UF-Uh-Oh

Usually a project that has not been finishished is a UFO (unfinished object) or a WISP (work in slow progress).

On Sunday I discovered a UF-Uh-Oh...

Many many many moons ago - way back in 1999, I took the one and only formal quilting class I have ever taken. The class was to make this:

I picked fabrics to match my living room sofa (a blue and white and green plaid) and planned to hang the quilt on the wall over the sofa.

It was a one day - all day class - and we spent much of the time cutting all the pieces for the entire quilt.

I then took it home and continued to work on it.

And then I discovered we were moving - SC to NY - lock stock and bobbins...

The project, unfinished, got packed away.

I looked at it a couple of times, but was busy with other things. And besides, the great wall space over the sofa was gone, and soon the sofa was also "gone" - under a slipcover. These colors no longer matched my decor.

Two years ago -convinced I would never ever ever finish this quilt, I "borrowed" a couple of the blocks to make tote bags out of for some quick gifties. I also "borrowed" some of the larger pieces of fabrics, for tote bags, scrappy quilts, and other projects.

On Sunday I was cleaning out a drawer in my craft room, and came across the bag with this project in it. I decided to empty it out and re-distribute the fabrics and scraps to their appropriate places.

Imagine my surprise when I found SIX of the nine blocks completed...

HUH??? I thought I had lots more to go on this quilt - if I have SIX done, and took out TWO already - that means I was just ONE block short when I "borrowed" for the tote bags.

OOOPS!!

So I scrounged through the parts and pieces left in the bag to see what I could do - and actually managed to put together the remaining 3 blocks - and while not identical to the original pattern - I think they work...


And this is the working layout right now...


The only problem is that this is all that is left....

Most of it is already cut into small and medium sized triangles -there are some 2 1/2" strips, a few wider scraps and a couple of squares.

That's it.

So making the border as designed - not going to happen.

I am not even sure at this point if I am going to set the squares all together, or introduce some sashing to get back some size and break up the beige a bit - it's a bit much.

Not bad for 10 years later - though.
Stay tuned for the finished product!

Unfinishables, and other frustrations

I know I have a lot of UFO's in my studio (un-finished objects) - or as the Matriarchal Sister calls them - WISPS ... works in slow progress...

The worst things, though, are those 'unfinishables' - projects that got started and for whatever reason got stopped, and now finishing them is just not an option.

I came across one the other day - I used to work at a large chain fabric store, and had purchased some raw-linen-like material in this really nice burgundy, and a smaller piece in rose. I had enough to make pants, jacket, vest and skirt in the burgundy, and a skirt in the rose - and I was going to make the vest reversible. Career clothing.

I finished the vest, had everything else cut out - and worked next on the pants. Because of the nature of the fabric I was using french seams -for the first time...

I am not sure what happened (this was about 6 years ago) - but when I tried on the pants to figure out waistband placement, the rise was all wrong and they looked like a pair of hip-huggers (for those of you who know me - you can see how ridiculous this may have looked). In frustration the entire project got put aside...

Fast forward 6 years - and a few extra pounds later -and even if I did decide to go back and finish these outfits - they would not fit. The vest was the only thing remotely finished- and it is too small to be flattering. And because I already cut everything out already - the pieces are too small to reuse a larger size pattern.

So I have removed all the pattern pieces and pins (in my frustration that is how they got stuffed in a box), and the fabric has now been donated to what i hope is a far better home than a box in my studio.

I don't know that I have attempted any clothing since that project - except for a polarfleece jacket.