Living4Quilting (and Tatting and Knitting Too! ): Weekend sewing, UFO 3 and Crazy 8's Quilt top

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Weekend sewing, UFO 3 and Crazy 8's Quilt top

I have worked like crazy this weekend trying to finish this little quilt. It gave me a run for my money, let me tell you. I tried to put it together and it just wasn't working...The problem was the black cat block. I measured it and lo and behold I had cut it 1/2" short and it was not letting me put anything else together properly. I had already sewed it in and had to rip it out to add to the block to get it to fit properly. Since this black cat jinxed the quilt, I made it a star attraction by framing it! I put it back together and trimmed up some other blocks and it fit together alot better. I enjoyed this quilt top. It was definitely like putting together a puzzle because all the blocks were different sizes and had to fit togehter just so...I unsewed a few blocks here and there to put it all together. It was a challenge but was alot of fun too. This quilt holds alot of memories for me. This quilt was a mystery sampler quilt put together by two friends in my small group. One of our members passed away and these two ladies went through her stash and made up mystery packets for our group. Most of the fabric came from her stash. I also used fabric from two other friends that had also passed away. So, while I put this little quilt together I thought about my three friends that had passed and all the good times I had with them. I'm glad I pulled this quilt out and started working on it again as it really made me happy to think of my friends again. I'm not sure if I will leave this as is or if I'll put a black strip around it, then do a piano key border....What do you think? Please give me an opinion....

Should I leave as is?
Should I add a small black border, then a piano key border?
Should I just add a piano key border without any other border?
Any other suggestions?

Here's the quilt, what do you think?

After, I finished UFO 3, I also finished putting together the Crazy 8 quilt top. I need to add the borders but at least the middle part is all together.. This one turned out big and I haven't added borders yet. I still have a 6 1/2" border to put on it, so I guess it will definitely fit my king size bed. I'm through for now. My brain cells are tired from working on the little quilt. I wanted to do some blocks for the Civil War challenge but I'll have to just wait until tomorrow. Here's my Crazy 8 quilt without borders.

11 comments:

Judy D in WA said...: WOW! I love both of these! That darn cat causing all kinds of problems.......kind of ironic isn't it!

The crazy 8s looks like a fun one to sew up!; January 23, 2011 at 7:07 PM
Jen said...: Both quilts look great! Good for you for working on your UFO's!

I vote to add a border to the sampler. I think it would frame it nicely.; January 23, 2011 at 7:37 PM
Anonymous said...: Both quilts look great. I'd say if you're going to put a border on the sampler, then definitely a breaker border first. Black would be good, other colors might be as well.; January 23, 2011 at 7:39 PM
Jackie's Stitches said...: Both are great quilts. Congrats on your progress! I think a solid border on UFO#3 would be nice before the piano key border.; January 23, 2011 at 8:13 PM
Julie Fukuda said...: I think a black inner border would help the cat to feel that he is not being singled out.
Those are both lookin' great!; January 23, 2011 at 8:22 PM
swooze said...: If you are happy with your sampler size I think I would use a very dark binding to give it a stop point for your eye.

Was great seeing you Friday!; January 23, 2011 at 8:30 PM
Jane said...: Both are amazing, having all those memories in a quilt! I think a border too would finish it nicely; January 23, 2011 at 10:37 PM
Colleen said...: Thank you for sharing your lovely quilts! The sampler quilt is a lesson in creativity! I hope it will serve as an inspiration for me to design my own creative sampler, something I have wanted to do for a long time!!!I agree that a narrow black inner border would be a nice accent for the frame on "That Darn Cat" that gave you so much trouble. The piano keys border will be a beautiful finish. Your friends fabrics have turned into a work of art!!! I am sure they are very proud of you.
Colleen; January 24, 2011 at 7:07 AM
Peggy said...: Great quilts - I think the little one needs a small plain border before the piano keys, just to frame it up! Love the Crazy 8s - just saw another one done with the light colors in rows, amazing how a little difference in layout makes a huge difference in the final look!; January 24, 2011 at 7:58 AM
Jackie said...: I think that a border would be nice on the sampler quilt. I, too, love the way this quilt turned out - mine is the quilting frame as we speak, and as soon as I get home, I'll be able to finish it! Also, love the crazy 8 quilt- can't wait to see it quilted.; January 24, 2011 at 1:18 PM
Deborah Hamilton said...: I think both are so beautiful, and a solid black border would be so pretty. The quilt is so colorful already. Your work is outstanding.; January 24, 2011 at 3:46 PM

2011 UFO Challenge List

1. 30's Sampler..I'm still working on this one!
2. English Paper Piecing Baby Quilt-A Little of This A Little of That-flimsy completed 02-04-11, ready for quilting!
3. Scrappy BOM - Flimsy completed 01-28-11, ready for quilting!
4. Purple Stack and Whack- flimsy is together, ready for quilting
5. Blue 9 Patches - flimsy is together, ready for quilting
6. The Moose Quilt-still in pieces.
7. Row By Row Quilt, quilted-binding is on but needs to be sewn down.
8. Hexagon Magic- flimsy completed 02-01-11, ready for quilting!
9. Santa Claus Quilt-ready for quilting.
10. Hand Pieced Stars