Oh, my . . Vince is about to send me over the edge. As he would say . . it’s a short trip!
It was cool this morning so he was out in the shop bright and early cleaning and re-organizing. Truly, it’s very similar to re-arranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship. There’s so much stuff. I’m not saying it’s all his . . way too much of it is mine.
The fabric shelves in the sewing room are packed . . so packed that I’ve even resorted to stacking fabric on the floor in front of the shelves. He’s brought in three boxes of fabric. With each box, I say “Oh, THANK YOU! I’ve been looking for that!” The more accurate response would be “I don’t even remember ever buying that fabric” but he would give me such a hard time if I said that.
He’s brought in two boxes of quilting books, which I was happy to see. There are more books but I guess we’ll find those soon. In MO, I had three tall bookshelves full. Here, I have two tall ones and a short one. Cannot find the third tall one anywhere! But the book shelves I have so far aren’t even half full so I know there are more books.
One box had more UFOs . . mostly quilts that need quilting. I will never get all the tops quilted nor will I ever make much of a dent in my fabric stash. I’m trying but I’m not hopeful.
This top was a round robin that was done in 1997 – 1998 . . somewhere in that range. I didn’t like the outer borders so I took them off. I need to add some more borders and finish it.
This quilt has cat paws on the bow ties. Chad’s high school mascot was the panthers. I made this quilt for him and he thought it wasn’t so great. He’s been out of high school 6 years. Time to finish this and find a home for it.
I would have bet my last dollar (if I hadn’t already spent it!) that I had finished this quilt and given it away but obviously, I was wrong. If you look very closely, you will see little hand appliqued hearts in the sashing. Yes, I did those!
This quilt was one I did when I was still making quilts to enter in shows . . back when I got real picky about my points and left lots of wide open spaces for quilting.
Obviously I was way more excited about custom quilting back then than I am now. The top is already marked and read to quilt. Maybe someday I’ll do it . . maybe not.
I wasn’t looking for any of these quilts. I had actually forgotten about them all and would not have been disappointed if I had never seen them again. But they’re added to my stack of “To Finish” tops and some day . . hopefully . . I will get them done.
julie says
Well…I think my story would be similar to that! I don’t remember half the quilts I have made…wow!
carolyn says
or you could do a give away!!!! I have several unfinshed quilts too. one that I need UNquilt and requilt… maybe I am too picky too. Someday ihope that day comes for us all!
Marge in Louisiana says
I love the little hand appliqued hearts in the sashing. May I borrow your idea? I think that is my favorite of the ones you “found”.
vickie van dyken says
hey, I’m voting for the give away 🙂 LOL I know I wish I had been more organized. I have given away so many quilts…I wish I had pictures!! Oh well, there are more to do. Yah I am pretty sure you made a great choice on the fabric thing, say thanks and smile!! Great plan!! I hear ya about the bookcases of books. I have often thought I need a sliding rail system, like sliding doors, where I could put shelves in front of shelves in my fabric storage area. Sigh…..I have 3 large 48X60 bookcases that have the 3 high plastic bins on top (which takes them almost to the ceiling, I use the top as a shelf also) and I thought if I could put 2 more bookcases, on rails, in front of those, well I could get at the back ones and have lots more storage. On my way to WalMart to get one of the canning funnels, oh and there is a quilt show in Bellingham that I just might have to stop by!
Carolyn B says
I agree with the other Carolyn – have some giveaways
Shelley says
Just recently (like a couple of days ago), I made a list of all the tops I had, ready to be quilted. Mostly I had been keeping the list in my head but I think the entries were squabbling amongst themselves & I would forget about one or two.
So, the list. When I was done going through everything I could find, I had *17* tops. Oh dear. Getting those tops made into quilts has now become my top priority. No more piecing (for a while)!.
One of my quilting buddies is helping coordinate the effort to give a quilt to each survivor of the Taylor Bridge fires in Washington state. They are looking for orphan blocks, unquilted tops and, of course, quilts. If you would care to donate your tops to their cause, please let me know and I will give you the contact information.
For my part, I went through my pile of quilts and dug out 8 quilts that I was no longer emotionally attached to and mailed them to her. It felt wonderful to know those quilts were actually going to be *used* rather than simply sitting in my cedar chest.
Kim in KY says
Hang on to that purple one. I am the mother of 2 daughters and 2 granddaughters (with a 3rd granddaughter who will be born in November). Take it from me—one of these days Adalina will seriously love to have a purple quilt with hearts on it. Get it quilted and bound now so you are ready when she is. You have 2 choices then, send it to her house to keep and enjoy or make it her special quilt to use when she comes to visit. Whichever way you choose, that quilt has the potential to be one she will have fond memories of!
Sandy says
My fabric “pantry” is overflowing and the bookcases storing quilting books have reached over-capacity. Some of the books have been moved to other parts of the house, but if I buy one more I have no idea where I’ll put it! UFOs are stored in Rubbermaid containers under my cutting table. The scrap fabrics collection is out of control! It’s O.K.! I’m a quilter and I love it all!
Mary C in WA says
Next year’s UFO list is getting longer, huh? You could do a giveaway or swap with the ones that you aren’t enamored with anymore. Good luck playing with your newly found books and quilts. Wonder what will be on the DWM now??
Donna F says
Whatever you don’t want send them to me. Believe me they will be used and very much loved lol.
Mary says
I think I only have about 20 unquilted tops here and I’ve quilted all the really old ones but I haven’t done much piecing this year … Seems like something always has to give and I’ve been more into knitting the last few months which takes away time from pieicng.
Betsy says
You should donate the tops! Any church or quilt guild would be happy to get them. They would finish them and either donate them to those in need or raffle it off for their coffers. You would get the quilts out of the clutter and they would be put to good use. It would be win-win!
Leslie says
Hi Judy!
If you are so inclined, you could donate your quilt tops to Cheryl and she will gladly quilt them for you. Her and her Church group have several charities they support, and she would be very happy to have them! Please say hi to her for me!
Of course, a donation, money or backing or batting, is always appreciated but not necessary!
http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.ca/
Take care, Leslie
Angie in SoCal says
I like all your tops and if you have a give-away, I’d love to get the one with the applique border – IMHO – it looks done with just that border to me.
Kate says
Being behind, I read your stash report before I read this report. Sounds like you could engineer a win win here. If you could find a group that would take the top and a back that you pieced, you could reduce your unquilted top pile and do some stash reduction too. Or do a give away tied to some type of donation (something like you did last year for the Joplin tornado victims). It’s hard to decide not to finish something yourself, but there really is no rule that says you have to finish every project that you start.
lw says
Glad to hear I’m not the only one still unpacking. It is fun to go back and take a look at the quilts that you made years ago– to see how far you’ve come. I really like the one with the star in the center and the borders you don’t like– I like that the styles of the borders are so different.
It took me a few days to get my fabric onto the shelves in the sewing room, onto tiny bolts using acid free comic book cardboard. But now that there’s plenty of room for more fabric, they’re closing my local Hancock’s, so that the closest fabric stores will be 45 minutes to an hour away.
carol c says
did I hear cat paws? meow me! LOL, would adore that for sure, surely so many quilt tops could be given to so many charitys that could use them in the face of all the fires?