UFO Challenge Check-in 4

I am pleased to say that I am still making great progress on my UFO challenge!  This week was another busy one, and the handwork was great for a long car ride.  I have to say that the English Paper Piecing is starting to grow on me!  Especially since I figured out how to print my templates instead of having to trace them all!

Between using EQ8 to make the templates and a Sewline Glue stick to speed up the basting, I could be a convert!  

I finished two more blocks this week - I really like both of them.  I've been working at trying to get a little more contrast in the fabrics than the ones in the book.

I did a lot of the stitching for both of these in the car - we drove to Eugene to drop off a friend at the airport and spend some time at a trampoline park for our granddaughter's 6th birthday.

Yesterday I spent a little time and got the templates set up for the next two blocks, so now I just have to cut them out - maybe tonight while we watch football.  I also got four more odd fellow star units pieced.

I also finished another Dogwood block.

Finally on Sunday afternoon I got the chance to sit down at my sewing machine and work on quilting the Prickly Pear quilt!  I started out by quilting the pear. Then I got to work on the background - I wanted to fill it with feathers.  I wasn't sure how good it would look but talked myself into just going for it as this isn't a super important quilt to me, and if it didn't look good at least it would be done. Turns out that I had a great time doing it, and it also looks pretty good if I don't say so myself!  

I even took a chance and tried out a different thread, and it worked perfectly. Turns out I remembered how to quilt feathers pretty well for not having done it for several years! These projects are perfect for experimentation, since most of them are just things that have been sitting for quite a while and I don't really have a purpose in mind for them!

If you would be interested in learning more about the design behind this quilt you can check out my blog post about it here.

I like having the combination of working on long term projects and handwork as well as the instant gratification of a finish!  This is 2 out of 20, so I'm feel like I'm doing pretty well right now! I need to finish a little more than two a month to get my whole list complete.  I don't know if I can do that, but I'm going to keep working toward that.  I have one project basted and another ready for basting, so will probably move those two on to the next step this week, as well as work on the three long term projects.

I also have a new project to complete this week, but it's just a table runner, so it will be refreshing to go from start to finish on something!

Oh, and the biggest UFO on my list is pretty much finished up now!  The front of our house is looking good!  That's pretty darn satisfying, too!

Hope you are checking things off your list, too!