Well, what would the seven deadly sins of quilting be? I don't know, but in the interests of feeling in control of my hobby (not to mention my life), I have continued to tidy and sort my quilt belongings, as I move into my eldests bedroom, which with his permission is now shared, so I can sew when he is away at school/with his Dad.
In sorting out the fabric, and refolding, stroking, etc., I am inevitably turning up those UFOs. Well, I have UFOs (UnFinished Objects), which are orphan blocks, and other bits of sewing started but not finished, usually with no idea what they could turn into. I also have WIPs (Works in Progress) - these are cut out or with sewing begun, where I know what I am making. I also have PhDs (Projects Half Done) (I also am doing a real PhD, maybe that should be the subject of another blog - no time, no time), these are where the tops are largely completed or the quilting is in progress. Sadly there are few finished quilts - I think I have 4 in use as bed quilts or wallhangings, plus 5 cushions. One or two quilts are languishing in cupboards. That's it.
But that's OK I hear you say! Well, it isn't, because I have been counting the UFOs, WIPs and PhDs. There were 41 UFOs, 40 PhDs and 29 WIPs. When I stopped counting. Those maths genuises will spot that this makes more than 100 projects started and not finished. This is not counting dressmaking and other crafty endeavours. Is this some kind of record?
I would like to show you some pictures of this extravagant collection. To this end I bought a digital camera two days ago, but the dopes in the shop failed to tell me that I needed to buy a memory card seperately. DH is away this weekend, and I could have played with it to my hearts content without having to own up to expenditure. But I can't get back to the shops to buy a memory card! What I did do was take my 3 yr old on the bus (great excitement for the poor car-strapped mite), and up and down a lot of escalators. He has inherited his father's distaste for actually buying anything, but that didn't stop me buying clothes (Buy One Get One Free) in H&M on the grounds that yes I did like the dresses, but I liked the fact that they are plaid cotton and come in two different colourways even more! In my own defence, I wore one for the rest of the day. Is it work out yet, can I make something out of it?
Sad aren't I?
Firstly we have a sideways view of my favourite UFO. This was started in one of my (many) hexagon phases, and was intended to make the most of a small quantity of Dutch wax print strips that I purchased at a show. They were only 2 1/2 inches wide at the most, so there wasn't much flexibility. However, they are all used up, and this is all I managed. I am planning to fold the backing to the front, to create a border all round, but I don't know what to do about quilting, if I am hand-quilting it. I'm not very good at delicate hand-quilting - what do others suggest? This is a wall-hanging rather than anything else...
Secondly, this is an octagon/squares quilt, inspired by Lucy Bolton's piano quilt. The rather garish black and white unit is going to be replaced. However, this one has stalled because I have run out of the rather lovely white background material. It was a heavy cotton jacquard weave skirt that I wore in the 1980s. I hope you can see from the close-up what it looks like, and why I have a dilemma. I shall have to haunt the second-hand shops to find anything suitable.
Thirdly (and finally for now, although I have many more, I didn't dig them out today), I have another hexagon/diamond effort. This is as big as I'm going to make it, and I'm thinking another border provided by folding the backing to the front. However, I could add along the zig zaggy ends to make it longer. At the moment, it is good for nothing except a cot quilt.
