I wish real coins multiplied like fabric coins.

Before my second machine broke (yes, she's in the hospital for a week), I was able to sew some of my scrappy strips together and then trim them to 5 1/2 strips.

I still don't have enough to make the throw-sized coin quilt that I want, but I am by no means lacking in scrap strips. Once my daily companion recuperates, I'll be back sewing these strips together. I may have enough to do two quilts. :/ Maybe that's not bad. I think what's bad is the fact that my scrap basket has not diminished in the LEAST. (Maybe that's not bad either.)

I hope you're getting to do more sewing than I am right now!

I'm pretty scrappy.

Remember how Jodi had a Scraps-Along which I followed along with, entered the giveaways for, never sewed anything with my scraps? (Hangs head in shame.) I planned to, but right before the holidays is hard. Anyway, recently I went through my scraps and pulled out a whole bunch of strips -- all different widths and lengths. See them all ironed up and color-coded?

My quilting group wants to do a stacked coins quilt starting in January like the one I made from a jelly roll. I don't have a jelly roll right now, but I do have tons of scraps, so I decided to modify mine. They'll still be doing the jelly roll version. More to come on this project in the next little while. I'm so excited to be using up scraps! Better late than never.

2011 UFO Challenge!

Judy over at Patchwork Times is having a 2011 UFO Challenge, and since I have a (gigantic) number of those (see the sidebar), I thought I'd join in -- see if I can whittle down any of my stack. The idea is to do one (or two) per month so we feel focused and not overwhelmed by our UFOs. Well, at least that's my reason for joining. So here's my list!

1. January -- This is Amanda Jean's nine-patch quilt-along from 2009 -- round 2. I did finish round 1 last year. It's half quilted. It was supposed to be a Christmas gift this year. A little late, so I have to finish it in the first week or so.

Also in January I would like to bind this quilt. I'm not showing you the whole thing, but I would like to point out that it is all quilted and already on my bed. So, yeah, it needs some binding.

2. February -- Elizabeth Hartman's Paintbox quilt-along. I did a LOT of QALs this last year and need to finish them up -- to make room for the other ones I won't be able to stop myself from starting in 2011. :) Know thyself, people. Old Red Barn Co very first QAL -- probably a 2009 quilt also. Just needs binding. I obviously do not like making binding.

3. March -- Pinwheel Sampler from P.S. I Quilt. Rachel finished hers, and she even had a baby this year. What's my excuse?

Also for March I need to bind this quilt. I believe I started it 6 or 7 years ago. It was before we moved into this house, and that was 5 1/2 years ago.

4: April -- ORB QAL #4. This one was so involved and intricate. I finally trimmed all the string squares last week. I'm going to skip the circle cutting so I can finish it sometime before I die. I love the intricate ones, but they sit around too long around here. Not enough stamina I guess.

Also for April I need to bind this one. It's from Cathy's Charmed Whirligig QAL.

5. May -- Also from before we bought this house. This one is from Hopskotch Quilting by Peggy Waltman. (I was trying to link her website, but it must be gone now.) I got a little overambitious about the quilting -- as if the piecing wasn't enough, right?

Also for May I need to finish Amanda Jean's Star QAL. I may have started this in 2008 when I first started blogging. Maybe not till 2009.

6. June -- I bought a half-yard pack of Nicey Jane @ the Dallas Quilt Show earlier this year. This is such an easy pattern -- brick road-ish. WHAT is the deal with me? I get all these quilts to be in rows, and then I just don't want to sew the rows together. Okay. No more self-reproach. That's why I'm doing this -- to overcome my quilting weaknesses. ;)

Also for June is this lovely stacked coins quilt from 2009. I decided it would be gorgeous with some organic line quilting. Now, I'm not wrong about that, but I think the gorgeous factor would be upped if I finished it. Yeah, I'm sure.

7. July -- I made this modified bento box patterned after one that Ashley made. I made the quilt top so fast, and now it has sat around for about a year. I absolutely love it, so I'm hoping to finish and use it. Only one for July, because I was starting to get overwhelmed as I was making this list.

8. August -- I call this The Beautiful Briny (Bedknobs and Broomsticks). I saw one that Nettie made, and I just fell in love with it. Too many girly ones around here, and I have 5 boys. They need it, because they're tired of all the pink flowery quilts.

9. September -- Denim Stars -- also started before we bought the house -- actually to flimsy stage before then. I like it, but I'm a little daunted by the denim. Just gotta finish it.

10. October -- Because of all the applique, this one has taken me a while. I finished the applique earlier this year and then had to set it aside. This is also one that I started way before we moved into the house. The hard part's done, right?

11. November -- This one is just from a bunch of pink scraps from a friend who helped me get into quilting so much. She let me go through her HUGE stash and pick what I wanted. It was a great help at the time -- she did that for me a lot. I didn't have money for fabric then, but I truly loved quilting. Anyway, I made it SO HUGE. It's still pretty big, but I did take a bunch of squares off of it at one point. I made 2 baby quilts with what I removed.

12. December -- I love Judy Martin's quilts. She has such an interesting way of looking at blocks and using colors. I adapted a smaller version of this quilt to make a twin size. I absolutely love it. I made the top in 2 months of working on nothing else for 2 hours a day while my little ones napped. This was also before we bought the house. I think it was maybe 7 or 8 years ago. I didn't have a machine that could quilt until two years ago, so I wasn't able to finish as many of my quilt tops as quickly as I wanted to. Some I just let sit until I could machine quilt them. This one just kept getting pushed to the bottom of the pile, but I LOVE it.

I do hope to finish other quilts throughout the year besides these, but this would be an AMAZING start to chopping down my list. Thanks, Judy, for getting us focused!

Marcus' Quilt

Elizabeth's pattern again. I made this in a different colorway before. Love it! It makes a fast baby quilt that is so striking. This time I didn't chop any of the squares in half though. It went so fast. My 7-year-old son was helping me. It's for his friend's new baby brother.

Riley Blake's Wheels fabric line and some aqua solid. I think it's Kona, but I'm not sure of the exact name. I used the same quilting as in the last one -- straight-stitch zig-zag. I love the wavy look it gives.

Another Mod Sampler Quilt

Here's another quilt from my quilting group when we made Elizabeth Hartman's Mod Sampler Quilt as a group. Kim loves a black background and variegated thread. She always makes such bright, cheery quilts. She inspires me to try new things. One of these days, I am going to make a quilt with a black background, and it will be completely because of her.

Love the orphan butterflies on the back, Kim!

Hooray for (Other People's) Scraps!

I suppose you've all heard about Jodi's Scrap-Along? If not, go check it out. She is helping us use our lovely scraps in fun and beautiful ways. Also, she has lots of bloggy friends who are willing to help us have more scraps. Who doesn't want more scraps, right? Especially those of other people! Well, so I won one of the giveaways -- from Sherri at A Quilting Life. I even bookmarked her, because her stuff is so beautiful! Look at all the gorgeous things she sent me!

A little Paula Prass Flight of Fancy. Some Denyse Schmidt. Some Verna, some Whimsy (sigh!), and some Spring Fever!

And a whole bunch of other gorgeous nibblets -- There's some Bliss, Dream On, Amy Butler, Lila Tueller, and I must confess I don't know what all else. But so gorgeous -- every single piece.

THANKS, SHERRI! I love them!

(Now, don't think that just because I won that I'm going to stop entering the scrap giveaways. Seriously -- no one thought that, did they? I'm hoping I win a bunch more. Yeah, I'm greedy like that, but only for fabric.)

Some mod sampler quilts that I did not make.

Remember this quilt and this one? Well, the pattern is Elizabeth Hartman's, and I fell in love with it immediately. So did my quilt group. After seeing my first one, they had to make their own versions. Here are two of the finished products.

You just can NOT go wrong with sock monkeys. I think this was Susan's third or fourth finished quilt, two more in progress. First time with free motion, though, I think. Great job, Susan!

Somebody else doing her own thing on the back. This was her first machine-quilted quilt. Well, let's be honest. I think this was her first quilt ever. Way to go, Tiffany! I am just so proud of all my quilting friends. They have come quite a long way from the very beginnings of our group 4 years ago. Hopefully I will have more of their work to show you in the near future!