May UFO Link up

The end of May is here and it’s time to share our UFO finishes for the month.  The link up will be at the end of this post.

Hello 2016, Goodbye UFO's

 

My UFO challenge was to finish this wall hanging for my granddaughter, Amelia.  Done!

Hot Air Balloon Mini Quilt by Julie Cefalu

 

You can find my original tutorial for this project here.  I started this back in October of last year and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it.  And then Amelia came along and it’s a perfect fit!  My daughter, Nicole, and Cooper helped me take pictures.

Hot Air Balloon Mini Quilt by Julie Cefalu

 

I enjoy taking my time to quilt smaller pieces like this one.  The swirls and circles were fairly easy to navigate around the quilt.  I started with swirls and when I needed a small space to fill, I changed to circles.  Eventually, I started adding circles randomly and I like the look.

Hot Air Balloon Mini Quilt by Julie Cefalu

 

I found the perfect fabric for the backing.  I added a hanging sleeve, too.

Hot Air Balloon Mini Quilt by Julie Cefalu

 

There is only one problem with this quilt – it’s not flat.  After quilting, I could see that it had developed “ruffles” along the edges.  How did this happen?  Often it occurs because you didn’t measure and cut the borders correctly.  The quilting process can also cause the quilt to become distorted and that’s the case with mine.

Hot Air Balloon Mini Quilt by Julie Cefalu

 

I can fix this by “blocking” the quilt. This is a process that will bring a quilt back into square.  Usually, it’s done before the binding is added, but I’m beyond that step. I’ll let you know how it turns out. You can read more about blocking a quilt here.

Hot Air Balloon Mini Quilt by Julie Cefalu

 

Now it’s your turn to show us what you’ve completed this month.  I have a great prize package that will go to two lucky people that includes 6 fat quarters of red, white and blue fabric, matching thread, the Spring issue of Block magazine, and a 1-month Star membership to The Quilt Show.

May prize package 2

 

Link-up Rules:

  • You may add up to 2 finished projects.
  • One image per finished project.
  • Project must be sewing or quilting related.
  • The link-up will be open until June 7, at midnight, PST.
  • The giveaway is open to USA or Canada only, however, anyone can join the link-up. If a winner is chosen that is international, then another number will be picked until it meets the criteria.
  • Winner will be drawn at random on June 8, 2016.
 Loading InLinkz ...

Similar Posts

10 Comments

  1. That is a cute quilt for your grand daughter with the perfect backing fabric!

    May flew by without me finishing a single UFO. Such is life sometimes.

  2. That’s a darling wall hanging you made for your granddaughter, so bright and cheerful. That backing worked perfectly.
    No finish for me this month although there was progress made. My starting point was a quilt top for which I sewed up a backing and got the quilt sandwich made and the stitch in the ditch completed. I want to FMQ the various blocks and got three out of twelve done. At that point I lost interest and put it in the closet. I must have been at a mental block because I had no problem sewing some FQs into a quilt top in the few days left in the month. Of course, now this is another WIP I need to complete.
    It never ends.

  3. I love hot air balloons and yours is perfect. I love the swirls and the cute backing. I hope the blocking helps.

  4. I just haven’t been able to master swirls. They come out deformed looking like ET heads. Need mord practice I guess. You found the perfect backing.

  5. Hi Julie,

    Amelia’s quilt is adorable, and will be so pretty hanging in her room! When you do the swirls like that, do you sketch them out at all, or do you just go for it? I really need to make a couple of mug rugs so I can try it. I tend to freeze up and do nothing out of fear that I’ll make a mess and end up hating it…….

    Linda

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

DISCLAIMER:

Some of the links on this site are affiliate links and I may be compensated a small commission when you make a purchase by clicking on those links. I only promote products and services that I use and love myself. Your support enables me to maintain the content of this blog and I am truly grateful!