52 Week UFO Challenge Project #2 - Planner cover

Wow - it's already the middle of January!! So I guess I better get working on the cover for my Passion Planner!!

Last week I was the guest blogger on QUILTsocial and during that week I made a lap quilt using Northcott's Colorworks Concepts fabrics. I had a few strips of the flying geese fabric left over and I desperately wanted to use it again for another project.

Northcott flying geese fabric trimmed into strips.

I think my planner cover is the perfect project to use it for!!

Making a book cover 

In September of 2014 I explained how to make a quilted book cover on QUILTsocial, so I'm going to follow the same basic procedure with this one. If you'd like more information you can check out those blog posts here.

Step #1 - pin down the centre strip

I have two strips of the flying geese stripes that already have black borders on them, so I am going to use the "quilt-as-you-go" method to sew these strips and some black and lime green strips onto my base. I'm going to use Fast-2-Fuse because the planner has a soft cover and I want to give it some substance.
I found the center of the base and then drew a vertical line on it with one of my Frixion pens. The first step was to pin down my centre black strip and then one of the lime green ones.

The centre was marked and then 2" away from each side so that I could centre my 4" strip of black fabric.

Step #2 - add fabric strips

The next thing to do was to sew down each of the green strips,then press towards the green strip. I then pinned down one of my flying geese strips (right side down) lining up the edge with the edge of the lime green. It was sewed down then flipped and presses. I kept adding the strips in this manner working from the centre out to the edges.

Step #3 - quilt

Next thing to do was to iron on my backing fabric and then to add some quilting stitches.

Ironing on the backing fabric.

I quilted a series of parallel lines on my cover.

Step #4 - Trim and make inside pockets

The next thing to do, was to trim the cover so that it would fit the planner. I usually say to lay the book out open and measure the width and the length and cut your cover so that there is an extra 1/2" around all sides (so and 1" to your measurements). I explain this in this QUILTsocial post.
The pockets on the inside hold the cover in place. Take your height measurement and cut two pieces of fabric that height by at least 6" wide. I actually cut mine 9" wide so that they were 4 1/2" wide when I pressed them in half. See my QUILTsocial post for more details.

My 9" wide fabric rectangles were folded in half and pressed and then the raw edges were lined up with the edges of the two ends of the cover and pinned in place.

Step #5 - make and apply the binding

I needed two strips of fabric 2 1/2" wide times the width of fabric for the binding on my planned. I sewed the binding to the inside of the cover, all the way around and then folded it to the front and top stitched it in place.

I sewed the binding to the inside of the cover first.

Project #2 is done!!

So...here it is the finished cover. Once the binding was one, I just slipped the front and back covers of the planned into the pockets on my quilted cover and it fit perfectly!! I especially love how the lime green strips of fabric match the lime green page marker that came with the planner. Now my planner has a custom, one-of-a-kind cover!!

The finished cover.

The lime green page marker matches the cover perfectly. The inside pockets hold the cover in place.

52 week UFO Challenge Project #1 - The Coneflowers

Happy New Year!!

I'm so looking forward to 2016 and I just couldn't wait to start on my 52 week UFO Challenge!! 

My first project really should be the cover for my 2016 Passion Planner, but I've had an idea about one of the projects that has been on my design wall for over a year so I wanted to act on it!!

In November 2014, my friend Nellie and I took a surface design course from Elaine Quehl. We had an AWESOME time and I was so inspired when it was finished that I used my new skills (and new supplies) to do a few more samples. For the coneflowers, I made a quilt sandwich and then did some thread "sketching" (free motion quilting) with black thread. I then used my new Inktense pencils to shade in the flowers and leaves.

My thread sketch with Inktense shading.

A close-up of one of the coneflowers.

Here is a Youtube video about Inktense pencils:

After I was done shading, I spritzed the fabric with water and the colours just came alive!! I just LOVE this technique BUT I was stumped as to how to finish it.

While I was cleaning my studio last week I came upon a "quilt-as-you-go" tablerunner that I had made years ago and I realized that I could add borders to my quilted piece using that same technique.

My first step was to mark out straight lines where I wanted to have my borders. I needed to make sure that there was at least 1/4" between my quilting and the seam placement line. 

Marking the borders with a Frixion pen.

The next step was to lay my first border piece along this line and pin.

Pinning down the first border along the drawn line.

I sewed this border down then did the same with the opposite border. Both of these were then pressed, but I had to make sure that I didn't put my iron near the other lines I had drawn with the Frixion pen, or I would lose them!!

Next step was to pin on the remaining two borders and sew.

Adding the last border.

Adding a hanging sleeve on the back and binding on the edges finished my wall hanging off nicely!! 

Adding the binding.

Project #1 is done!! 

Finished coneflower wallhanging

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I really loved this technique and I want to do something like it again, but next time I will make sure that the fabric sandwich I quilt on is large enough to do bigger borders around the edge AND I will make sure that my design is square on the fabric so I don't lose so much area when I trim it. Other than that, I love  my first finished UFO!!

Getting organized for the 52 Week UFO Challenge

I've been looking over my projects and have sorted them into hand sewing projects and machine sewing projects. I love to have something to hand stitch while I'm watching TV so I've gone through the projects that need hand stitching to complete and have assembled the required buttons/threads/backings/tongues etc. Each of the projects is now in a separate baggie in a basket that will sit beside my favourite chair. When I have a few minutes to spare I can get working on them!!

My basket with projects assembled

Craftsy sale is on now!!

I just found out that all Craftsy supplies are up to 75% off now through 12/31!

Check it out to see if there is anything that YOU need for your UFO Challenge!

A year's worth of unfinished projects!

Happy Boxing Day!!

In the midst of holiday preparations I found a couple hours to clean and tidy up my sewing room. The wrapping paper was put away for another year and the remains of my pre-Christmas projects were tidied up. 

While I was doing this I found a staggering number of projects that were in the throws of being finished - my UFO's. They aren't all big projects (one is a pincushion) but they are all started and not finished. Some are extra blocks from a quilt that has already been made, but I couldn't bring myself to throw away - these I'm going to use to make table runners, book covers or bags. Some are punchneedle pieces that I did for demonstration purposes at quilt shows or in a class I was teaching, but never finished into a wall hanging or pillow. Some are are quilts that have been put aside while I quilted for customers and some are actual projects that I intentionally started and have yet to finish.

 For each project I found I put the blocks/pieces and corresponding fabrics together in either a large zip-loc bag or a basket.

All of the projects neatly stacked and ready to finish!!

I then got out my new Passion Planner and wrote out the list on a blank page at the back. After I had written them all down, I realized that I had 26 projects that I should finish up. I also realized that this number conveniently divides into 52 weeks, so I now have given myself a challenge - to complete one of these projects every 2 weeks for all of next year!!

I LOVE making lists - it's so satisfying to check things off as you finish them!

One of my new year's resolutions each year is to blog on a more consistent basis, soooo...part two of this challenge is to document all of these projects in my blog. Maybe this will inspire others to take a fresh look at their unfinished projects and maybe complete a few!!

So here's to 2016 and the "52 week UFO challenge"!!