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Saturday, July 16, 2011

Now – what shall I do next?

I often wonder how other quilters work?  Are they super organised and work on one project at a time?  Or are there others like me, who tend to flit about from one project to another, and have heaps of things on the go at the same time?  Just have a look at this!  These bags of UFOs are usually stuffed in the corner by my sewing machine, in an effort to keep things tidy.  (I’m not even going to mention the other UFOs hidden away in the spare bedroom.)  But when I am sewing, I sometimes work from this bag, and sometimes from another.  And the bag with the pigs in the quilt shop contains my hand stitching so that gets taken out regularly. 
DSCF6762 Choca-block full of projects
Actually, I didn’t choose any of these bags, as this particular sewing project hasn’t even got a bag to put it in, but has been wrapped up in an English tea towel quoting all sorts of quilting sayings,  such as “Quilters do it morning, noon and night.” I’ve decided to work on the raggy floral quilt I’m making, and laid out all the blocks on the floor.  Then I had to arrange them, and rearrange them, can’t have those two together, and then perhaps I need to stitch a few more light ones?  You know what it’s like, all this takes time.  I’ve decided to stitch them up in blocks, instead of long rows, to make it easier to handle.
DSCF6765 Stitching the squares into blocks
In the middle of all this creativity a visitor arrived.  “Careful in the lounge”, I warned her, “there’s a quilt laid out”, as she stepped over all the blocks.  “What’s in all those bags?” she wanted to know.  My other projects of course.   Then she spotted my quilt rack with a couple of half finished quilts all pinned up, and wanted to know about those too.  I often wonder what non-sewers think of all this creative mess!

7 comments:

Maria said...

Oh Jenny you do have LOTS of UFOs. LOL so do I.
I think you need to join "Sew it's Finished" I did. YOu make a list of SOME of your UFOs and post them when finished. No rush, do them in your own time.
This is the link.

http://sewitsfinished.blogspot.com/

Collie and Thread said...

I know what you mean. I used to be a completer until I started quilting. There are too many projects to do and you can't restrict yourself to one at a time. Trouble is; when I get sewing time, I sometimes can't decided what to do and end up doing nothing.

June said...

But what a collection of beautiful bags you have Jenny, it would be a pity not to use them!

FlourishingPalms said...

Ha, ha! I've sorted my UFOs into bins - not bags - but I'm still very much like you. Though I sometimes feel guilty, I can also reasonably explain how important it is to have the "right" project to work on in the "right" circumstances. Travel time calls for much different hand work, than machine sewing in my basement sewing space, or embroidering while sunning on the outside deck, or embroidering with grandies underfoot. You simply MUST have multiple projects going! (Does that help with your justification?)

Katie said...

I'm a flitter! I have bins of UFOs scattered around my sewing room and a big cupboard of UFOs in the attic. It's shameful! :-)

Frances Leate said...

Jenny I have lots and lots of projects on the go at any one time and the one that gets finished is the one with the deadline. All my projects live in plastic boxes which contain everything needed to finish the quilt so when the urge comes it is easy to do. Take care.

amandajg said...

I am trying really hard to finish one thing at a time - ha ha ha! I have now started buying file boxes at Warehouse Stationery for each UFO, and writing the project name on the outside. They live in a stack on top of the drawers in my sewing area (in some houses I believe this is called the dining room)and I can quickly find the appropriate UFO to work on. I also have a friend in my quilting group who likes to machine quilt, so I pass all my completed community quilt tops to her to finish. Now back to the machine currently making quick and simple polar fleece hats for kidsCan.