Sometimes quilting projects take a long time – and it’s not a problem
A couple of days ago I came across a small piece that I’d sewn of half-square triangles. It was a small project to work on at our summer place where I only do hand-sewing – if I sew at all. I had the HSTs with me and sewed them together by hand.
Nothing particularly exciting about that find, really. Until I happened to see a picture of “what was going on 10 years ago,” with that piece in it. I’d sewn it together a decade ago, thinking that it would become a quilted item – and it’s still in that same state.
This got me thinking about how long things sometimes take in quilting. At least in my quilting. And because I have a lot of material in my blog, it didn’t take long to find examples to share with you.
In my blog post ten years ago, I said “I designed this quilt surface which I will probably sew into a cushion cover”.
Yet, here’s that piece exactly in the same shape today as back then:
One day in 2018, I found 31 quilt blocks from a box in the attic. And these blocks were of a clever construction – the were completed, batting and quilting and all, with no raw edges visible.
Rather than put them back into the box, I took 30 of them and sewed them together into a small baby quilt.
I had sewn the blocks in around 2004 using fabrics that I happened to have. Of course it features the green fabric that I’d bought for my first-ever quilt in 1995. I’ve also used leftovers from living room curtains; leftover scraps of dresses I sewed for my mom; pieces of daughter’s baby sheet; and pieces of a shirt I bought in France in 1990.
The block instructions are from Lise Bergene’s book “Kauneimmat tilkkutyöt” and her colours were beautiful. The colours of my blocks were not as thought-out or designed as I should have liked, but I figured that a quilt done would be better than a stack of blocks and sewed them together into the “Let’s Go” / “Menoksi” baby quilt.
Not bad for a "use what you have" project. And in this case, "finished" was a lot better than "perfect".
In the late 2000s, I bought a thingy for making fabric yoyos. And then, a few years later, in January 2010, I found a whole bunch of those yoyos and decided to make a quilted bag where I could then attach at least some of them.
I must have worked on the bag off and on for a few weeks and discarded it after attaching the handles. It did not look or feel right to me then – and it didn’t work for me in 2018 when I was looking at it properly:
This bag-like creation may look finished, but it is not. It’s waiting somewhere in my closet for me to salvage something of it, maybe, for another project. I'm so sick of it though that I might just throw it away one day when I'm feeling reckless (and not carefully thrifty as usual).
I’ve written that I knew if I put them back into the box, they would be forgotten for who knows how long, so I sewed them together into a large “block”.
I also wrote that “this piece will become something some day”. Such endearing confidence from me!
The “some day” arrived six years later. I needed a wall hanging of a certain size for my upcoming quilt show and decided to make a medallion quilt using these houses at its center.
Thanks to Soile's longarm quilting at Töölön Tilkkupaja, I did indeed finish the wall hanging in time for my show. This is the finished “Kylä lähtee” quilt (its name is a pun-like expression that doesn’t translate into English).
It took only a bit more than five years ( ! ) for that piece to become something! It’s appliqued on the front of the "Five Summers Ago” zipper bag:
While working on one goose portrait, I had to remove a few unsuccessful pieces from the right-hand edge of its background (sorry for the blurry photo but it’s the only one I have):
I shared the photo and the plan to remove the pieces in a blog post, and someone asked in the comments what I meant to do with the discards.
Again, my endearingly confident response: “I can use those pieces somewhere else”.
Back then, I might have been surprised to learn that it would take me seven years to find that “somewhere else” place. Being the bottom edge of my Biodiversity zipper bag:
And why isn’t it a problem that quilting projects take time?
Thinking of all these long-term projects, I am happy that my unfinished pieces don’t take up much space. Just imagine if I rebuilt or fixed cars as a hobby! I would have the problem of where to store the in-progress pieces for 5-10 years – also taking care that the pieces would not deteriorate during storage.
One more reason why quilting is such an excellent hobby!
Nothing particularly exciting about that find, really. Until I happened to see a picture of “what was going on 10 years ago,” with that piece in it. I’d sewn it together a decade ago, thinking that it would become a quilted item – and it’s still in that same state.
This got me thinking about how long things sometimes take in quilting. At least in my quilting. And because I have a lot of material in my blog, it didn’t take long to find examples to share with you.
No progress in ten years
Almost exactly ten years ago, in July 2016 I had hand-sewn the binding on my Heading North quilt and taken one of my most memorable quilt-finish photos of it. When I was sewing the flying geese blocks for that quilt, I got a whole bunch of bonus half-square triangles. I’d trimmed some of them to size and sewed them together. Here's a progress shot:In my blog post ten years ago, I said “I designed this quilt surface which I will probably sew into a cushion cover”.
Yet, here’s that piece exactly in the same shape today as back then:
Nearly 15? years to finish
But hey, slowly does it! And it’s possible to bring a long-time UFO into a finish. Here’s a motivating example (for me):One day in 2018, I found 31 quilt blocks from a box in the attic. And these blocks were of a clever construction – the were completed, batting and quilting and all, with no raw edges visible.
Rather than put them back into the box, I took 30 of them and sewed them together into a small baby quilt.
I had sewn the blocks in around 2004 using fabrics that I happened to have. Of course it features the green fabric that I’d bought for my first-ever quilt in 1995. I’ve also used leftovers from living room curtains; leftover scraps of dresses I sewed for my mom; pieces of daughter’s baby sheet; and pieces of a shirt I bought in France in 1990.
The block instructions are from Lise Bergene’s book “Kauneimmat tilkkutyöt” and her colours were beautiful. The colours of my blocks were not as thought-out or designed as I should have liked, but I figured that a quilt done would be better than a stack of blocks and sewed them together into the “Let’s Go” / “Menoksi” baby quilt.
Never finished
I must mention one UFO that I know will never be finished. This is not to point out my mistakes or be mean about my projects. Rather, this is an example of a project which seems to have the ingredients of success but instead fails.In the late 2000s, I bought a thingy for making fabric yoyos. And then, a few years later, in January 2010, I found a whole bunch of those yoyos and decided to make a quilted bag where I could then attach at least some of them.
I must have worked on the bag off and on for a few weeks and discarded it after attaching the handles. It did not look or feel right to me then – and it didn’t work for me in 2018 when I was looking at it properly:
From ancient original to tiny progress – and finish in six more years
Probably in the early 2000s I’d sewn four small houses using the paper foundation method. The house pieces spent years in a box that contained unfinished projects and an assortment of scraps – and ten years ago, I was looking for those scraps and I found them.I’ve written that I knew if I put them back into the box, they would be forgotten for who knows how long, so I sewed them together into a large “block”.
The “some day” arrived six years later. I needed a wall hanging of a certain size for my upcoming quilt show and decided to make a medallion quilt using these houses at its center.
Small EPP piece – in use five years later
Sewing EPP hexagons has been my go-to project for summer cottage weeks, and in 2017, I experimented with other EPP shapes:From a discard into zipper bag in seven years
Though you may be most familiar with my quilt work that features blocks, I have made a few pictorial items over the years. One of the most successful ones are of geese – I sewed a total of four geese mini quilts in 2012 for my quilting guild’s upcoming show.While working on one goose portrait, I had to remove a few unsuccessful pieces from the right-hand edge of its background (sorry for the blurry photo but it’s the only one I have):
Again, my endearingly confident response: “I can use those pieces somewhere else”.
Back then, I might have been surprised to learn that it would take me seven years to find that “somewhere else” place. Being the bottom edge of my Biodiversity zipper bag:
Thinking of all these long-term projects, I am happy that my unfinished pieces don’t take up much space. Just imagine if I rebuilt or fixed cars as a hobby! I would have the problem of where to store the in-progress pieces for 5-10 years – also taking care that the pieces would not deteriorate during storage.
One more reason why quilting is such an excellent hobby!
Comments