The Stash Is Winning - Episode 2

Okay, so to recap from last time: 125 quilts that I have all of the materials for, 38 of which have been started and are therefore officially UFO’s.  To try and pare these numbers down a little, maybe I’ll tackle some of the quilts that are closest to being finished.  So here goes:

Here are two quilts from a Mark Lipinski class several years ago that only need borders.  They use the same fabrics in different patterns, and I still like them both.  After looking around, it seems that the reason they don’t have borders is that I didn’t buy any yet.  This might be a little difficult since I decided to “stretch” myself in this class and only used two fabrics: one an orange and black tribal print and the other an orange, blue and tan hibiscus print.  Nothing like making it easy for myself, right?  We’ll set these aside for now.

Next towards the top of the pile is a lighted tree quilt that I started at a retreat two years ago that’s almost finished.  Yes I said a lighted tree quilt.  The idea was to make this perfectly lovely wallhanging of a tree and then cut 100 holes in it to hot glue in an LED light string.  Believe me, cutting those 100 holes in my beautiful little quilt is one of the hardest things I have ever done. 

Since I’m actually somewhat organized (disastrous-looking sewing room included) the original pattern is here in the project bag.  I admit that I’ve never even opened the pattern; I just followed the instructor at the retreat.  Only now do I realize my mistake.  According to the pattern, you’re supposed to finish and quilt the top and bind it before cutting the holes and inserting the lights.  I have a quilted top that won’t lay flat on the cutting table because the lights glued in from the back make it pouf in the middle like some strange giant ravioli.  After wrestling around to get the quilt square, it’s finally ready for binding (which is, thankfully, in the project bag).  One problem:  the control box on the light string is so heavy that it’s pulling down on that side of the quilt.  Okay, we’ll just make a pocket to attach to the back to hold the control box.  And we’ll make the hanging sleeve and the label.  Oh, and I also had intended to make a star tree topper out of beads to attach to the top of the tree.  Now where did I put all of those beads?  And the star pattern?  And wasn’t this quilt “almost” finished when I started?

How about something easier?  I was working on a mystery quilt earlier that I set aside because I wanted to make extra blocks to make it bigger.  To add two rows to the quilt I only need to make 10 more blocks.  Naturally, I’m going to run out of the background fabric after 9 blocks and that’s how this one got put to the side.   With a little creative “unsewing” of the corner blocks and redistribution of the background fabric, I can just manage to make 10 more blocks and get them on.  Adding borders gets me as far as I want go until after our next Quilt Show, since I can enter this “top only”.

Moving on to the next pile: here’s a little autumn applique that’s already partially quilted.  Rolled up in the quilt are 5 or 6 spools of thread that I obviously meant to use on it and I recognize a couple of them as colors that I have bought recently because I didn’t know I already had them.  Figures.  This is just one of the ways I have ended up with so much stuff.  After a few hours of free motion quilting, I have to admit it feels good to actually finish something that was on the UFO list.

Unfortunately, the thing that I really should be working on is that baby quilt that’s due later this month.  There’s nothing like a wedding, anniversary, birth or birthday to light a fire under a crafter.  All we need is a looming deadline on the calendar to really make us get working on something.  In my case, however, it also means starting a BRAND NEW UFO.  Somebody just shoot me, please.

 Anyway, it’s for Spouse’s nephew so he gets to pick the pattern and the fabric.  The good news is that some of the fabric is going to come from my stash.  The other good news is that I get to go to the quilt store and shop for more fabric.  Ha!  Obviously, I have to buy several fabrics to take home for Spouse to choose from.  So now we’ve increased the UFO list and the stash in just one project.  Ta-da! 

Do I finish the baby quilt on time?  Actually, no.  Normally you have nine months warning on a baby, give or take, but this happens to be an adoption and we only found out about her a few weeks ahead of time.  There’s no greater feeling than wrapping a quilt top for the happy parents to open so that you can take it back from them on your way out the door.

So I didn’t manage much headway this month:  I worked on, but did not finish, four UFO’s, I finished one UFO, but then I started a whole new quilt that wasn’t even on the list before.  So now we still have 125 total projects, 38 of which are UFO’s.  These numbers look strangely familiar.

The stash is still winning.