Thursday, June 16, 2011

Anyone else on UFO overload?

I keep looking at my projects and think, "This is never going to get finished" or "Do I even WANT to finish it?"

I almost wish I had a way of stacking the projects next to each sewing machine and when I get bored, move to the next machine.  Then I wouldn't have to keep putting stuff away and pulling it out when bored.  I've never been the "number each project, pull out a number and do that quilt" person.

There is this quilt:





I love it, but I don't know how to finish it.  The blocks have been machine embroidered and I haven't figured out how to border it.  I thought about putting  a white border, a blue border, and another white border and bind it in blue.  Way to much of a pain to do.

What I want to do is put a white background embroidered border tbat matches the embroidery.  The designer didn't include any border and I can't think of anything else to do.  I'm not good enough to use software to design an embroidery set and anything plain just looks off.





Here's a close-up of a block:

Once I realized "My Tweets" yellow flowers are see-through and you see the green stems, the thought of taking all the flowers off and adding another layer to make it look better makes me sick.  I overdid it with trying to satin stitch everything and I just want to give up.  I hate fusible webbing because I can't take an unfinished edge and it comes up anyway.  I love applique work, but it hates me.  I spent a fortune on a cutting machine hoping that I could easily cut out fabric and templates and it just sits there because in reality it's just easier to draw it out.  

I have several applique kits in my closet, but I have no desire to fuse the pieces and deal with the edges.  

My roses quilt needs borders, but I don't feel like doing the "gate" border as it won't even come close to fitting as my measurements are off.  The fabric is from JoAnn Fabrics a couple of years ago so I don't know if I could get more for something like a piano key border.

 And another quilt:
I can't find the pattern in my collection and I don't think I have enough fabric to finish it.  This quilt was started about 5-6 years ago.

And of course my stupid log cabin quilt.  Do I give up, make it a wall hanging and go from there?

On the positive side, I discovered that I can turn off the fix function so I don't have that annoying first couple of stitches in place.  What a difference that has made.  I can just put the fabric under my foot and go.  

4 comments:

onlymehere said...

I buy the flat art totes that are about 12 x 12 or 10 x 10 and I stack the finished blocks in them and binding, etc. Sometimes they take two totes. I use this for unfinished projects and so I get things done that way. Also, I promised myself when I started quilting that I'd never have more than three projects going at a time and I've been really good that way. I can't tell you how many regular "sewing" projects I have from years ago unfinished and how much wasted fabric. I just finished a project from 30+ years ago. I'm just over 50 now and I don't want to leave my kids with a mess of fabric and projects when I leave this earth so that's my motivation! Good luck finishing your projects.

Barbara Sindlinger said...

For the blue and white quilt - would it be just as easy to do a simple pieced block border using all three colors (2 blues and white) and bind in the darker blue. I think it would frame the beautiful embroidered pieces wonderfully. Just a thought. The rose quilt would look wonderful just bound in one of the darker pinks and call it a day. I would just cut the bargello quilt off where the fabric doesn't fill in - find a pretty floral fabric with all the colors and border it and finish that one too. I know, easy to make the suggestions, harder to do. Good luck.

JoAnne said...

I think the blue and the pink quilts could just be quilted and bound. IMHO neither seems to be screaming for a border.

Barb said...

I must say that all three quilts are just awesome...and yes, I am suffering from UFO overload.....you have a solution? I need help!!