Vicki at Field Trips in Fiber issued a challenge for UFO Busting in 2015. This is something I really need to get serious about. Many of my projects are near completion so it would be nice to finish them up and use them to bless others. Plus it would be nice to start new projects guilt free.
This month Vicki asked us to admit to the number of current UFOs and to write about our oldest one. Ideally we would finish it before the next link up. My UFOs are in large plastic bins and I have at least 22 bins. Each one holds about 12-15 projects so I am admitting to 300 unfinished projects. You might wonder how I could have so many but the answer is simple. Most were shop samples and class samples from the many years I owned a quilt shop. When I go through a bin it is a little stroll down memory lane. The project may be from a particular line of fabric, a fun technique from a class I taught or a special program we ran at the shop. I really like most of these projects so it’s still fun to work on them.
This is my oldest UFO.
It is from my first quilt class so I started it over 25 years ago. Technically, it is a disaster. Just take a look at this close-up.
Holy moly! It is really bad, but I can live with the mismatched seams and the uneven quarter-square triangles. What I couldn’t live with and why it became a UFO is this tragically poor choice of backing and puffy polyester batting.
Not only is the color completely wrong it is very thin. The batting looks fluffy but is also thin so I’m sure it wouldn’t be any time at all before it migrated into nothing. So why is this quilt worth saving and finishing? One reason is because I LOVE this fabric. It is still one of my very favorites.
The more important reason is that it serves as a reminder of how my skills have improved over the years.
The quilting I’ve done so far is just stitching in the ditch on four blocks. That was another bad decision–nothing like accentuating cut off points and mismatched seams!! So now, I’ll rip out that little bit of stitching, select a more appropriate backing and quilt an overall design through the blocks. It will probably only take a few hours to finish this one and move on to the next UFO.
How funny! You’ve come a long way, baby! Those were ‘beginner’ blocks, not at all like the ones you’re putting out today.
You definitely have me beat on your number of UFOs … better get busy! You’re going to have to live a very long time to get them all finished.
I remember that red fabric. We all start somewhere and there are a lot of places today where no one even pays attention when points are cut off or seams and points don’t match. Just call it art. 😉