It’s Spring! Kinda . . .
Posted on April 8, 2026 by prairiemoonquilts in Category NameIt’s going back and forth between hot and cold right now. We’ll have a day when it’s 87 outside, then the next day we have a freeze warning. One day we’ll be under a tornado watch, and two days later, it’s snowing again. It’s hard on the animals. They start trying to shed their winter coats, only to need them back again! So rude. But they all seem to be doing OK in spite of it.
Today is Ranger’s birthday!!! He’s NINE years old today. It makes me wanna cry. How can my little boy be so old already? He used to follow me everywhere, helping with chores and bossing everything:
Now, he still follows me, and still bosses everything, but he has to stay with the herd. The destruction would be real, if I turned him loose! And he’s this big now:
He would love to still be living indoors, but since he’s relegated to outdoor living, he fancies himself a pony. He’d much rather hang out with the horses than the other goats. They are so beneath him. Ranger’s mother was best friends with Chip, the Wonder Horse, and she wanted to hang out with the horses all the time, too. Like mother, like son, I guess.
Of course, I’ll be fixing him a birthday treat later today when it’s a bit warmer than it is right now. Why is April 8th always so windy?? I’ve given up on making him wear his hat or his Birthday Boy badge. He hates having his horns messed with! I love him so much.
Meanwhile, I’m popping on to show you what I’ve been working on lately. It’s been a struggle. You see, I made this rule for myself:
You must completely finish TEN projects before you can start another new one.
Truthfully, it should be more than that, but the agony is almost too much to bear. I haven’t started anything new all year, except a donation quilt for my guild’s challenge that has to be done on time.
Here’s where it gets difficult: The rule is not just to finish things, but my total UFO list number must drop by TEN. So I’ve actually finished about 14 things, but the list isn’t down by ten projects yet, so I’m still working on the last couple. When you clean out old tubs, you find projects that weren’t on the list, and the list grows anyway! And when you’re really wanting to finish a project, why does binding seem so slow?
Here are a couple projects I’ve finished since my last update, plus a few tops I’ve finished that can’t be counted as finished until they’re actually quilted, bound, and labeled.
A baby quilt for donation, made from leftover squares our guild gathered up for a sew day a couple years ago. I’m throwing it in the washer later today, so it will be ready to take to guild meeting with me next week.
This homespun Log Cabin quilt that I made to try and use up the last of my homespun stash. I still have one more homespun quilt to get quilted, and I’m happy to say that all my homespun is now gone!
This Potting Shed quilt I made for My Cowboy. I had a pile of what looked like salesmen’s samples of homespun tucked in a drawer for years, and then along came the perfect pattern!
I’ve had the top done for over a year, and finally got it quilted. I chose this cowboy print for the backing for him. So far, he’s been using it with the backing side up!
I also finished a couple quilts I can’t show yet, but hopefully soon.
In the interest of finishing things, I’ve downsized several projects to be smaller than I originally intended. One was my Snowballs quilt. I had big plans to make this queen-sized — what was I thinking??? I gathered up the parts I had finished and came up with a layout I could put them into so I could call it done. I had just enough blocks to make this:
It turned out to be the cutest baby-sized quilt! And I photographed it upside down. The whole time I was working on it before, I thought it was gonna be super ugly, but now that it’s done, I actually like it quite a lot! Now, to get it quilted.
But I have my backing and binding ready. That’s a habit I got into years ago: before I put a top into the to-be-quilted pile, I prepare a backing for it and make the binding. That way, no matter how long it lays, I’m not stymied at that point when I’m ready to really finish it. My future self always thanks me!
And here’s another oldie . . . I finally finished hand piecing all the blocks for my Daredevils quilt. This was started years ago in a quilt-along of Barbara Brackman’s. The blocks were challenging blocks meant to be hand pieced, so that’s why it took me so long. But the top is done, I bought a vintage sheet for the backing, and the last bit will be getting it quilted. It’s made from all vintage fabrics from my vintage fabric stash.
I also got this top finished from my grandmother’s embroidered blocks I talked about in my last post:
I think she would love it. It’s actually quite large, so I’ll get better photos of it later. I’m excited to give it some custom quilting to get it completely finished. When that will happen is anyone’s guess. I think I’m going to have to completely retire to ever get to quilt through my own pile of tops!
So that’s what I’ve been up to. How about you?
PS: Stay tuned in the coming weeks. I have some big announcements coming up, and I don’t want anyone to miss out.
I think that you are being too mean to yourself by making the rule include the UFOS list must shrink by 10. I am amazed by myself at how I have put UFOS in some of the oddest places. I can’t wait to see what else you have done! I seem to have been everywhere except at my studio.
My husband is convinced that we need goats. Our present place does not have room for goats. And, good man that he is, he has no idea of the reality of goats. I guess time will tell…
The quilts are all great. It seems like it is so much easier to be a starter than a finisher.
All those snowballs take a lot of time! It’s something you don’t realize until you make a bunch of them.
I agree with Amanda about your draconian rule. I actually Marie Kondo’d some of my UFOs last fall. They went to my guild’s Fabric, Yarn, & Notions Sale.
Hi, I had a quick question for you. I know you’ve done some vintage quilt repairs/finished vintage tops. I was just given some old family quilt tops that have some stains that will need to get taken care of before I start working on repairing them, and I think I’ve seen you talk about doing similar so was wondering if you could give me advice about what to use for bathtub soaking/cleaning them before I give them surgery? Thank you so much!
Happy Birthday to Ranger!!!
I think completing 10 UFOs before you start a new one is a great idea! I don’t have quite as many unfinished projects as you do…I think! I’m trying to get four projects done before I start something new…let’s see how long that goes. My “sew-Jo” has been off lately though, ugh. I’m working on an easy charity quilt project. Progress is being made!!!! Maybe I can get this project made then get excited about working on the next unfinished project…