I don’t suppose I am alone. I get the impression that there are lots of folk like me. We don’t talk about it because it is embarrassing. Some maybe have even more claim to the name than me. If you are a quilter who starts a project, continues through the highs and lows and finishes it, I applaud and respect you. It takes commitment, dedication, skills and belief. And you have a thing of beauty and utility to be proud of, forever.
I ….don’t. I start out with good intentions, but sometimes…things just come to a halt. What am I talking about? UFOs. Those projects that start but don’t finish. The good idea that somehow wasn’t. Unfinished forgotten objects, your guilty secrets, “the shame pile”, the bin bag full – call it what you like! So here are some if my unfinished quilts.
I’d love to see YOUR UFOs! Maybe be brave and show us what you’ve got.
You know how it goes. Sometimes you start well, but something happens. It can be one of so many things. External factors, family pressures, seeing something done better, seeing ANOTHER must-have, new fabric lines, a new book or pattern coming out, running out of supplies. Anything at all can derail it. And it sits there looking at you reproachfully. Until the day you put it away/ file it/ hide it/ give it away/ swap it.
This is a bargello. Too big to take apart, too embarrassing to remove from the bag to show you! Suggestions as they used to say, on a postcard….
Sometimes you lose the thread of where to go. It was crystal clear at the start, but then it became too much trouble/not what you intended/ not good enough/too hard/a bit naff. Something changed in your vision. The colours? The size? The availability of fabric, or thread, or time, the brief, if you were given one? Or, worst of all, your self belief in your ability.
This was a Janet Clare block of the month. I don’t love the fabrics but it built my skills. Until the 1” half-square triangles. They follow me round the room so I have to hide them away.
Sometimes your brilliant plan founders because the fabric, or the pattern or your liking for it sinks like a stone. Maybe you don’t keep up with a Block-of-the-Month? Maybe life gets in the way?Sometimes you change your mind, pure and simple. You no longer love it; indeed, you may now hate it.
This was a houses blocks project which I seem to remember Juliet Nice designed. I only have 2 left to do but then I got the bright idea of a border of tiny houses….
My biggest problem is that a life of deadlines, and rigid timetables means that I work best when I must finish to a date. It may not be a public date, it might only be my own to-do date, but I definitely achieve more like this.
This one was a sunset and dawn pair of charm packs, I think. All different, all richly coloured. But. Meh. And there you see the spiderwebs. A great way to use scraps. But again, meh.
Can we change it? Yes. If I logged every plan, and wrote a timeline, it would not happen. But I am not at work now; this is my pleasure. Perhaps I like that feeling of serendipity when I look back at a project and think….hhhmm, maybe…. and sometimes It finally gets finished.
My husband really likes this applique so it will be finished. One day. Soon. Eventually.
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