UFO sightings!

No, I haven't been watching the night skies looking for ET (although I did once see a Min-Min Light - but that's another story!!) My one New Year's Resolution, besides resolving NOT to make New Years resolutions, was to work on finishing some of my craft UFO's - and they are legion!!! I'm pretty sure most crafters are the same, you're part way through a project and some particularly gorgeous fabric catches your eye and you just HAVE to start a new project using it. Or, in my and a lot of designers' case, you have an idea for a new pattern design and have to make the prototype RIGHT NOW to see how it will look. As a result, there's a pile of partly completed projects piling up in the sewing room cupboard. So, my plan this year is to set one day a week aside to work on UFO's. I plan to work my way steadily through them so that by the end of the year, I should have lots of lovely, newly completed quilts/dolls/bears/wall hangings (I think you're starting to get the picture!!) and of course, I'll have lots more wonderful storage space in my sewing cupboards, ready to fill with new fabric that just seems to follow me home! Tee! Hee! Hee!

The first of my UFO's that I'm tackling (yes, I have at least started the year well!) is a red and green quilt to go on the back of the couch in the lounge room. At the moment, the couch is adorned by the very first quilt I ever finished. I used synthetic wadding (I was living in Bourke at the time and it was the only wadding available, plus I didn't know any better then!) and having done no quilting classes, I made up the procedure as I went along. Taking all of that into consideration, it didn't come out too badly, but that was about 12 years ago and it's now looking a little sad. Since the lounge room is painted a fresh light apple green with white trim and red accents, I thought a red and green quilt would go perfectly - and I just love the combination of red and green, particularly the shabby chic tones, which this quilt picks up. Of course, I've had lots of people comment that it must be a Christmas quilt - I've given up explaining and just say, "No, I like red and green all year round!" So ... so far, I've finished the stitchery panels for the centre, sewn on the stripped borders of said stitcheries, joined them together (I'm making it a 'quilt as you go' quilt or it would NEVER get finished!), put the first thin border on and am in the process of sewing lots of squares together for a patchwork border. I thought I'd share some of my progress to date.

Here are all the centre stitchery panels joined together. I've used Red Brolly/Bronwyn Hayes designs, as I love her style.

This is probably my favourite block, for a few reasons. Firstly, it was the last one I finished, so there was a wonderful sense of accomplishment, as it had taken about 12 months to complete the stitcheries. They were 'in between' projects when I had completed one pattern design and hadn't begun the next. Secondly, the title of this design is "My Sewing Chair" and it is my long held dream to one day have a little nook in a lush cottage garden with a cane chair in the shade to sit and stitch. Sigh!!! One day! In the meantime, I'll enjoy the dream as I look at my quilt. And I'll keep you posted on the work in progress. I realise that it won't always be possible to set aside a day to work on my UFO's, but if I have that as my goal, even if it's only half an hour or so, surely I should achieve SOMETHING for the year!

Anyway, I can hear my beloved snoring away in bed and think it's time for me to join him. Somehow, I always get more done after 10pm than I do all day. It's a habit I picked up when I was at Uni - after 10, it was quiet, there were no interruptions and fewer excuses for me to procrastinate. Then, when I was working as a Journalist/photographer, the night was again the only chance I had to sew as weekends tended to be household chores and catch up. Now ... it's ingrained, though I've always been a 'night owl' like my Dad - much to my mother's horror, as she is a 'morning fowl'! Tee! Hee! Hee! However, even this night owl is starting to droop, so it's into my jim jams and off to sleep for this tired little teddy bear. Til next time,

CHEERS!
KRIS