This poor little project surfaces every year about this time . . maybe for the sixth year!
Wool Candle Mat
It was a kit. Don’t even ask me why I bought this but I did . . and several more! The pieces are all pinned down and ready to be stitched and my plan is: work on it when I have time. You would have thought with all the down time from the kidney stones during the summer, I would have found some time to work on it but I didn’t. I guess you call that . . priorities!
How tacky would it be for me to just stick it out with the little applique pins and no stitching? 🙂
Wool Candle Mat
Notice the skein of yarn in the middle of the candle mat? Perfect match, huh? It was just laying on the side table and when I tossed the candle mat on the table . . I thought . . those two are a perfect match. The yarn is Dream in Color Jilly (fingering weight) and the color is Ginger Ninja. I’ll have to see if I can come up with something interesting to do with that yarn.
And, maybe by Fall, 2015, I’ll have this candle mat completed . . maybe!
Do you have projects that have been around for years that you really love and would like to see completed? Why do we do this? (Don’t answer that!) 🙂
wanda j says
Judy don’t beat yourself up about this little mat thing. Why not just do some quilting on your machine on it? It is really pretty and I love the yarn and love those colors too. Heck we all have unfinished things that’s why we craft. Have a great Thanksgiving by the way too.
Now what we will do with all this leftover turkey we will have? You know we will the things are just to cheap to buy and cook.
JudyL says
Trust me . . I’m not beating myself up. It will go back into a drawer and resurface at the appropriate time next year. It was intended to be a handwork project . . all neat and tidy and ready to take with me to work on while sitting and waiting and some day, that will happen and I’ll get it done.
Not fixing a turkey . . we’re going to a friend’s. I’m bringing onion rolls and cherry cranberry salad. We did buy a turkey and will cook it probably the week after Thanksgiving. We can’t have Christmas til we’ve had turkey bone soup! 🙂
Karen says
maybe just use fabric glue and be done with it 🙂
Joan says
Wonder Under works to fuse the pieces down. Then skip the decorative stitching to expedite the process. Then you wouldn’t even need to layer the overall project to hide the stitches on the back. You could have it done and on the table for Thanksgiving! Go for it! Happy Thanksgiving!
Hey, sometimes it is about the journey and sometimes it’s just about getting it done!
JudyL says
I think you folks don’t know me very well! 🙂
It isn’t about getting it done really. I find it comical that every year about the same time, I find that project. I think I overlook it all year and then about this time of the year, I pull it out, wish I had finished it, stick it back in the drawer and the cycle continues. I want it hand stitched and would rather have it not done than finished in a way different from what I had planned. Yes, I can be real anal about things like that.
Rebecca in SoCal says
It’s just not holiday time until you’ve looked at this! 🙂
Now you have knitting to take along (and you do remember what you are currently doing).
SaraF says
This will be very pretty and the answer to your question is YES – I have a lot of old projects sitting in the wings. I just finished up 2 table or wall sized UFOs the past 2 weeks. The post-it note in the baggy with the binding said “Aug 2004”, so they were 10 years old. The tops were done, but needed quilting and binding. Feels good to have them done now.
Diana in RR,TX says
We all have projects like that, we are human! But I can speak from experience, putting it back in the drawer, it will be in the same stage come next year! If I am not constantly reminded by seeing it……… well you get the idea. Happy Thanksgiving! When are we getting together for lunch?
Sherrill says
Umm, yep, pretty much!! This year prior to Halloween, I was looking at Halloween quilts on the ‘net and decided to just post a few photos of some of the pretties on my blog as I knew I wouldn’t have anything to show personally. Came across one that I really liked WITH the instructions so I started it (knowing I didn’t have time to complete before Halloween). But lo and behold, the top got done and I’m waiting on some cute backing I ordered and I’ll have it for NEXT Halloween..YAY! Even did a fall jelly roll and it is awaiting two borders (which I WILL get done..not putting that away til it’s been quilted, darn it!). But usually doesn’t happen that way.
Katie Z. says
I have a tote full. Some beloved family friends died, and I inherited some of their needlework. Until I can do it properly, it will all sit in the tub, which I pull out and muse over once or twice a year. Someday!
Joyce says
I have lots of ufo’s out there. I think about them occasionally, work on them occasionally and way off in the future, maybe I’ll finish them…
Laura says
That’s how I approach it, too. 🙂
Kathleen says
6 years is a baby! I have projects much older than that. One is fabric for a card trick quilt that my daughter picked out when she was in junior high – she is now 29 yrs old!
I also have a small turkey kit that I take out each November. Got it about 6 yrs ago also.
Susan says
I actually CAN’T answer it. I don’t know the answer. LOL Things look so good and we get excited and then the next cute thing comes along. I can’t tell you how many redwork patterns are stored on my computer! I love them all, but I almost never do one! This is a great looking candlemat, and you’ve done the hard part. Stitching it down is the easy part. LOL I didn’t even know you did wool work. I have one that just needs one more pumpkin stitched down and a little embroidery done … next year maybe. =) It’s from … April, 2011, I think. I bought it at the Cincinnati AQS show. I have Fran’s to finish, too. Hers was less complete than mine.
cindy says
yeah, there are plenty of projects around here like that. problem is, the plan to work on it when you (or I) have time gets superceded by working on things like your knitting when you have time. the knitting is there and handy and, unless you make a special plan and effort, it just happens that way. my “when I have time” fallback is always puzzles or games on the computer. i have tried putting projects i want to do together and putting them near the chair where i sit, but i still grab the computer without really thinking about it. unless we make a special plan to remember to pick up the other thing, our habits get the best of us.
Judy Morin says
Well, yes. Started a queen sized quilt in 1994, but thought I had ruined it because some of the masking tape left it’s adhesive when I pulled it off. Took it out this summer, used some plain acetone and removed the adhesive and finished quilting it. It has been accepted in the AQS Albuquerque show!
Jennifer in Indy says
I have several of those too – and almost the same one which I have been pushing around for a year! I keep saying it will be my next handwork project….someday it really will!