UFOs over Oregon

Okay, I admit it. I have a short attention span and cannot stay faithful to any project (thankfully for my husband of 30+ years, this only applies to my creative endeavors).

I started quilting like many women, as the birth of new great-nephew and new grandson approached. I made a small Debbie Mumm strip-pieced rabbit quilt for the nephew and a scrappy heart quilt for my grandson. They were both machined pieced and hand quilted. A subsequent stressful period of my life had the doctor counseling me to take up a hobby not related to computers (if she only knew!), so of course the memory of creating those quilts came to mind and I happily complied.

It started innocently enough.

I picked out another pattern from Debbie's book and walked into my first quilt shop. What a mistake. Oh, the fabric. The books, the thread. And most of all, the beautiful samples. I was in love and my first infatuation was a beautiful quilt called the "Oregon Trail." (Kansas Trouble Quilters). The premise of the pattern/book was an autobiography by a woman traveling from Kansas to Oregon ca 1885 and making a quilt as she went.

I started the quilt, but only got as far as Colorado (there's a reason I still live in Ohio) before being seduced by another quilt shop staple: the clubs. I of course, loving the quilt shop, and it's staff, immediately joined the Thimbleberries Club. It was wonderful and I gave birth to more Thimbleberries projects while trying to get out of Colorado and on to Oregon. Of course Jinny Beyer Club and Moda University were soon to follow.

I bought a new sewing machine (an Elna Quilter's Dream which has the most beautiful straight stitch), then decided I needed more harp space (there's that size thing again) and bought a Viking Quilt Designer.

Then came the classes. I wanted to learn it all: applique, paper piecing, lone stars, pineapples, feathered stars, hand piecing, machine quilting. The plastic project bins took over my sewing area and I started layering multiple projects in each box to save space.

And so it went (and still goes).

I recently took stock of my UFO list. The projects include (at least based on what I can find:

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Kits/Purchased Fabric
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* Purple Coneflower
* Heritage Baskets
* Pennsylvania Fancy (Anita Shackelford)
* Dutch Wallhanging
* Peony Scraps (McCall's Quilting Magazine)
* Violet Scatter Garden (Snail's Trails)
* Halloween Cat
* Edgemore (Jinny Beyer)
* Somewhere in Time (Kaye England)
* Applique Cabin Quilt from Quilter's Newsletter

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Piecing
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* Reminisce/Bed of Roses
* Lone Star and Beyond
* Buttermilk Farm
* Noma's Class I
* Noma's Class II
* Noma's Class III
* Baskets
* Oregon Trail
* Thimbleberries 2002 Spring Wallhanging

* Geese in My Garden (Lewis & Clark) 7/2004
* Simple Blessing Class #2
* Morgan's Purse Quilt 7/2004
* Xmas blocks from guild

* Jenny Beyer Club Mariner's Compass

* Thimbleberries Garden Basket
* Thimble Wall Hanging (Connecting Threads)
* Pumpkins and Pomengranates

* American Life applique quilt
* No Place Like Home applique quilt
* Cinco de Mayo (Karen Stone)
* Delectable Mountains
* Christmas Lemoyne Star (hand pieced)
* Harvest Bouquet

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Top Completed
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* Pumpkin Flannel Quilt (Girls Night Out class)
* Bargello Wallhanging
* Maison de Noelle (Feathered Star)
* New York Beauties (Door Mouse class)

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Ongoing Quilting
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* Fritzi's Quilt
* Old Glory
* Quilt Camp Fall Pineapple
* Thimbleberries 2002 Fall Wallhanging


This year I resolved to work on my UFO list exclusively and while I *have* added a couple of UFOs, so far I'm really holding the line (for me). I'm going to an over night quilt retreat Friday night, so I hope to finish quilting the pineapple quilt and with any luck will starting completing another UFO.

See you in Oregon!

The Sewing Machine Dating Game

Did you ever watch the Dating Game on TV when you were a kid? (Assuming you're roughly my age- 40+ish.) Three male contestants would sit behind a screen and answer questions posed by a young lady sitting on the other side. Based on their answers, at the end of the show, the girl would pick bachelor number one, two or three as her date. He would emerge from behind the screen to kiss her cheek and off they would go on their prize-laden date.

Buying a new sewing machine is pretty much the same process, except you usually kiss the sewing machine when it's over with. (Or not, if it's a lemon.)

I recently played the game with Bachelor #1, a Bernina Aurora 440, Bachelor #2 a Viking Sapphire 850, and Bachelor #3 a Janome 6600P . I sat outside the screen and carefully went through my list of questions, listening to each one carefully in turn. I noticed distinct personalities as they responded; Bachelor #1 was classy and strong with a beautifully smooth voice. Bachelor #2 came across as having a chatty personality with a long strong neck. Bachelor #3 was nice, and very much like the boy next door- my mom liked this one.

I was truly torn between them all, but eventually picked Bachelor #2. The harp size of the Viking Sapphire 850 won me over- because as a machine quilter, in the end, size does matter.

I've only had the machine for a week, so we're still on our first date. I'll let you know how it turns out. (And yes, when I rolled my queen size quilt into the harp to begin quilting, I really did kiss her :))

Do Quilts Really Talk to You?

I read about it all the time. Really Experienced Talented Quilters put their beautiful quilt tops on their design walls (all Experienced Talented Quilters have design walls). They stand back and wait for the gentle whispers to begin: "feathers in the border" or "vines in the sashing." And somehow the Experienced Talented Quilters take those whispers and weave it into the music that makes their quilts magic.

It doesn't quite work that way for me.

My design wall (aka a flannel tablecloth hanging from two clothespins) hangs haphazardly from my basement wall, with my latest quilt top dangling helplessly from it's surface. If my quilt top could speak, I don't think it would whisper- it would probably scream "what were you thinking!!"

I can't take that kind of pressure. I take it down quickly (before it speaks again) and put it in my quilt top storage area (aka a plastic bin).

But all is not lost. I've been reading some New Age books and I think I may have the solution. As soon as I can figure out how to channel Diane Gaudynski my problems will be solved; the quilt tops will speak music to me. (Or at least they won't yell). And if that works, next I'm going to start channeling Angelina Jolie.

What do your quilts say to you?