Close Encounters of the Crafting Kind . . .

Hosted by Heather @Books and Quilts

It's time for another installment of Needlework Tuesday . . . and once again I have very little to show for progress in the past week.  I started another small quilt - for reasons I'll explain in a bit - but when I started to write this post about the beginning of yet another project, it reminded me how rarely I post about the finishing of a project.  Which, in turn, reminded me of a conversation with Dave the other night in which I said "If I never bought another craft supply and only finished the projects I have in the house, I could be busy till I'm 90."  That may be a slight exaggeration, but my sewing/crafting room is being overrun by UFO's!  Not little green men - although who knows, they could be stashed in their somewhere - but UnFinished Objects.

In an effort to embarrass myself into action, here are most of my UFO's: 

Starting in the top left, we have the aqua/green/black/coral strips.  These are part of a wall-hanging/doll-size quilt started within the last year.  The strips are all sewn and waiting to be combined with sashing - which is also already cut - then backing and binding.

Just beneath those strips is my biggest embarrassment - a set of Four Seasons Farmhouse pictures I began cross-stitching in . . . 1987.  Yes, nineteen-EIGHTY-seven.  Three seasons are complete and the fourth one is about half way.  

In the upper right corner there are two small quilts pieced and partially quilted.  The purple bargello, which I adore, has basically been at that point since 2005.  I got it out a while back, wrote a post about my plan to finish it, quilted one row and haven't touched it since. 

Laying on the quilts are two sets of cross-stitch quilt blocks - one is hydrangeas in blues/greens, the other is tulips in shades of pink.  Both sets purchased from Herrschners within the last year.  I have completed less than one-half of one hydrangea block.  Tulips are unopened.

Also on the quilt is a kit for a paper-pieced block featuring a dog that looks like a dog we got when we were first married.  I bought this kit at a quilt show in Denver seven or eight years ago with the intention of framing it along with a picture of our dog, as a gift for Dave.  It's unopened.

Moving on around the circle, there is fabric for two quilt-as-you-go table runners.  One is cut and strips sewn, ready to be assembled with the batting and backing.  The second one isn't started.

Now look to the left of the table runners, right in the center of the picture.  The Bible cover was made from an Avon kit I bought in the early 90's - stitched but never assembled.  The wreath is a project for my mother that has been in the works since the mid-90's after an autumn-wreath picture I spent nine months stitching was destroyed in the mail - thank you USPS. (I'll tell you that whole story some time.)  I'm sure Mom is enjoying the 3/4 finished picture that I've been storing for 15+ years.

Along side the wreath picture are more cross-stitch patterns that I purchased with great enthusiasm and intentions.  There's a set of three porch pictures featuring quilts and scripture verses, a set of two pictures of iris (irises?), and a Thomas Kinkade picture from my lighthouse phase.

Below that, in the bottom left corner, are four cross-stitch projects which are complete,  but haven't been framed or made into pillows or whatever it was I intended to do with them.  What kind of idiot does that much work, then lets them lay around for years (decades)?  

Bottom center of the picture are some red, white and blue quilt blocks, all hand sewn from patterns I found in a trunk belonging to my grandmother.  I had grand visions of a queen-size quilt - - - hand stitched.  Did I mention I'm an idiot?  I have recently revised my plans - thank you Pinterest - and plan to frame the blocks individually and arrange them on my bedroom wall.  

And lastly, in the bottom right corner we have the two projects I've actually stitched on this week.  One is the snowman cross-stitch I blogged about a few weeks ago and the other is yet another quilt I started.  But wait, I have a logical reason for this one - sorta.

My sister, Teri, mentioned that she would like to learn to quilt, so we agreed that on an upcoming weekend visit to her house, I would bring my machine and the supplies for us to each make a doll quilt for her granddaughters.  I decided on a Disappearing 9-Patch as our block because it's reasonably easy to assemble for two beginners and it looks much more complicated than it is.  Since I've never actually made that block, I thought it reasonable to practice before attempting to teach. So I bought some pre-packaged, retro-patterned fat-quarters in aqua, coral and brown - the colors I want to use for curtains and throw pillows in the camper - and started a quilt for snuggling by the campfire.  

And we won't even discuss the three Christmas stockings in various stages, or the pattern to convert a sweatshirt into an appliqued cardigan, or the Smash-Book, or the paper crafts or the fact that I committed to learning how to crochet and tat lace in 2013.  This is just ridiculous!  So you are all witness to my commitment to finishing some UFO's.  I can't guarantee I won't buy ANY new supplies.  Things come up  - like the doll blankets or items for gifts - but no new projects for myself until I've finished at least a few of these!  Now let's all smile and nod and pretend we believe that.

Are there UFO's lurking in your closet?