I was inspired by Finn to pull a UFO from my closet to finish. This was a little kit I bought in Indianapolis a couple of years ago when my DH and I went to the NCAA Women's B-ball Final Four (Go UConn Huskies!!). This shop had an entire room of civil war reproduction and another room with wool!!
At any rate, I figured that since it was a kit, I would divide and conquer as soon as I got home. Needless to say, that did not happen. I started it at one of my guild's winter retreats in RI. The finished blocks are 2 1/2 inches which means the little blocks in the four patches are 1 7/8. I didn't have a single hole throat plate at the time so after a half dozen of these little blocks were devoured by the machine, I put it away. I did, however, buy the throat plate which I love.
Fast forward two years, and thanks to inspiration from Finn, the blocks are together !! I am currently auditioning borders and hope to have them on by the end of the weekend.
I think that putting it on my blog as a "Work in Progress" put a little pressure on me to finish. For me, by making it "public", I felt the need to persevere and mark it DONE. So I am going to add a few more of my UFO's to the list hoping that it will motivate me to finish some old projects.
I am noticing on the many quilters' blogs I follow that a lot of gals are scaling back on buying fabric and digging into the closets to finish orphan projects and use more stash and scrap fabric. I wonder if the economy (high gas prices,etc.), the war or another force is at work which is causing us to reevaluate our values, take stock of what we have (both in our lives and in our stashes) and consequently this is trickling down to our quilting. Hmmm.. I wax philosophical!
10 comments:
Annie, it looks terrific--way to go! Good for our den mother Finn to inspire you to "just do it". Just putting it in writing on the blog makes us want to live up to our goals, it would seem or help us drag something out of distant past and finish up.
What a wonderful scrappy-looking quilt. I suppose it really isn't all that scrappy but I love it nevertheless. Made me smile right away when I saw it. I've been looking for the next pattern to do with my scraps, and I found one I love in American Country Scrap Quilts by Fons and Porter. It's exactly the same block arrangement as yours - just 4 times as big with the blocks in each quarter changing directions so it becomes a medallion quilt with the blocks forming huge concentric diamonds. Your smaller version would make a wonderful little quilt for using up scraps.
I love it...and by doing this you'll have $$$ for something else. I can't wait to see how it comes out. I'm glad you're kinda feeling the same about conservation efforts....
Melanie
Love your quilt. Congratulations on completing a UFO. Those teeny blocks can be a trial to assemble, but gosh they are just so satisfying when complete.
For me trying to finish UFO's is a way to not feel wasteful. Sometimes a project just has to be abandoned, but even if it ultimately isn't a quilt I want to keep there are many worthy causes I am willing to donate my work to.
p.s. I am taking your suggestion and making 3 more feathered stars to make a 4 block top. I want the additional practice, but it will probably be donated *s*
Annie, it does look wonderful...!! *VBS* I am so proud of you..way to get that top done!
I certainly can see why you might sideline it..those are really teensy blocks at 1 7/8s. But that's behind you, and the fun part is ahead.
I don't really think anything is "afoot" as they would say in S. Holmes day, but a gradual awakening to how much fabric most of us have. We love it, we buy some..we buy more. Before we actually use it, something else catches our eye and we buy that too. Pretty soon there is so much we don't even pretend to try to use it, just buy what's current now, and work with that. I think the re-assesing is a good thing. I seriously doubt any one of us will ever run out of stash..LOL
VERY NICE! I think I know the quilt shop you are talking about in Indy. Very nice and cozy- still with loads of stuff. Thanks for visiting in my neck of the woods- I've enjoyed your company!
Annie I LOVE IT! But small repro's are so me! And I bet I"ve bought a ton of stuff from the same store, only I've never been to it, but I go to their booth every quilt show they are at! I hit them twice this spring in Chicago at the quilt festival and again in Paducah! I love, love, love it!
Annie,
I think all of the above is the answer to your question. I heard back in 2001, after 9/11, that people were thinking more about hearth and home. Add to that what is going on all around us and I think we want to hold onto what is meaningful, and show people that we love them. What better way to do that than to give them something from the heart?
I saw the book "The Civil War Diary Quilt" on, I think, Finn's blog. I ordered it before August 1st so it doesn't count as buying in August. lol
As I get older, I love brighter colors but CW fabrics call out to me too. I am SO confused. lol
I LOVE that blue in the upper right corner. I have a little, but wish I had more. Think I bought it from a Indiana vendor two years ago. Thanks for sharing!
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