Identifying some UFO's...

I've joined Jacquie's UFO Challenge.

There are more unfinished projects hidden around my house than I care to admit. Her timing couldn't be better, because I'm running out of places to stash them.

While I'd love to get them all off my plate by the new year, I'm being realistic and have narrowed it down to three. Originally I thought five would be doable, but let's face it, Christmas is on its way and there's a lotta other sewing that needs to be done as well.

The first one is a "Summer in the City" charm top that I started probably three years ago, and didn't have enough squares to get the size I wanted (two of the pieces were mis-cut). There were many additional excuses made (discontinued fabric, nothing in the stash that I wanted to substitute, hangnails, dust bunnies, yadda yadda yadda), and the project stalled.

Yeah, it doesn't take much to bounce me off to the next shiny project. I'm not proud of it.

Anyway, I was driving back from Michigan last month and found a little quilt shop with a whole bunch of "Summer in the City" leftovers. No more excuses, I have more than enough fabric to get it done.

My Two-Color Improv quilt was supposed to be a charity quilt for Lent last spring, and got reprioritized for who-knows-what while I was halfway through quilting it. This one shrieked so much guilt whenever I walked past it I hid it in a closet. It's just time to get it out the door.

Many of you may remember the Safari Bento Box. That project got shelved because I just couldn't figure out what to do with those busy busy blocks, they just weren't doin' it for me. When I dug them out last week, they said "Christmas present!" and I'm determined to make them work. Somehow.

So that's it, the Big Three. Thanks, Jacquie, for the kick in the pants I needed to get these finished -- now that I have the blogosphere to answer to, maybe it'll be easier!

Now I need to get to work.

Distracted again...

So what else is new?

I was supposed to be just looking for orange scraps for my next Project Improv block. I found some, all right...in the UFO corner.

Another project started, then forsaken for something more inviting, or more pressing. I'd started a couple of blocks, but the rest of the fabric was cut and had been waiting patiently to be sewn for oh, about three years. Or longer.

So in the spirit of spontaneity (and improvisation), I finished them. It was time.

Another UFO one step closer to being identified. And a little more orange fabric for Project Improv!

I'm on a roll...

Mostly because now that I've rearranged the living room, there's a big wall with nothing on it. And nothing to hang there that I really like any more. There's also a conspicuous lack of a throw on the sofa -- so in an effort to reduce the pile, I paid a visit to my UFO corner and found these blocks.

Only this time, they had more appeal than the last time we met -- and, now that I've changed up a couple pillows, they go (more or less) with the living room. A slight stretch (Lord knows there're enough colors in there), but better than nothing -- so they became this over the weekend:

I still haven't decided whether it'll get snuggled under or displayed on the wall -- that, I think, depends on the quilting. But I have to admit, I'm back in like with it. Not love...yet. Give me time.

First things first...

I was feeling all full of resolve yesterday.

So much so that I rearranged (and vaccuumed!) the living room. And in the process, came across this quilt, still in the frame, tucked behind the couch.

A wave of guilt washed over me. I knew it'd be forever before I could successfully return to it...and here I was, talking about starting another new project? Shame on me!

So I quilted it. By machine. I hadn't gotten very far with the hand quilting in the first place, so taking it out wasn't a big deal.

I used variegated nylon in orange, pink, yellow and neon green. All wavy and easy to do. Backed it with this wonderful Jane Sassaman stripe I'd had forever. Stash busting already!

I bound it this morning. By machine, of course.

My first quilt of 2009.

No more guilt. About this project, anyway.

I hope this bodes well for the rest of the year!

In an effort to distract myself...

I'm trying to get back into a UFO. Not the batik one, another one (I have so many, your head would spin, but maybe not...I think most of us are in the same boat -- or spaceship, to keep the metaphor going).

I really, really want to start a jelly roll project, but am trying, just this weekend, a more self-disciplined approach. We'll see how long that lasts.

This one's a zig-zag top. I'd been wanting to use some 1930's prints, which are pretty uncharacteristic for me, but they're just so darn sweet! Saw these little packets of fat eighths (again, at the International Quilt Show -- I bought so shamefully much I was having a hard time lifting my backpack), and they were too cute to pass up.


Took 'em to the beach house Memorial Day weekend (yes, I take my sewing machine on vacation with me...sometimes) and cranked out a ton of half-square triangles, then got distracted by something else when I returned home. Figured I'd get back to them before they lose all hope, and try to work myself out of my funk at the same time.

I am also thinking of attempting a Gershwin Memorial Quilt á la Ruth McDowell or Cynthia England, but I have to find the right picture to work with. And lots of practice. It's a technique I've been meaning to attack for a long time, but never had the right inspiration...until now.

Once again, I project digress (see how easily I do that? It's scary!). Will try to get back to the zig-zag at hand -- I was surprised to find that Simona's mother is pregnant again with another little girl, due in November! So maybe I can finish this before the baby arrives this time!

Wish me luck!

When done is still unfinished...

I was getting this quilt ready to wrap up and give to its 16-month old recipient (which, in my house, amounts to making sure there's no cat hair left on it) when I stepped back, took a good look, and decided there wasn't enough quilting on it. I loved the look of the Minkee sashing without any stitching through it, but let's face it, it's going to a toddler and needs to be relatively indestructible.

So it was back to the machine...and I made a fun discovery: if you hold down the reverse button long enough on my machine (Bernina 440QE), it stays in reverse! I was doing a little funky straight-line pattern in the white blocks, and this eliminated having to pull the bulk of the quilt through the arm of the machine over and over again. Of course, I discovered it by accident and had to rip out the stitching that went in the wrong direction, but hey -- better late than never!

Did they teach that in Mastery Classes? I'm sure I would have remembered...

Anyway, I finished the last stitching this morning before I left for work, will de-hair once again tonight, and deliver it later this week to little Simona so she can put it to good use! Yay! Another project one out the door!

Encountering a UFO...

In an effort to diminish my pile of Ziploc bags filled with unfinished thoughts, I pulled these out this morning before work, and darned if I can get back into it. I have a pattern, and a theme (they're all underwater-related batiks), lots of remaining fabric from the fat quarters, and a recipient in mind (me), but it's been so long since I started these that I've changed the color scheme of my living room...so I'm not really that enthused about diving back in.

The question, then, is this: is it better to try to force yourself to finish something, or just pack everything back up and return to it when you feel a stronger connection to the project (realizing, of course, that could mean never)?

I feel guilty, and a little sad, because at some point, before some newer, brighter fabric came along to catch my eye, I had great hopes for these blocks, and invested some quality time in producing them. It might have been a long holiday weekend, or a vacation day in the middle of the week where the creative juices were flowing and I was thrilled to finally be making something out of these fat quarters I'd been collecting for over two years, I really don't remember. But no doubt, the radio was on and I was enrapt and the next thing I knew it was 4pm and I hadn't even eaten breakfast yet. Time hadn't mattered at all -- it was all about creating in the moment. And now? I still find them attractive, but they just don't do anything for me any more.

It's kind of like running into an old boyfriend, really.