Finishing up the 52 week UFO challenge

52 Week UFO Challenge Projects #41-#44

Well, my 52 week UFO challenge has come to an end and I'm proud to say that although I didn't get all 52 projects done, I did complete 44 of them!! I've outlined projects #1-#40 throughout the year and here are the final four projects:

Candy cane punchneedle candle mat which was featured in last month's Primitive Quilts & Projects magazine:

Flower and bee applique block finished into a wall hanging:

Leftover quilt blocks made into a modern baby quilt:

Fairy applique block finished into a small wall hanging:

Thanks for joining me on my 52 week challenge!! I've had lots of fun making my way through all of these UFO's and have a great sense of accomplishment looking back at all of the projects that I've finished this year!!

Happy New Year!!!

Machine quilting my orange poppy wall hanging

52 Week UFO Challenge #34 - Poppy wall hanging

Back in 2006 - yes TEN YEARS AGO - my mom and I attended Quilt Canada in Ottawa and took a course on creating pictorial flower quilts from a photo. I wish I could remember the name of the technique we used or who taught the class, but the handouts we received are long gone (or lost somewhere in the depths of my sewing room).

My flower applique was finished shortly after we came home from the conference, but I never knew how I wanted to border and quilt it, so I tucked it away and was surprised when I found it back in December!

I have quite a collection of batik fabrics - all housed in this shoe organizer. I LOVE batiks, and always seem to be adding to my stash. I figured that was a good place to start when looking for border fabrics for my poppy.

I picked out a few to audition...

And ended up picking a black batik for the inner border and two different orange prints for the outside border.

Once I got it loaded it on my Gammill, I had fun doing lots of machine quilting on the flower and  background.

Here is a view of the back of the wallhanging showing some of the machine quilting.

Here is the finished project. I really love how it turned out and really can't believe that it took me ten years to finish it. Good thing I started my 52 week UFO challenge!! Project #34 is done!!