UFOs

I have a problem.  I create UFOs (unfinished projects).  More than is necessary.  I blame other quilt makers and quilt shops.  I see and then I want to sew.  Even when there are quilt blocks a plenty waiting to become a quilt top, I start another.  My goal in 2015 is to get a grip on my ever expanding UFOs.

All People Quilt started the "UFO Challenge 2015" a month ago.  I also like to make lists, so I thought that this just might work.  It is pretty simple.  Print off the sheet from APQ web site, list a UFO project, one for each of the 12 months of the year, and wait for APG to give you a number at the beginning of each month.  January became the month to work on UFO #4.

On my list the Swoon Quilt I began over two years ago was #4.

I purchased a kit from American Quilting in Orem, Utah with a discount coupon.  I didn't even realize it was a take on Camille Roskelly's famous "Swoon" pattern until I got it home and explored the contents of my kit.  In the store, I just loved all that red, white, and blue made into stars and how cute it looked on their antique bed.

My kit included what I thought were 24 fat quarters, a Swoon pattern, a list of supplies needed, a whole bunch of Kona cotton, and binding fabric.

I was soon cutting, oh, so carefully, my fat quarters to get the right amount of squares and rectangles from each of two fat quarters for each block.  I made six.  Life happened and I put my six 24 1/2 inch blocks away in a dresser drawer until later.  It turned out to be much, much later.

The Swoon pattern called for nine completed blocks.  When I reopened the project box for January's UFO, I counted 12 more fat quarters not six.  To be bed sized I guessed that this quilt kit must make a 3 by 4 block quilt, 80 by 104 inches instead of a square 80 by 80 inch quilt.

I cut and stitched and cut and stitched six more blocks and then something terrible happened.  All that Kona cotton had disappeared without sashing being cut!  Did I in a time long, long ago decide to make a different size quilt and add more fat quarters?  I was now on the hunt for more Kona cotton the correct color.  JoAnn's had a 60% of coupon for fabric but had just a small piece not quite the right color called Bone.  The Cotton Shop was having a sale on Kona Cotton at 20% off.  Same problem, a small amount not quite the right color once again Bone.  What to do, what to do?

My solution:  Continue the Kona cotton hunt, perhaps at American Quilting.  Take the three extra blocks and add six more!  Buy lots more Kona cotton and make two 80 by 80 inch quilts.  Pull them out for the use of the grand kids who end up on the two Aero Beds on the 4th of July week.  Much better than the ugly bottom of the stack quilts or blankets they usually get.

Now I'm waiting to use the February coupon at the Cotton Shop for "buy 2 get 1 free fat quarters" to add to the red, white, or blue fabrics I found in my leftover fabric stack.  I have added another UFO!  I have six more blocks to make.  It never ends!