Victoria Findlay Wolfe And Sizzix

are Sponsoring a great quilt Challenge!

Check out Victoria's blog post HERE

I know you want to join it right!?!

 This doesn't really count as a quilt, but, it's wall hanging... quilted...  

I must have been 17-18 years old.. because I recall digging out that black fabric

from my mother's stash... I wanted to REVAMP my PINK bedroom with some other 

cool colors like BLACK!  

I hand pieced it, then I must have put two layers of poly fill in this because

it's LOFT is about 2.25" thick...

I remember thinking when I quilted it, how on earth do people do whole quilts like this,

one single stitch at a time...

Like all the puckers?

It never made it on my wall...

When I was 19,  this was my official first Quilt,.  It was a gift for my niece, and it went on

to not only be loved by one, but two nieces... See how ratty it is?  

It has been repaired so many times by my mother... It barely holds together anymore, 

yet it is still being loved...

It was very cheap cotton, probably from Kmart or Shopko (do they have those here?)

I had no idea what I was doing, 

and I made it up as I went along...

Sound familiar, somethings never change...

I kept adding to it to try to make it bigger... 

As quickly as I could and as simply as I can...

and no, surprisingly it was not king size... it was barley twin size..

hehe!

At the time, I was teaching preschool... yeah, I put off college for one year thinking I would

rather work than go to school... that got old real quick, and soon after I started College...

where they promptly told me QUILTING was a craft not art...

but I managed to get in a few QUILTS into one of my Art shows by 

painting direct on the fabrics...

using acrylics on the tree, and ink on the figure...

Funny enough, I had no idea about ART quilts then...

Also, I think I got my mother to hand quilt them...

Again, I didn't know how to bind, so ALL of these were pillow turned... 

See how wonky shaped they are?  hehe...

Live and learn...

 Well.... I only included tops that are NOT Finished...  

I have PLENTY of TOPS DONE... but not quilted, and I'm not showing you those! ;-)

I mostly have tops that JUST NEED BORDERS!

You'd think I could just crank those out... but no!

My African quilt is the newest UFO... 

I need must have that zig zag border,
but I don't have the right filler fabric to set it off yet...

so the hunt continues.

I just need borders on this purple one.

 Started this crown of thorns last summer. I love it. 

I know what I want to of to finish it, but have NO MOJO to do so....

And my grandma's flower garden quilt... hand pieced... 5 years old. 

I keep taking it out to look at it...that's the end of that story!

 STAR BIRDS.... LOVE this quilt, but the BUGGY BLOCKS bored me to tears... 

I will finish it soon.(fingers crossed)  It's a beauty.  Next to that is my other Beauty, 

Hawaiian sunset blocks... I followed the pattern to make the blocks, 

but you know me and patterns... I can't get myself to finish it, until I figure out how

to make it MINE...
can't follow the pattern, that is against my own personal rules.... 

LOL!

Here is the KAFFE KING SIZE quilt, that needs, get, this... 

A 4" black BORDER!

 And lastly, my OLDEST UFO...  I found this top, last summer at our farm...  

I abandoned it at 19, because my blocks were WONKY.

hahahahahah! ROLLING ON THE FLOOR LAUGHING.....  WHO KNEW!

OK, well, you have to know me, to know why that is so funny....

I plan on finishing it just as it is, with some fabulous quilting....

That's all I will admit too...

Can't wait to see what you all have hidden away!

Sorry, Jessica, I had to show these all... ;-)

It did feel good as I realized how many UFO's I did finish in

the last year, as I looked though my images...

I feel pretty good many of these will get done this year...

 So I guess what the topic really is,  how messy are you,  right?  hahaha!

This is what we want to know... ;-)

Here's my studio on a good day.. This iswhere I work...

You all come to the meeting and I have it all whipped into shape...

BUT, I work on 5-6 things at a time.  So when I have all the fabric 

out for different projects, things don't get put away until I am done with them...

 This is nothing compared to how it usually gets.... I have African fabrics out, I have the solid block quilt out, the DQS quilt out, the old Cheap hotels quilt top out, which I am picking a backing out for it, new fabrics that haven't been stored away...  paint cans that need to be put in the basement etc... AND

EVERYTHING goes on the floor....  I sweep up at the end of the day, because I can't be bothered to drag over my garbage can.... Fabric flies here...  

I used to have a LARGE desk, and I turned it into my sewing table so that I would not use my desk as a dumping ground...  I have to stay on top of the mess and papers, now as I don't have much room at all...  this has turned out to be a good thing...

The other end of my table, when you walk int my studio, is stacked with my other sewing machine, boxes of projects in the works... scarves, notions, other blocks that need to be finished that I continually ignore...  I try so hard to keep it clean as I go, but it's just not in my capability....

This is me...  when I cleaned last week, I lost my bags of perle cotton, which had my expensive thimble... 4 days later, I found it, packed it up in a little baggie with my needle case and thread to take to my house to finish two quilts, binding and sleeves, by the time I got to my house.... It has disappeared again...   Now I'm ticked...  I found it, I had it... and now It's gone again, with my needle case... and two thimbles....  I do not know the trick to being organized...  I can keep my house clean, but not my studio...

This is where, and how I work...  Send the intervention team over now!  ;-)

I DO keep my fabrics folded and neatly put away...  Do I get a pat on the back for that?

I do love all the natural light that I have in the studio...
I don't really have storage for all my quilts so things get stacked up...
I feel I am outgrowing my space... that's not good. Because I'm not going anywhere... ;-)

The only thing I wish I could change was how to be better organized....