Expanded definitions

Some have asked me what constitutes a UFO; how "done" must it be? And how old? I'm completely open!! There is no specific definition.

I think another category should be the OLDEST ufo completed or mostly tackled. I think that merits a prize too!!

Another person mentioned that she hadn't been able to sew in years and finally got to finish SOMETHING.  I think that merits a prize too!

I have lots of patterns and books to give away. Seriously!!

So I'm game for anything!!

Share your stories!! I'm loving it.

Remember: I will award the winners on Wednesday morning, New Years Day. That's the cutoff.

Randy

GIVEAWAY New Years Day

I haven't done a giveaway in ages and I've certainly got lots to give away.

I'm going to give away a couple of pattern books.

To win, all you need to do is count up how many UFOs you've completed this year.  That's only quilts that you'd started, put down and then picked up again. That does not include quilts you started and finished all the way through.  I personally am the queen of ufos. I get so bored so easily I have to put things down for a while.  I do enjoy finishing a ufo, though. Just takes me a while!

Let me know how many and the two or three with the highest numbers win!! I'll go through all the comments on Wednesday, Jan 1st.  Please be sure to include your email address.

Happy New Year to everyone,

Randy

Another UFO off the list

A few years ago, my Wisconsin friends had a quarter square triangle swap which included a bunch of extra half square triangles. Not long ago, I pieced them together and finally finished this little top. I love it. I think the border fabric is so cool-- my friend Will in Paris gave me that scrap strip last year. 

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post and giveaway!!

My bullseye quilt is done

I got my bullseye quilt back from Marge in Wisconsin and wasted no time getting the binding sewn on and down.

The snow is almost all gone in Sunriver so I wanted a picture in what little snow I could find.

Interestingly this is almost the exact spot we took a picture in July with the quilt gift I received from DarLynn, Pat, Debbie, Claire, Lori and Anne...

A cuddle quilt for Ryan

Ryan has become accustomed to sitting outside on our front steps at night, watching the stars while having a cookie or Popsicle. I had only one old flannel quilt to cuddle under so I told him he needed a new flannel quilt.

This is pretty basic but I think is fine for what we need! Even used up a fair amount of stash!

Hope everyone has a great holiday!!

Look what I got today!!

One of my friends in Wisconsin makes caramels and she is kind enough to share them with me! Peggy is amazing and I can't wait to dig in!!

Mini quilt show

I met Lori of Humble Quilts today in Bend. Our first stop was at the newest quilt shop where they always have a little quilt show going on.

This month's show displayed quilts that were part of an interesting challenge which they called "2+1". They chose two colors (grey and neon green) which had to be used along with one other color. All the quilts were so different! And so creative!! 

I think my favorite was the one with the carrots; the trees were a close second.

There were some other quilts on display and I loved the log cabin one.

Lori and I then had a great lunch together!

Will's quilts, Part II

Look at Will's fabulous quilts again.
Can you tell that she hand pieces many of them??
The basket quilt, which has rick-rack for handles, is hand pieced!

And she is extremely resourceful in her use of fabrics.
So many of her fabrics are truly recycled: they come from clothing she finds in all kinds of places; the adorable 9-patch has a great floral sashing that she told me came from drapes she came across!
The navy/red quilt is made from linen!
She's truly amazing!

Be sure to read the comments on my past post. Will herself added some great information.

Love to you all,
Randy

Great inspiration from Will

I had lunch with my friend Will last week and had the chance to see the quilts she's recently made since our last visit. She is so inspiring, not to mention that she's one of the sweetest women I've been lucky enough to come to know!

I hope you enjoy this little quilt show!

My "couldn't resist" something

Isn't this a beauty??!!

Couldn't resist

About a month ago, I saw an ad for a little something that I just couldn't resist.

So I will be posting pictures of my new gift to myself in the next couple of days.

Any ideas???
Hint: bigger than a breadbox!! :-)

Hope you're not stressing over the holidays!

Love to you all,
Randy

PS:  I'm also visiting a surprise quilter later today!! Can't wait to see her and show you some pictures!

I'm still here

I'm terribly sorry that I've been so quiet. It's hard to believe that it's been so long.

We had all the kids (and the two darlings) for the full week of Thanksgiving, which meant it took me days to recover.

I've done very little sewing, unfortunately.

I will post a picture of what I've been working on: a little flannel quilt for the nights that Ryan and I sit outside watching the stars!!

Today was a momentous day for me:
I had to put my 15 yr old chocolate lab to sleep. Jake was getting so old and frail that it was going to be inevitable. I have never had to do this before and I had wonderful support from my friends.  It's wonderful to share our lives with our pets but so sad that their lives aren't long.

I hope everyone is enjoying a happy and relaxed holiday season.

Much love to you,
Randy

Nana Day

Friday is Nana Day, which I just love. I took both of the darlings to our favorite very small restaurant in SF this morning for breakfast on the way to drop Ryan at preschool.

We came directly to my house afterwards and the kids were outside immediately! We are still having pretty warm days here. Ryan put on my flip flops while carrying a bag for his "break". Note the feet! He also told me he got them in Wisconsin!

We are going to have a fun weekend. The kids love our dogs and are always giving them hugs! Jake really needs that, at almost 16 yrs old!

Claire's baby quilt

Claire will be a grandma soon and she has of course made a quilt for her new grandchild.

In typical fashion, she has created a lovely quilt from her own ideas. Her quilting is also fabulous of course!

Quick and easy

When I was in Wisconsin last month, my friends put quilts on our beds. I loved the one on mine and decided to make something like it - goes really fast!

I still need sashing and cornerstones but the strips are all 2-1/2" so the blocks go together very easily! You can see how nice the original quilt is!

Ps: like my pedicure??!! Vbg

What a treat!!

We usually get loads of kids trick or treating at our house. We had the darlings so we shut off the lights about 8. When I was leaving for our morning walk, I found the treat someone left for us. Beats egging the house!!

Favorite Halloween quilt

Some years ago I organized a Halloween swap with a group of online friends. I always love looking at the variety of blocks everyone made!!

Finished a great book and saw a great movie

I recently chose the Paris Wife for my book group and we all liked it.

Then I rented the movie 42, about Jackie Robinson, also great - highly recommend them both!

Randy

Not my style

The quilt show always has a wearable arts section. This "outfit" was cute although definitely not my style!!

What a darling girl

I bought Emma the cutest vest recently and got to try it out this morning on a walk. She's adorable, don't ya think??!!

Very large block

I got all the borders and half square triangles attached to Lori's block and I love it! Now just 8 more!!

More up close quilting

One quilt in particular had completely different quilting in each small section of the quilt. I loved the detail and variety!!

Great machine quilting

I'd have to say that the majority of quilts that I thought were outstanding had the most amazing quilting!! I'm going to have to work on my skills. I did buy thread to quilt that little Cheri quilt soon.

Here are some samples. I will post more each day.