies pretty organized- the rest of my house- not so much, but let’s not talk about that 😉
My ironing board is half of a metal shelf that you get from the hardware store or Costco, then it’s just a wooden board that’s more than the width of the shelf and about 20-22″ deep, this way I have room for my iron AND I can iron a whole WOF or a FQ perfectly on there. The board is covered in batting and fabric and if the board gets stained too much I just staple more fabric on top of it, I don’t bother (yet) to rip off old layers.
I use plastic bins from Walmart on there, the top shelf if for my current projects (UFOs) and the bottom shelf is for old stuff or cut scraps in certain sizes, because I have all the accuquilt QUBE sets, I often cut too many pieces so I have a bin for extras and I have a label on each for 6″ QUBE, 8″ QUBE etc… I also have 2 bins for EPP projects and one for orphan blocks and one for selvedges. I also have a bin for owl pincushion fabrics and eyeglass cases for my embroidery machine- I’ll show more about that tomorrow!
For this hop I really didn’t know what I wanted to do, I really don’t keep UFOs around for too long unless it’s an EPP project, but I looked thru my bins and found one thing!
This was a happy birthday pillow “KIT” by kimberbell, I had everything appliqued down and quilted even but it was supposed to be a pillow and I never finished it, so I looked and I had enough for the binding so why not? So I finished it up this weekend and VOILA!
I think I’ve had this in the bin for 4-5years, underneath I found stuff but out for a 6yo dress for my daughter, and if it was for Sonja, she’s turning 10 in August, BUT Anja is 6 so maybe I’ll finish it up for her!?
The kit was laser cut and I remember getting this set or maybe it was another where there were rust spots on the fabric edges, I don’t see any now on this, but maybe that’s why I never finished it? It also had some other letters and a ribbon you’re supposed to pin on there to show a name or age of the birthday person, I wouldn’t do that for a table runner now, so I think this works- oh and I did change the scallops, there was a zig zag ribbon in the kit but I used the Accuquilt scallop die instead just to see what it would look like, it’s ok, not my favorite look but whatever, it’s one UFO that’s DONE!
Like I said I don’t usually keep UFOs for a long time because I sew pretty fast and I’m organized PLUS I sew on several projects at once! Let me show you!!
Here I grabbed my oldest pattern “Underwater Stars” and used my scraps or leftover yardage and matched it up with the pattern and used my Accuquilt QUBE set to cut out the pieces, then neatly put everything in a plastic bin like this.
Another pattern I grabbed was Garden of Eden, and I actually printed a smaller layout version and I’m going to make this QUBE friendly, so I needed to “test” it.
Another one is Wild World, here the blocks are 8″ but I wanted to try 6″ so with the same pattern I used the 6″ QUBE instead of the 8″ QUBE, and that’s what’s easy about my Accuquilt QUBE friendly patterns, (at least with my newest patterns) I provide the cutting chart for using a QUBE set AND of course rotary cutting and templates if needed, but on the last page of the pattern, I also include a chart for what the quilt size would be for each layout and how much fabric you need, because a QUBE set includes all the same shapes, but they are just different sizes, so it’s easy to go up or down in QUBE sizes and make a quilt in the right size for you…. These patterns are some of my older ones so I need to rewrite them soon.
Lastly I cut out FQs for my Rainbow nine patch pattern which is a really old pattern too!
then when I sit to sew I grab a pile from each bin, so the Garden of Eden one I had 12 squares and 12 rectangles, the cat and dog wild one there were 20 pieces, the rainbow nine patch I was making 6 nine patches so I grabbed 18 of the 2 colors and the Underwater stars I grabbed 17 on point squares and matching triangles, PLUS I had recently cut out scraps to make a grey and yellow pineapple quilt!
So then I sit down and sew all these, some blocks are simple some are not and that’s what’s fun about this, it’s not tedious because it’s usually less than 24 or so pieces for each quilt, so when I get up and iron, it’s fun to see the progress! And at the ironing board I add the next step of fabric pieces to each pile or put away finished block sections.
and quickly the blocks are growing!
If I then finish one top, I make the backing as part of this “pile” too, sometimes it’s a simple backing, but mostly I like to use leftover scraps from the front and then add yardage if I need to!
Eventually the pineapple might become part of the main pile where I work on 20 at a time, but in the beginning I just sew one or two pieces.
that’s how I keep those UFOs at bay 😉
Thanks to Joan for hosting this fun hop!
Here’s the list of participants
Monday July 25
Tuesday July 26
Wednesday July 27
Thursday July 28
Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel
Friday July 29
You are so organized! I love the ironing board idea and am going to do that. I have projects stored in plastic bags in a bin – not so good for seeing what I have! The bins are a great idea! Love your ideas!
I wish I could be so organized!
I love the organisation that you have but i don’t think I got past the fact that you have all the Qube sets…. massive envy happening… well done
Yes, you are very organized. The little pillow is really cute. I love the Rainbow 9 Patch pattern and fabrics as well.
I was surprised to see you were in this hop! I didn’t think you had any UFOs! Thanks for sharing everything and how you keep things moving along.
I love how organized you are! The birthday project is really cute.
I love your birthday pillow/runner. Happy birthday to both your girls next month!
You are just so organized!! If I had a bigger room I might be too, LOL. Well I do keep things where I know they are so maybe I am a little organized;)
thanks! I try my best- not so much when it comes to chores 😉
Bea you are so organized and neat! You would be appalled at my creative messes, lol! I like your ironing set up. I have a table with a board on top, bed risers to make it tall enough and a small cart on wheels underneath and I love that set up. I love how you sew so many projects at once, but not sure I could do that and keep them all straight as to what pieces belong to which blocks/projects. I might end up ripping out more than I sew, lol! It works for you and that is all that matters.
Great finish on the birthday table runner. Great organization of your UFOs too! Thanks for sharing!
You rock that organized thing, Bea! I made that birthday pillow, too…very cute. I’m always working on two or three projects at a time, but mine never look as organized as yours. Way to go!
Oh I wish I was as organized as you in my sewing space. It is my goal for next year (fingers crossed). My youngest will attend preschool this fall so I will have 2 hours 4x a week to really focus on organizing my sewing area. Thanks for sharing.
WOW!! You are sure organized! And to not have UFOs when you work on many projects at once – that’s amazing!
Love the finished pillow!
My gosh Bea but you are organized. I will never be, but for me that is half the fun. I get new surprises regularly, some great and others not so much. I would get so much more accomplished if I wasn’t so easily distracted. You seem to have a great system.
Wow! Love your Kimberbell birthday pillow. Such fun details. I especially love that pleated ric rac ribbon. The quilting is neat on it. You are an amazing quilter. And then your oranized boxes. Wholly cow! I am in shock. I have boxes of projects started, and usually abandoned for deadline projects like birthdays or Christmas that HAVE to get done. Then I can’t use a seasonal quilt in the wrong season: it just goes to rest. And I do work on many projects at a time. But I just am not as sequential as you to do all the cutting at the same time. But I will try to be a little more organized: you have inspired me.
Congrats on that finish! It will be great for all birthday parties!
I love the way you store what you are working on – all separate, with instructions included in the box! So often we forget that!! Your Happy Birthday quilt is great and you have many occasions throughout the year to use it!
Great job on the Birthday pillow! It’s lovely! Using a cutting machine sure can take work out of cutting, can’t it? It’s nice to be ready to sew on so many different quilts. Thanks for sharing!
What a cute idea – a birthday table runner. I have four littles that would LOVE to see that special runner when it was time to celebrate their day. Another project that I need to PIN for later. Thanks for sharing. {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne
The birthday runner is a cutie – I’m glad you found a UFO to finish! You have a very organised system….my brain goes off in too many tangents to stay organised for very long!!!
I have the same iron board set! I love it. Lots of room to iron and lots of storage space below and great way to stay organized.