UFO list and other problems, Black and red friendship star quilt

Well its Monday morning, and I started on a UFO, I wanted to make a border and I thought I had put the fabrics together with the quilt top, but noooooo, so I started hunting for that 2 gal baggie that had those fabrics,
but I couldnt find anything, what I did find was two sets of Quiltswappers signature blocks, lol
I dont know how I lost these, but wow, one set is dated 2000 and the other is 2002
I think that is my oldest UFO.
It brings back alot of good memories,
the group is no longer around.(I dont think so anyways) During that time I got shirt and pin and a little
green bear that the owner had made.
We sure swapped alot of things, ;D

Well back to the story, I found 21 WIP or UFOs depending on how you see them
so I did get that much done, and I pulled little bits of fabric I had left
in my stash from the quilt, and will add a few more to make a border

AND then my hubby called, he's been home for 6 weeks nursing a bad shoulder,
hes been going Physical Therapy 3 days a week, every week, well today
they decided he had tears, so it will at least March before they will release
him, and at that time they will decide if he needs surgery, arggggggggg
hes asking now to teach him to sew quilts, cause hes so bored, and cant
do much of anything else, lol
I think I am loosing my mind, at least whats left of it lol,

Anywaysss here is the quilt I am working on, not sure what I was thinking,
maybe with the border on it will transform into something better to look at,

I am also adding a couple of blocks I made on Sunday for a donation
for a quilt for a cancer patient,
They are debbie mumm vintage little house blocks with a setting like courthouse
steps they are 12 inches and very fun to do(they really are square, but leave it
to me and pic taking skills, they look longer, and kind of lumpy geesh)

I hope you have a good day, it was 15 below freezing yesterday, no wonder
I couldnt keep the house warm, today its a balmy 5 Above freezing LOL

This is my sewing area, and all of my stash, 3 of the little grey tubs and 2 of the
purple ones are empty, yeah, and the cloth bins are half empty, so I am really
making a dent in the fabrics,

I sew in the living room, so its kind of crowded, my husband watches tv when hes
at home, (hes a trucker) so I dont get much done when hes here, lol

I like to sew in natural light, and the living room is the only one
with a large window and enough light for me

Its bitter cold up here in the UP and I cant wait till spring ;<)

Mothers Day Present

This is the quilt my daughter made for me, I will 2 photos, you will see
she even signed it for me, such a good girl, lol
This quilt is made from 4 1/2" finished blocks, so you can imagine how
small some of the pieces were. I use to watch her hand piece, I just couldnt
believe how small they were and how small the stiches she had to make.
The fabrics were small print, some were from Jenny Beyers, from way back when,
some I got at Joanns, and others from my local quilt store, to me when I was collecting
them I thought of the old timey looking quilt, not sure if that is what they
all ended up as, but she did an excellent job selecting the ones she used,
Now I know you guys are bored hearing a proud mama go on and on and on, lol
its embarrassing to say the least, but I cant help it and yes she is a mama's girl
even at 25 ;<)

Birthday gifts

I had plenty of strips of batiks, and found this pattern Batik bags, so I made two for gifts one was for my sister who crochets and is just starting to quilt,
and the other one is for my youngest daughter, who just finished her BA and is working on
her Masters, she just got a great job at a college, and is moving down state
with hers I made it a little wider and shorter, so she could use it for her
laptop, she carries it everywhere, I did buy her a nice leather carry all, but she
would rather have a quilted one, she is amazing quilter also,
She made me a quilt for mothers day, it was a wall hanging, but the amazing thing was
she had pieced it and hand quilted it, the pieces are tiny, she took the block patterns
from a dear jane book I had, so I am a proud mama, I will post it soon

more photos

here is another pic I just took, it shows the border, and the sandwich,
I do comfort quilts, that is to say, I use thicker batts, and flannel
backings, the top is cotton regular fabric, I was asked to make this one
so its not mine (sob) I love it, I used alot of stash up, I did buy the all the
dots, the nuetrals, I wanted a more control feel, after using up
all the blues, and I am ready to big stitch this quilt and get it out the door

its so large I can't really get a good photo, after its done quilted, maybe I can hang
it, we will see, I really need to get one of those larger wooden hangers
make it so much easier to take a photo in the winter

I need to take a few more pictures of this quilt, this was a blue and white churn dash with bear paws attached on the outsides, I did a piano key border, I have it sandwiched and ready to quilt, I will upload those pics tomorrow if I can get some sunlight,
ok thats it for me tonight
Happy quilting

Before pictures of other UFOs

I am posting a few of the UFOs that are on my list to finish, seems like a good idea, lol
before and then after, maybe it will help me get motivated, more strips that I made up into a smaller size quilt, I havent sewed the blocks together, so it still needs that and then batting, quilting and binding,

Here are two blocks I posted by themselves so you can see how I pieced some of
the smaller scrap strips, I sewed them together and made a piece of fabric, then
I cut them into another strip, lol, great way to use up all size of strips,
and keep it really scrappy looking

UFO finished #2 and 3

I had a few more blocks and I decided to make a few totes, I used some German fabric for the lining,
in the fancy fabric one and plain black in the other one with the pink stripes
and used regular strapping for the handles

I used a feather stitch from my machine to tack down most of the pieces, they are
made crazy quilt style

close up

Just wanted to show a block with the little pieces that I stripped and the
fancy stitches that I used

First UFO Finished #1

Just posted my first finish of the New Year, so I am off and running, yea!
These blocks were made with leftover strips from some of my flannel quilts,
I like to sew them up right away rather then keeping them in a box. This is for an end table, I pieced some pieces together to make strips and cut smaller strips from them
and put them in the middle, and then added some more strips, I used some of
the fancy stitches on my sewing machine, just like in crazy quilts, which I do also