A New Year, A New Challenge!

Happy New Year! In case you are a continuing "challenger" and want to get started on your first UFO for 2014, the number is:

OK, now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast! Like the new look? Thank you, Younger Son, for updating the 52 Quilts in 52 Weeks header. And for the "12 in 2014" button -- for which I will write code so any followers who have a blog, and wish to, can add it to their own blogs! (I'm pretty sure that isn't a complete sentence, but you know what I mean!)

12 Finishes in 2014

Before the "last parade of 2013," let me list the guidelines for the 2014 Challenge. It will run just like the 13 in 2013 challenge, but we'll only attempt 12 UFO finishes this year.

Are you ready to challenge yourself to complete some UFOs during 2014?  I know I am!

Here's how it works:

1.  Pull out 12 of your UFOs.  (Notice I didn't say all your UFOs.  I know you have at least 12!)   These can be half-done projects, barely begun projects, or even quilt "kits." 

2.  I put each project in its own 2-gallon size plastic bag.  Saves time I would have spent looking for the pattern or the special template required!

3.  Number each bag 1 - 12.

4.  Come to 52 Quilts the first day of each month in 2014 and I will have posted the number for that month's project.

5.  As you complete your UFO, email a photo to Aunt Marti at 52 quilts dot com. The first of the month, I'll host a "UFO Parade" with photos of your finished projects.

Most importantly, YOU decide what is finished! It can be "bound and ready to give away" or "pieced and ready to quilt." And hey, these are UFOs, so it's not cheating (Jacob!) if you started your UFO before 2014!

January UFO Parade

By my count, 52 Quilts followers finished 140 projects in 2013! Wow! 

Our most productive month was June, when 19 finishes entered the parade. Surprisingly, November was the least productive, with only 4 finishes. The group came back strong in December, finishing 9 projects despite the looming holidays!

I must confess that I didn't finish my own December UFO. And it was a simple, four-block table runner, too! I did complete my tenure with Quiltmaker Magazine's "Scrap Squad," though. And all the blocks and bags I was test-sewing.

Carol, however! Carol completed not one, but two projects this month! Her first was a Thimbleberries quilt from 2005 (see, they don't go bad!).

Carol writes:

I use our driving time to sew on bindings and this Thimbleberries 2005 queen sized quilt was my project for the trip in November.  Hope you do this again in 2014.  Have a good New Year. Carol

She also finished this gorgeous wall hanging. It was a project taught at the Granny's Attic retreat last spring. Carol's granddaughter and talented artist, Jessie, taught the class. It's hard to see in the photo, but there are all kinds of embellishments on this little quilt. Such as beads, glitter paint, ribbons, etc. I know this because my own butterfly wall hanging is in the UFO bin at my house!

Carol finished it for Jessie's birthday -- Happy Belated Birthday from 52 Quilts, Jessie!

Look at Irene's first attempt at machine quilting!  Isn't it cute? She writes:

. . . my first attempt at machine quilting. I decided I needed something to fit on our front door and found this hanging in an old Debbie Mumm book.
Thanks again for all you did for me in 2013. I know I have said it before, but your challenge this year reactivated my quilting desires and I give you full credit for all I accomplished.

Sandi completed all of her 2013 UFOs, including the 13th extra credit one! I love that her quilt names all begin with "k" -- this one is Kingsford Kove:

Sandi writes:

Kingsford Kove was named by my hair stylist.  He thought of the coals for the black and because the name of the design is Rustic Meadows...Kove came to mind.  This project has been on my bucket list for several years now.  It is nice to finally have it complete.  I need to get a back for it, but plan to use scraps of all the blacks in the top for a scrappy binding.I've had such a great time in 2013 with the Thirteen in '13! UFO Challenge.  Looking forward to seeing the logo your little sailor comes up with 2014.

Be sure to go to Sandi's blog, KwiltnKats, and see all her 2013 finishes!

Martha-in-Boise left off making baby quilts long enough to finish this beautiful blue number for her son-in-law:

She reports it's been on her to-do list "for several years."  Doesn't it feel good to get these UFOs out of the closet and onto beds?

Oh, look, here's a second finish from Martha!

This came out much nicer than I thought!  These are disappearing four-squares and solid squares. It is going to my sil's sister who is having a hip replacement in England.

She modified the disappearing four-patch pattern. I'm hoping for a tutorial next time I visit Idaho! Isn't it lovely?

Looking at Gill's email, I think I need to "up" the finish count for December!  There are two quilts and four pillows in this photo!

I have to share what she wrote about these, in case others want to make something similar:

Hello and Happy Christmas from London!
These are my December finishes - I actually drew the numbers (two months worth) for these earlier in the year but didn't finish them due to Summer holidays! Then December came around and they are all presents that needed to be made! I finished up the two ninja quilts on December 23rd - very very late, but there was no way I wanted to be sewing on Christmas Eve!
At the bottom of the picture are two ninja quilts, single bed size for our two boys - Jacob 7 and Luke 5, who are both into martial arts. The fabrics are Robert Kaufman: I am Ninja, and Riley Blake: Chevrons, with Kona Solids and another blue martial art remnant I bought. The Union Jack cushions were meant to be made in the Jubilee Year couple of years back but now are finally made and have now been given to family members as gifts. There's a good tutorial for making them at Dandelion Daydreams - but I altered the widths of the middle cross fabric to make the flags more accurate.
We have had a lovely Christmas - full of Lego and Nerf guns! I hope you and your family are all well.

Well done, Gill!

Now I know I have to up the December count! Karen sent four (!) finishes in for this month!

First is her Asian Sampler:

On her blog, she writes:

. . . my Asian Sampler quilt. While I didn’t complete the quilt, the real challenge for me was to get these 12 blocks into a top. And, that is complete!

Yes, Karen, by the 52 Quilts "13 in 2013" rules, that is certainly complete! 

I think I recognize one of my favorite Anthology fabric collections in Karen's second finish. She reports:

Sloane’s Happy Quilt. This is my granddaughter’s Christmas present. 

Here is her third finish:

December was an easy one. Number 10 is a preemie quilt that I finished to use up some pastel fabrics that weren’t playing well with my stash. Finished.

And here is her "extra credit" finish:

And, I’ve finished my bonus, number 13. My 2012 Keyhole quilt. Finished in August and given to my niece who is undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer.

 

Good on you, Karen!

Debra apologizes that she didn't quite get her last UFO completed. But since it's a Bonnie Hunter scrap "monster," I want to share it anyway!

Be sure to click on the photo so you can see that all the "setting blocks" are string-pieced. That string piecing takes some time, let me tell you!

Here's what Debra says about this project, and about the "13 in 2013" challenge:

I must say this has been an awesome challenge. I will definitely be participating in 2014 and I already have most of the items I want to complete going round-and-round in my brain. I really appreciate all of your efforts and also the efforts of the younger and elder sons. They have done an excellent job.
Now for my number 8 - I have most of my parts ready but the quilt is not assembled into a "quilt top". I have a good reason (actually, a good excuse - hehehhehehehe). I had 12 quilts to bind the beginning of December for Christmas gifts and I thought I could handle it just fine and I was approximately 1/2 through with my Orca Bay (#8 in Aunt Marti's challenge) so I thought - no problem - I can handle this. I finished the bindings on the quilts (after working on them every evening after work) on 12/22/2013. Whew!!! - everyone is going to get their Christmas quilt. Now onto Orca Bay. I had all of the string portions left to do and then I could assemble the quilt. I didn't know strings could take that much time.  Needless to say - Orca Bay is not done. I have only a few of the blue string parts left and I have arranged the quilt so that you can see what it is going to look like in its finished state. I did mine in neutral, gold, purple, and blue. I didn't know what the mystery would look like so I wanted to change up the colors. Well once I saw Bonnie's quilt in red, black, blue, and neutral - I had to have one of those as well. I do have everything cut for my second Orca Bay - which is one that will be included in my UFO challenge for 2014.
I have included my pictures and I think everyone has done a wonderful job and you are all an inspiration to me. Thank you for all of your sharing - I love the parades.  I'll be watching on 1/1/14 to see all of the newly made items.

Wow. Just. Wow! Thank you for playing along with my little challenge. I hope to see you all, along with new challengers, for Twelve Finishes in Twenty Fourteen!


From the desk of your