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| a few of my project boxes |
I would say my crafting "passion" (aka obsession) began in high school when my mom taught me how to sew clothing. I didn't sew a lot but did make some baby outfits for a boyfriend's baby nephew. In college I started cross stitching then I graduated college and needed Christmas decorations for my first apartment. I ordered (from a catalogue, because we didn't have the internet) a huge box of Christmas crafts and decorations from Annie's Attic. My very first quilt project was in that box and I had no idea what on earth I was doing. I managed to get the small pillow made but the little quilt wall hanging wouldn't be completed until about 20 years later. That box also contained a latch hook rug Christmas tree skirt which has made every move since 1989 (at least 8 times) I'm not sure why I haven't gotten rid of it. I think I don't want to admit defeat on not completing it.
From there I moved on to scrapbooking and I became a Creative Memories consultant for more than 10 years. I loved teaching and attending workshops. I love the many scrapbooks and family memories in those books. Sadly, as with so many others, when I switched from film to digital photography I became really bad about actually printing all of those memories much less getting them into scrapbooks. I haven't given up on them.
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| customer quilts waiting their turn |
Enter the world of quilting. In about 2008 I discovered quilting, partly (well mostly) thanks to Alex Anderson's HGTV show Simply Quilts. I began by finding a quilt shop not exactly near where we lived at the time and discovered their Block of the Month program. It was a Thangles program and it was $5 to join and when you brought back the completed block the next one was free. Of course I haven't met a quilter who could make just one block a month and be satisfied. There were many other projects started and most completed during that time.
That brings me to my current state of UFO's. I will list on a separate page all of my UFO's and their status. For this year 2020 I have decided on 4 projects I want to complete. I do give myself some grace on getting my own projects finished because I am a longarm quilter and make t-shirt quilts for others. I could technically consider those as projects complete, but nah.
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| Santa in the Forest UFO |
My four quilts for this year are 1) Santa in the Forest. So far this year I have designed and made the Santa block, sewed the rows together, made the inner half square triangle borders and outer piano key borders and attached. I am currently in the process of making light bulbs that will be appliquéd on with the green "string" bias strip.
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| Long Time Gone |
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| Stars of Love |
2) Long Time Gone. This is a Jen Kingwell pattern I have been working on for a few years. I am close on this one, it stays on the design wall.
3) Gossip in the Garden. This is a kit I bought and started a few years back. I don't remember why I paused on this one. (not pictured)
4) Stars of Love. These are blocks given to me by my wonderful friends in a couple of stitch groups. About five years ago I went through a rough patch with my children and my husband took a job out of town and we were to move but the house wouldn't sell. It's a really long story, but I love these and need to make one more block to fill in that empty space. I planned a fancy sashing that is going to take some time but am determined to finish it before I really do move this year.
With so many UFO's I am determined to not begin anything new this year. I can hear you laughing from here. I have already committed to a block swap with a stitch group and a Laura Heine snow globe quilt. So much for that...
This week won't see much progress on these, taking a trip with my youngest son and high school theater to Louisville, KY as the trip nurse for 5 days.
How many UFO's do you have (you can guess)? How do you store them and keep track of them? Always looking for ideas.
Happy Crafting!
