UFO Box - Oh the excuses!!!!

As I unpacked and sorted, I began asking myself why I had neglected these projects, because I still like most of them - still love some of the fabrics.  I found my answers (excuses) revealing.  (I do that.  I talk to myself.  I question myself.  I answer myself.  Usually out loud - it's called eccentricity not insanity!)

The first three are table runners.  All the piecing is done, there is a backing cut to size and even bindings in each bag.  Why are they in the UFO bin?  Honestly?  I'm still shy about quilting my own stuff (whether by machine or by hand) if it's intended as a gift for someone.  I'm just not that good at quilting and I so want these items to be perfect!  As a result, the intended recipients never received the gifts.  Rather sad, isn't it?  I have been plagued by insecurity and perfectionism my whole life - it's a very hard thought pattern to break.

This Christmas table runner ... I didn't join the final block because I wasn't sure of the dining table length of the intended recipient.... then I thought I should make the last block into a matching hot pad and use Insul-bright (the heat resistent batting for oven mitts) in it but I didn't have any... then Christmas was over and next Christmas seemed so far away....  the excuses keep coming don't they?

The next 3 aren't so near being finished, but far enough along that they would be quick finishes.  A Hallowe'en wall hanging embroidered centre... didn't get done in time for Hallowe'en and got put away... was it three years ago?  Really?

The under-the-sea wall hanging done in brights was a year-long pizza-box exchange in my sewing circle.  Why do these activities always end in December when life is crazy and cluttered?  I just tucked it away, intending to pull it out when life got back to normal...  the blocks my quilty friends made for me are so gorgeous!  This deserves to get finished.

Teddy Bear blocks (24" x 24")... four of them... I made these when I was very new to piecing and quilting.  They were originally intended to be the centre of a much larger and far more ambitious project, involving applique... which I had not yet even tried to do.  I stopped working on them when I ran out of the neutral fabric I was using in all the blocks.  Yeah, I know, but it's that old perfectionist thing again.  They would make an excellent lap size quilt and I long ago stopped caring about exchanging one fabric for another.  I've also thought of using each Bear Block as a backing for a baby quilt.

Cute isn't he?  The free pattern is at Quilt Blocks Galore.  24" Teddy Bear Block  There are a lot of pieces but the pattern is so wonderfully crafted and the instructions so clear, that it goes together really quickly.

Crazy quilt cushions, in colours that match my second hand living room furniture.  I even started playing around with embroidering one of the three squares.  Hmmmm.  Not feeling the love here....  to be honest, I think they will end up being pieced into a quilt backing.

This next one is just plain embarrassing.  My Orange Crush Quilt - a six part mystery designed by Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville 

I took it to a weekend-long quilt retreat and finished assembling the blocks, then the top but had forgotten to bring the fabric for the first border. I even finished the optional pieced border (see the next pic). Then brought it home and never touched it again. There is just no excuse for this one.  I've probably used the border fabric by now, but I don't care - I must have something else.

 

I've made a couple of Bonnie's mystery quilts and had a great time.  The project pattern and instructions are still available. The Orange Crush Introduction is here.

Another batch of sliced up disappearing 9-patches - different size than the ones I blogged about previously.  This bag full is from a series of block swaps with my quilting friends.  I got halted in my tracks by seeing an alternate layout and then felt torn about which block layout I wanted to do.  There's no rule that says you can't make another one and lay out the blocks differently!  Honnestly!

Star Struck pattern blocks, another Quiltville pattern available here.  It's an attractive pattern and a good source of bonus HSTs!

My joined blocks are big enough to make a table topper. As I recall, it got put aside when I realized that I had pieced an entire segment of blocks with the star spinning in the opposite direction.  Oh no! Say it ain't so!  This insignificant fact actually stopped me in my tracks as I tried to figure out where I had gone wrong and debated the value of unsewing the blocks.   May I suggest that if such a disaster should ever befall you, that you just pin a note to the wrongly pieced segment of blocks identifying them as a good matching pillow or something to be pieced into the backing and keep on going. Sometimes I just have to shake my head at what perfectionism can do to a person.

So, that's it, and it all fits nicely in one plastic drawer.  Added to the 10 UFOs previously identified in prior blog postings, that brings my total to ........ (using toes and fingers)....... not including the four quilt tops waiting to go the long-arm quilter......20.

But wait!  That couldn't possibly have filled a double banker's box!  That's because half the box is kits, and a blog topic for another day.