Quiddity Quilts: 06.2010

I haven't taken a good hard look at my stack of UFO's for about three years.... What's shocking now is that every single one of the UFO's from then, I still have waiting to be done. Pah-thetic. Except now? Yeah, there's *more*. So since this is the year of getting stuff done I'm making a list. I can't prioritize until I know what I have. Even if I only get one thing done every three months I'll be happy. (I've already finished two quilts this year so I'm feeling pretty good). I'm trying not to overwhelm myself by thinking I need to get them all done now. That's too much "deer in the headlights" for me and I'll just freeze up and not work on anything. I'm also not going to list all my other half stalled projects either (dolls, clothes, purses, etc.) but am going to try to just focus on the quilts for now.

This is the order I'd like to finish them in, with #1 being the next one to work on.

1. ROUND ROBIN (2009)

This quilt was made by the round robin quilt group on LJ in 2009. I only made the center block, the borders were then added by the next person on the list and finally all the way back around to me. It's a complete top. I just need to make a backing that will fit and quilt and bind it. It's the one closest to being finished. It's also rather small and square. It'd make a nice baby blanket.

2. DEPRESSION QUILT (2008)

Not that this quilt is depressing! The name of the block that makes up the quilt is called "Depression". It was from the depression era and is scrappy and wonderful. I love the way this top came together. It was made by the Birthday Block group on LJ in 2008. It's a complete top. I just need to make a backing that will fit and quilt and bind it.

3. TWISTED SISTER (2004)

This is what I wrote after the last UFO evaluation, "Ah, the Twisted Sister quilt. I do so like this one. However it's reached the point where most of my quilts go to die. 3/4ths of the way through. Ha! It's so close I really just need to "get on it" and wrap it up. I just don't like working with large unwieldy pieces of fabric and that's the stage I'm at. I need to sew on the borders (already cut out - no excuse there) and quilt the dang thing! The sad thing is I did the whole top in a month and then didn't touch it again. Off to the next thing!" So yeah, sew on the border, pin, baste, quilt and bind. Sounds easy, right?

4. STARRY LOG CABIN (2000)

This is the oldest completed top I have sitting around. Up until 2000 any quilting I'd done was from an unstudied, naive, self-taught perspective. This was the first quilt I made where I actually knew what I was doing. I made the top in three days and now it's just sat around for a decade waiting to be finished. I think it's a full or maybe a queen size quilt. Honestly I don't remember! I'd really, really like to finish this one though.

5. BIRTHDAY BLOCK BUTTERFLY QUILT (2007)

Each of the individual pieced blocks were made by the ladies in the Birthday Block Quilt Group on LJ. I added the solid purple blocks and the sashing to make the top. Originally I'd made it for my daughter when she was a baby. (It matched the colors of her nursery). Now however I'm not sure what to do with it. She's nearly five and wants things that are PINK. Alas I might donate it to Linus. It would at least get it off my to do list and would go to some little girl who'd love it and who would need it. If not then I'll finish the top and maybe send it to my nieces back east. I'm kinda up in the air on this one.

6. NO NAME QUILT (2010)

I'm terrible at naming quilts, hence the name for this one! lol This was made by the Birthday Block Quilt Group on LJ. I need to figure out the final layout and sew the blocks together and add a border, plus quilting ect. It'll make a nice lap quilt.

7. SINGLE GIRL QUILT (2009)

This is actually a quilt I'm dying to get back to. I almost wish this was closer to the top of the list but it has a much longer way to go then the other quilts. I've only completed four of the large rings. It's fun though and I'm loving it. It'll be really satisfying to come back to.

8. WINDING WAYS QUILT (2007)

I love this quilt too but it's a lot of work, all those curved seams. It takes me about 1/2 hour for each little block. I'm slooooooooow. Heh. It's hard to keep on keepin' on when the results are so long in coming. BUT it's too beautiful to give up on.

9. BOM QUILT (2007)

There was an active on-line group but it fizzled out kinda half way though the year so I have a number of Block of the Month blocks done. I did a few more on my own and I do have a layout all planned but I haven't done much more then that. It should be nice when it's finished and rather large, fitting on our king sized bed. I just need to get back around to it. Sampler quilts aren't my all time favorite but they're a good way to build skills so somehow I keep doing them.

10. JAVA JANE (2008)

My version of the Dear Jane. OH, I have a long way to go. I just need to work on a block a month if I ever want to finish this thing. I just don't like paper piecing so I'm dreading working on it but I do have about 25 blocks done so I should think about working on it some more. I can't imagine working solely on this quilt though. It seems like you just do a little in between working on other things. My problem is the in between part, heh. It's a shame because each of these little blocks really are fun and satisfying to make.

11. 30's REPO QUILT (2005)

I love the old 30's reproduction fabrics. I started this quilt for my daughter too (actually when I was pregnant)! I just really wanted to make it in the worst way but I didn't take enough time to think about what I was doing and chose a pattern that I ended up hating. I got it half assembled (see top picture for what the pattern looked like) and then decided there was no way I'd finish it because I just couldn't stand it. So I've been thinking about how I'm going to rework it. I've ripped a number of the blocks apart. I was thinking about changing the pattern to something like the little mock up in the second picture, I also have another idea for what I can do (now that I'm limited by how the pieces are cut). I still think it'll come out really cute but there's twice the work with this quilt since I have to first undo it all before I can even start assembling it for a second time! Ug.

12. THOUSAND PYRAMID CHARM QUILT (2009)

I've always wanted to make a thousand pyramid quilt. Of course I couldn't make it easy, oh no. I had to go and make it a charm quilt too. I sorta stalled out when I became overwhelmed both by the cutting of all my fabrics and the cutting of 5" squares in trade with the people who'd sent me fabric. I still owe a bunch of people fabric. I really need to sit down and cut more out to ship out. I told my self no more swapping till I'd sent every one fabric who I owe fabric to, so that's first priority. Then I need to focus just on this quilt and no other so I can keep track of exactly what fabrics I've cut and which one's I haven't.

13. PINWHEEL QUILT (2001)

This is what I'd written last time I'd taken a look at all my UFO's, "I had just finished (yes I actually DO finish stuff! lol) a queen size quilt w/ matching lap quilt for my Mom and Dad, and really wanted to start a quilt for myself. This was it. But sadly I ran out of time and moved to Portland and started working a real job again. This got put on the back shelf and I'm not sure why I never picked it up again. I like it and want to get back into it one of these days. It's a very simple color scheme and pattern but at the time I wanted a simple quilt to help balance out a complicated life." I did actually go back and work on this quilt a little bit and was horrified at how bad my seams were! lol... I actually had to put it back down because it was bugging me too much. I should finish it but, meh. The fire's gone out of it for me.

13. DENALI POSTAGE STAMP QUILT (2003)

This is what I wrote last time I reviewed my UFO's, "This is my *CRAZY* quilt, and by crazy I mean googlee-eyed bonkers. This is composed of 1/2" finished squares. The total quilts measures over 100" wide. It is color matching intensive to get it right. The last house we lived in (over three years ago) had a design wall that I was using to lay things out on but I don't have that in this house. I can't do this quilt without it. So anyway I've been collecting and cutting out little tiny squares for ages. Top picture is what it should look like when it's finished. Bottom picture is all the little squares in their baggies and the code to the position that they'll fit into (on the grid) of the image. Like I said. Nuts. ;^)" I still have the same problem, lack of a large enough space to lay it all out though I suppose I could keep working on cutting out all those little teeny tiny pieces of fabric.

14. NINE PATCH (1996)

"This was the first quilt I ever attempted that involved measuring and cutting and sewing flat squares of fabric. I didn't really know how to use the rulers so I used the squares on the cutting mat to measure things out! lol. I love its primitiveness. Unfortunately I also didn't understand about consistent 1/4" seams (apparently I sewed into the seam allowance to help "straighten" the squares.) It was in a bad spot when we experienced some leaking from pipes downstairs (read: got all wet and gross) so I had to wash it. I popped those thin seams all over the place doing that. Now I don't know what to do with it. I don't know that it can be fixed but I hate to throw it out. I dunno!" Yeah, it's a mess. I guess I could rip the whole thing apart or just have really wonky seams but they just make me crazy, so it continues to sit in a box doing nothing but taunting me. It's a someday problem quilt to deal with, hence the bottom of the list.

15. PUFF QUILT (1987)

"I was a sophomore in high school when I started this quilt. It was my VERY FIRST attempt at quilting. I didn't know anything about cutting out patterns or any of that, so I steered clear. But I was looking at books and the occasional magazine and my Aunt quilted. She'd made me and my sister a quilt each. I fell in love with the homeyness of them. They seemed so real, working pieces of art. So tactile and imperfect. What's not to love? So I found a book that had a pattern for a "puff" quilt. It told the story of a convalescing young girl in the 1880's who'd made her very first quilt this way by hand (I identified!) but not knowing much about it I used velvets and silks (now I think of the horror of trying to clean it!) so I began quilting all my little puffs by hand. However the excitement of college and the ability to drive took me far away from quilting for nearly half a dozen years and this remains more a monument to that first spark than a truly UFO to be completed some day."

Just finished watching "A Century of Quilts: America in Cloth". "forestcats" had mentioned watching it and so I thought I'd check it out. As far as documentaries go it was pretty flat. For a craft form, an art form, it can be inspiring and exciting yet the narration made me practically nod off and drool. How could they make it so boring?! lol Still I *loved* seeing all the beautiful quilts. I was surprised at how many many of them I recognized.

I also realized how much I've been limiting myself by setting up mental blocks as to to not only what I think I can or can't do but that it should live up to the approval of some unknowable judgement. I need to remember that art is only for the sake of the artist, for the sake of creativity. I need to focus on just expressing and not worrying about the end product or how good it should be or what others will think of it. I also need to remember that quilting is just another medium for expression, no different from anything else I've chosen to work in before, painting, ceramics, print making, etc. It really makes me want to explore the boundaries of this medium in ways I haven't before, to meld it with what I've done in painting and to some degree ceramics. I feel like I've just been skimming the edges and now is the time to jump in and really do something with it to make it my own.

If it seems like these are obvious statements, maybe they are. Sometimes a person just needs to remind themselves what creativity is all about on a personal level when they've maybe strayed a bit from the path.