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!
