Myra's 2011 PhD (Projects Half Done) Challenge

After reading about Myra's 2011 PhD Challenge over at Quilting in My Pyjamas I decided I'd jump on the Projects Half Done bandwagon.  You see, Projects Half Done could be my middle name.  I've got one flimsy that is probably getting upwards of fifteen years old.  I'm a much better starter than a finisher.  And in the past, I've been a much better piecer than quilter.  I'm trying to remedy the latter by learning how to FMQ.  That said, I'm only committing two projects to Myra's PhD Challenge, as life has a habit of getting in the way of my quilting goals.  Plus, I reserve the right to start a new project and live with the guilt of that fifteen year old flimsy.

PhD #1:  The Scrappy Star.  This project is at least ten years old.  It's now gone through two major moves.  In my defense, this quilt is hand-pieced and the blocks and the inner checked border will be hand-quilted.  In the interest of having this one finally done, I'm going against my obsessive-compulsive nature and will FMQ the last two borders.  At this point, I have 1 1/2 blocks and part of the checked border left to hand-quilt.  All  of the two outer borders still need to be quilted.

PhD #2 is sampler from a block swap.  The swap was called "You Pick" and was hosted by a gal I became acquainted with on RCTQ (rec.crafts.textiles.quilting), a quilting newsgroup.  Each participant chose a focus fabric and sent a 12" square of it to the other participants to make a block.  My focus fabric was a pansy fabric.  I received some gorgeous blocks back.




I have begun free motion quilting the sandwich, and have five of the sixteen blocks done.  I'm doing the sashing as I go.

As you can see since these projects are really more than "half done", I should easily be able to finish them by June.  Now, I only hope that it's true!

Pansy Quilt Top Done

The Pansy quilt top is done! It's nice to have this WIP reach the halfway point. This is one of those projects that spent a year or two languishing before I got organized.


(Sorry, I can't take a picture without Charley doing his Vanna White routine.)

The majority of the blocks came from a swap organized on the RTCQ newsgroup. It was called the "Your Pick" swap because we each selected our own focus fabric--mine being the pansy fabric. Then we cut 12" squares of our fabric, and sent one square to each of the other participants. We received beautiful blocks back in return. How cool is that?

In my opinion, block swaps are a lot of fun because the swaps have often forced me to work with other colors and fabrics that might not be my first choice, thereby stretching my quilting skills, and I receive blocks back that I wouldn't have made myself. For example, I received a couple of lovely appliqued blocks for the pansy quilt. Applique really isn't a part of my quilting repertoire yet, but nevertheless, I'm now lucky enough to be able to include it on this quilt.

Even after I got focused on the pansy quilt, it took me a long time to finish the top. I decided to do the pieced butterfly border. There are 52 six inch butterfly blocks on this top. These border blocks proved to be more work than the rest of the quilt! I've often admired pieced borders, and wondered why they aren't used more often. Now I know. Still I am very pleased with how the border looks on my bed.



I'll be linking up over at Amylouwho's for Sew and Tell Friday. Be sure to check out everybody else's lovely work.