Friday, January 1, 2010

I've put it off long enough.

This is a picture of my bin of UFOs. If you don't already know, a UFO is an Un-Finished-Object, a quilt or project not completed. Resolution # 1: I vow to complete at least 4 UFO's in 2010. I started taking pictures of some of these UFOs and....good grief!! I feel more discouraged than motivated. I'll share some of these pics later this week. One of my quilt buds, Kathy, resolved to eliminate ALL of her UFOs from her life, by finishing, discarding, or giving away. Wow!! What a great idea. The Wild Threads promptly decided to bring out our unwanted UFOs at some point this year and see if anyone wants them. Resolution #2: I vow to make AT LEAST 3 quilts to have on hand as gifts for friends in need of comfort. Accidents, illness, losses, and difficult times don't always happen when we have time to whip up a quilt for a friend. I know that quilts don't solve the world's problems but it's what we quilters do. This is a picture of some blocks that became a quilt for a friend. When I was a brand new nurse, I got a job in the Pediatric ICU at Hopkins. There was so much to learn, the children were so sick, and I was 'scared silly'. There were a few nurses there who will always be heroes to me. One of them was Dottie, she taught me so much and showed me how to be a dedicated nurse. We moved on and lost touch but over the years, whenever an occasion brought us in contact, it was like no time had passed at all. About a year ago I discovered by accident that one of my friends from quilt guild went to nursing school with Dottie. We laughed and said, what a small world. Shortly after that, Dot was diagnosed with leukemia. Between the two of us, we finished a quilt and Dottie LOVED it. She showed it off to everyone and kept it on her hospital bed through multiple admissions for chemo and a bone marrow transplant. So quilts show love and give comfort. Dottie passed away just before the holidays. I visited her a few days before she died and her sister told me how much the quilt meant to Dottie. I hope her family can enjoy it now. Soooo, I really want to have some quilts made and ready to go for when I think someone could use some comfort. Resolution # 3: Don't give up on my Citrus quilt. Remember the Don't Look Now quiltalong? It started Nov 1st and the pace is 1 1/2 blocks a week. Here are 9 of my 10 blocks and there will be 49 altogether. And didn't I mention in a previous post that just preparing the petals is a chore? So I'm several blocks behind and.... only 2 of my blocks are stitched. These 'petals' are pinned and the stitching is by hand, waah! I really think these quilts are going to be stunning and I will be crushed if mine becomes a UFO. When I show you my pictures that I took today, you will know why I worry. Resolution #4: I resolve to make at least 3 projects 'just because I want to'. This means I will make sure I take time to make some of the quilts that I've been wanting to try. Like this, and this, and this. There are millions of awesome blogs out here with zillions of gorgeous quilty goodness. There are so many that I bookmark to try out some time but never get to. And let's not forget the quilt books I couldn't live without and then haven't made anything from yet. Oh yeah, I also have fabric that I couldn't live without that I haven't used yet. Like the gorgeous solids from Cherrywood that my mom gave me, and the Christmas flannels that are washed and ready to go.


Last but not least... Resolution #5: I want to try dyeing my own fabric. the internet is full of tutorials on dyeing, like this one and this one. I have at least one friend,(thanks Jennilyn) who said she will try this with me. Yay!!


I hope you're not too disappointed that I haven't resolved to eat less, exercise more, keep my sewing room tidy, cook more for my family, or try to curse less. Those things just don't sound like much fun but I'll sure let you know if any of that works its way into my life. Tee hee!

7 comments:

  1. Sure hope you won't need to give away any comfort quilts in 2010. Thanks so much for writing about Dottie. I've been thinking about her and PICU alot in the last few days.

    Have a healthy, happy new year!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You won't believe how many UFO's I have.....I cleaned all day yesterday and took photos. Now come the hard choices.....which to keep and which discard....

    Count me in for the fabric dyeing project!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, we will have a "To DYE For" party soon! I love the look of over-dying printed fabric, too. I will share all my secrets with you.

    Interesting to me, thinking about what motivates me. Sometimes it is duty (the "have-tos"), sometimes it is fear (don't want to get in trouble), better is if it is something I love and just have to be reminded of it--I forget more the older I get. Once I am doing something I love I can't believe it has taken me so long to do it--if I could just remember the feeling of joy doing it, I would do it all the time (terrible example, but exercising, in the middle of it, how GOOD it feels. Sometimes the after is awful, being sore, or tired, but the middle joyous, glorious action of it is great!).

    I pulled out two UFO's yesterday and am almost done with one top using Chris' white elephant white/black fabric. It was just what I needed to spur me into action! That and your desire to make a zig-zag quilt made me think about trying that as a border---whoooohooo! It is working, finally!

    Thanks for your idea to write down our quilting goals. I need reminders. You are a great quilting buddy, helping me be better.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I need a closet for all of my UFOs! Totally not kidding. I need to get on those as well!

    New Years HUGS!

    ReplyDelete
  5. oooh! Fun stuff! all those extra blocks! I put all mine into one big quilt and will do it every year...I call it my Kitchen sink quilt... everything but!

    ReplyDelete
  6. And I can probably make enough kitchen sinks to cross off resolution #2. Yay!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow your citrus quilt is going to be stunning!! I signed up for the quilt-a-long but haven't done any yet - my excuse is I need to get a compass to draw the petals...yeah I know it's a poor excuse! But you have confirmed what I thought about the prep-work. I would just needleturn my usual way, in which I have removed as many steps as possible to make it easy! I CANNOT wait to see yours all done. Gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete