UFO Sightings at Ms P Designs USA

Hi Fellow Quilters,

Here we are again, with the latest news about UFO sightings at Ms P Designs.  We can’t believe how quickly we have arrived at the almost-end of September!  Perhaps it has something to do with the warp drive that we had installed on our spaceship last time we took it to the mechanic.

Way back in January, we set some goals for ourselves on our “Welcome 2018” post.  One of our goals was to finish at least one UFO project per quarter.  And the project had to be one that isn’t intended for our “Ms P Designs” business.  We both met the goal for the first quarter, and showed off our finished projects during the “Quilt Quazy Queens” blog hop.  Encouraged by our progress, we continued working on our UFO projects, and finished just in time for our second quarter UFO post!  And here we are again, with our latest finishes.  

Susan goes first this time:

 Okay, so I haven’t been such a good girl this quarter.  I meant to, but then. . . 

I haven’t been really bad either!  I have been busy, designing and creating a new king-sized quilt for our bed.  You probably won’t see it until next year since I only have 1/5 of it put together so far.  I really like the Kansas Troubles fabric collections by Moda, so I chose some of my favorites from those collections for this quilt.  I know, I will use any excuse to visit our local quilt shops!  I’m also using a bunch of piecing short-cuts (including paperless paper piecing which you can read about here), so it is going together pretty quickly.  Here are some of the beautiful fabrics that I’m using:

I also had this BOM quilt that Sharon and I challenged each other to make about 10 years ago.  Sharon’s quilt was finished years ago, and mine just needs the binding!  Here it is in all its glory!  I’m not certain where I’ll use it, but it is almost finished.

 

I’m still thinking about my Quilt of Valor quilt, in fact, I fondled the fabric just the other day and looked at the pattern I have chosen.  I just need to get myself in gear to make it!  Right now I am just too preoccupied with making a quilt for us!

And now Sharon’s turn:

Last UFO post, I shared this picture of my 3rd quarter project in progress.  I just love the colors!  At that point, I had found my fabric (purchased a few years ago, and aged to perfection in my extensive private textile collection), selected a pattern, and pieced some of the blocks to make sure that I was satisfied with them.

And here it is, all finished at last! 

I love how the meandering variegated green quilting thread enhances the colors of the scrappy blue & green batiks, and makes the white parts of the blocks much more interesting.

I haven’t made a decision yet about who will get to enjoy this creation, but it may end up under the Christmas tree at our house this year.  Yay for gifts that are finished early, for a change.  It was quite an adventure getting it quilted! 

Since we usually make nursery-sized quilts, Susan and I had to set up the quilting frame to fit this larger top.  We had a “helper” to assist us too, making the process more complicated than expected.  Susan’s 8-year-old granddaughter talked non-stop while we were working, and insisted that she needed to lie down on the floor right next to the frame (she had spent the night at Mimi’s house and was “bored”).  I had to be really careful to avoid stepping on her or whacking her (accidentally, of course) with one of the long poles. 

In addition to the extra “help”, I ran out of bobbin thread at least four times while quilting.  I usually purchase thread for nursery-sized quilts and failed to plan for this much-larger size.  Lucky for me, Susan had some thread in her stash that matched my backing and she came to the rescue.  (She also contributed the beautiful green variagated thread that I used for the top.)  Yay for sisters with thread on hand that matches my fabrics!

The quilting went well, once I finally got going, and I enjoyed taking small breaks to pet Susan’s dogs (one at each end of the quilt frame, napping in their doggie beds while they waited for my attention) each time I rolled the quilt.  (Yay for belly rubs!)  I was able to complete the quilting in one (long) Saturday afternoon.  And here it is again, complete with my favorite photo-bomber!  (Isn’t he handsome!)  

We hope that you’ve enjoyed seeing our now-finished UFO’s!  It does feel really good to put the last stitch into a project that has been waiting for attention.  Do you have a project that needs your attention?  We’d love to read about it in the “Comments”!

Thank you for stopping by today and taking the time to read our blog.  We hope that you’ll come back again, real soon.

Happy quilting,

Sharon & Susan