BOMs Away - 7 Jan 2013 - Working on Kelly's :)

Welcome to my Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.
This week's link-up is at the bottom of this post.

Now that all my BOMs with full block sets have been assembled, I turned to the emotionally challenging task of unboxing my cousin Kelly's BOM work. I was happy to find that all the block patterns were present! There's even a neat stitchery-label pattern.  This is her side of the dual BOM game we were playing with each other across the country in her last months. We each chose a project. Mine was the Dragonfly Party that I designed. Hers was this Joseph Smith quilt pattern. 

Each month we did the work in duplicate and sent one part to each other. The intention was for us to have two twin quilts of each other's choosing after the year. It was a lot of fun. Then she got called to the next life, and it all went on hold. When I went for her funeral, I gathered all her UFOs and identifiable projects and shipped them to my house. I slowly finish her work for her as I work through my own UFO list. 

Kelly had sewn maybe a third of the blocks before she died, and had some fabrics set aside with some of the other patterns. Then there was a stash of reproduction fabrics intended for the project. I do remember her telling me that she was excited to have finally found all the fabrics she wanted to use, so hopefully I'll be able to finish this for her from what she had gathered. I'd like to keep it as close to her own planning as possible. I just love that I kept the notes she sent with the blocks she had done.

Don't have any sewing to share yet. I started to cut out block 2 (she'd skipped around), but the instructions are missing a LOT of cutting instructions. (Bet that's why she skipped it!!)  It's a 5-patch set-up on a 9" block, too, so I can't just wing it. I'm going to have to set up the block in EQ so I can get all the measurements I need. 

In the meantime, folks are hollerin' at me to come to a movie with them, so this is a far as I am on BOM work for this week's linky.  

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 What have you guys done on BOMs or interval projects lately? Weeklies are welcome along with regular projects that you’ve broken into monthly units, and –of course- true BOMs.   Share your eye candy and show off your progress since the last time you linked up! There are some wonderful monthly and weekly projects going on out there.  

Friday Finish! - First UFO of 2013 Shot Down!!

Introducing: Heather's "Synergistic Windmills"

77" x 77"
Summer 2009 - Jan 2013

This was started in summer 2009. It's been worked on in fits and spurts when she's been home for college breaks and spent all of last summer stuck in deep storage lacking only its binding. It is Heather's first quilt, but I've helped her a lot because it is NOT a beginner quilt. From the self-taught paper piecing to the fussy-cut and mitered borders and back diamonds to hand stitching black binding onto a black back, this 77-incher was a bit of a bear. But a gorgeous bear!

We cracked down yesterday and today with some movies and worked the binding together.

The pattern is Jinny Beyer's "Synergy". Heather wanted her quilt's name to spotlight the windmills she sees in it.

It was longarm quilted by Patty Butcher before we moved away from her in Florida. Lots of ditch work here~!!  Love what she did with the borders:

I let the afternoon light glare on the quilt since you'd not see the quilting otherwise. The blacks in this are pitch. Nothing charcoal about it, front or back.

We made squares out of the border cast-offs from the mitering process and set them into the backing of Kona Black.

So thrilled for Heather that her first quilt is finished! She's got her first solo quilt in the works - a cool depiction of the 12 Dungeons & Dragons dragons in their environments. Entirely her own design and everything. Don't hold your breath, though - she's away at college the vast majority of the time, so nothing's happening with that before Spring Break. 

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Thanks to these great hosts for superb inspirational link-ups! You should check these places out for more cool projects folks have finished. :D

TGIFF * Link A Finish Friday at Richard's * Whoop! Whoop! * UFO Sundays

2013's First WIPs - Taking Aim at those UFOs

First of all, I wish everybody a wonderful New Year from our family to yours!  

May 2013 be kind to you.

The Caulkins Family - Thanksgiving 2012, newly at home in Colorado
Yes, we are Big Bang Theory fans.  ;D

2012 was extremely busy for us, with a major move, masters work for me, and changes in the family constellation. Still managed to finish a decent line-up of quilts. Which makes me smile. :)

In 2011 I had organized my UFOs and got myself launched on a productive cycle of finishes. With the 2012 move, I itemized every single untouched kit that had found hidey-holes in our old home. That list makes my eyes pop every time I see it, but it's going to be a fun adventure working through everything. And I will finish each and every one. Just give me a little time.  ;D  If you're morbidly curious, it's all on my Horizons tab.

So I'll be continuing to host BOMs Away and participate in the WIP, UFO, and Finish link-ups that keep my motivation rolling even when the mojo is running low. I got the final row cut and fused for that bugaboo seasonal quilt I worked on after Christmas, so it's all lovingly packed up to be blanket-stitched next holiday time.  

Today it's back to business with a fresh air, and I'm joining in on Carrie's 2013 program with the cutest button:

 and Shanna and Melissa's Lovely Year of Finishes:

and Lynne's Year of the Finished Project:

This month's front-row lineup of UFOs that I'll be working on:

Marissa's Moment - needs the final bunch of FMQ, binding, and the label. This one has had several stall points - design, diagonal attachment, quilting. Quilting it was the biggest stall as I did not have the skills yet for the FMQ I wanted to do. Then, of course, the complicated double move cross-country sidelined this project for many months.

Heather's Geometric - actually Heather's first quilt. I taught her how to attach the binding yesterday and now we just need to stitch it down. Perfect excuse for movie time together before she goes back to school on the 12th! This one stalls frequently as she's at college and it only gets worked on when she's home. Lost the whole summer as it was in storage during the moves. 

Hawaiian Etude - still hand quilting. Two reasons this is more a UFO than a WIP: 1) All those 3/8" rows take TIME!  lol   2) Since this lives at my hand-stitching station, it gets bumped any time there's a binding to stitch down or Dear Jane hand work needs doing.

Let's see if I can get two of these completely knocked off this month.  :D

None of these is appropriate for a gift quilt I need for a cool young man who loves our family. So I'll be rustling up whatever help I can get from kids still here on break for a few days to see if we can piece together a houndstooth top from the stash by week's end.