Unidentifiable Flying Objects?? Not exactly. In the quilting world we refer to UFOs as Un-Finished Objects. I’m sure that most quilters can admit to having at least a couple of UFOs laying around their sewing room. I do know of a few quilters, however, that won’t start another project until one is completely finished. I’m afraid that I do not fall into that category. I like to have several projects going at once depending on what I feel like doing at that moment — choosing a pattern and fabric, cutting, piecing, quilting, or binding.
Since today is New Year’s Day I thought it would be appropriate to make a list of my UFOs and make a resolution to finish these by the end of 2018. Let’s face it — I have a better chance of keeping that resolution than losing weight or keeping my house cleaner! And I will aim to not purchase any more kits until I have these finished. Now that resolution may be harder to keep.
While sorting through my UFOs in the totes that I store underneath my cutting table I discovered that I didn’t have as many as I thought I did — only seven! (I really thought there were a lot more.) And they could be divided into two categories — three projects that I have started and four kits that are still in the package.
One project that I started several years ago is a scrap quilt called Bubble Circuits that I found in the Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting magazine. I love to make scrap quilts because I can use up fabric from my stash and this pattern accomplished that quite well. It is a large quilt and used 12.5 yards of fabric for the top. The blocks were fun to make as they all involved appliquing different size of circles. I have six rows already stitched together, but still have nine rows to go.
Several years ago I learned how to English paper piece at a workshop held at the Homestead National Monument in Beatrice and fell in love with that technique. That summer I purchased a pattern book that used that technique when we were going through Holdrege NE on our way to Colorado. I picked out a pattern, ordered the paper pieces needed to complete the quilt, collected fabrics that coordinated, and set to work. I thought I would be able to complete the quilt while my present sewing room was being constructed as it is a hand-piecing technique. I had envisioned packing up my old sewing room and turning it into our new store room while the construction was being done. My wise husband, however, knew that it would not be good for me to be without a sewing room for six months so made other arrangements for a temporary storage room. As a result, my English paper-piecing quilt is not finished.
The final quilt that I have started but not yet finished is the Row By Rows that I collected in 2016. I have six of the eight rows completed and need to finish the paper-pieced row of Arbor Lodge in Nebraska City and the steamboat row from Dubuque, IA. While constructing these rows, I discovered those that came in kits was a bit more enjoyable and I have not been quite as motivated to finish these last two rows as a result. Also, the Arbor Lodge Row is quite tedious and I found that I really need to be in the right mood to work on it.
The four projects that I have not yet started are all kits. Two of them I purchased from Connecting Threads when they were on clearance — those are really hard to resist! One I purchased this summer in Fullerton, NE when I was on a bus trip with the Panama Quilt Guild. It is a fall quilt made completely of wool and I am excited to have a chance to work on it. The last project is seven Row By Rows that I collected this past summer from our trips through Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee. All of the rows are kits that should not take too long to construct — famous last words!
So given the fact that I have both machine-piecing and hand-piecing projects to complete this year, I hope to make some progress on my UFOs. I’ll plan an update for the end of 2018 to see just how well I stuck to my resolution. How about you? What does your list of UFOs look like? Can you join me in this fun New Year’s resolution? Sure beats exercising and cleaning house!!