Progress

 So much cutting! So much sewing! But  it was worth it, because I have moved 6 projects along. Three of them are UFOs, and they are much closer to being finished now, and that makes me happy.  I've added 2 new projects though, so I'm not whittling the list down at all.  

FIrst off I cut and kitted a heap of 3" Hourglass blocks for this quilt. 

I have 22 blocks made, 18 kitted, and 10 more to make. 

I could easily get all the blocks made for this in 2 or 3 days, but I don't want to rush madly through it. It can sit in it's project box a little longer. 

The madder stars are almost finished, just got to attach the borders. 

I decided on a stripe after all, but the paisley Mereth loaned me was so nice that I'm planning a strippy backing, maybe with a section of large Flying Geese. I want to get the borders on this afternoon so I can clear away all the leftovers and put something else in that project box.  And mark the top off my UFO spreadsheet.

Then there were these floral stacked stars.  

When I was teaching this method a lot of people couldn't come up with a fabric that had 6 or 8 repeats, and it was sooo expensive to buy 3 or more metres.  So I did this one based on four repeats.  Like most teaching samples it never got finished, but I pulled it out every now and then and tried to get it moving. I think the backgrounds are only about 10 years old.  Seeing it's been in progress for nearly 20 years I think I need to get it one piece at last.

I machine appliqued the stars onto the four-patch backgrounds because I just wanted to get it finished, and now I only have to sew the blocks together and add a border. I even have a piece of that blue fabric left, it may be enough for a small border.  It shouldn't take long now that the blocks are finally done.

Then I pulled out a project box that contained only 1 block and some fabric.  Heaven knows how old this is, at least 20 years. It's based on a tiny picture from Ebay, back when Ebay was an auction site and not just a vehicle for all the big box companies.  They are running ads now touting the fact that 90% of their goods are brand new, and that just fills me with dismay. It used to be a fun place to go hunting for bargains, and now it's just cheap rubbish.  Sigh. Rant over.

Anyway, one block does not a UFO make. So I set about making some more blocks, choosing fabrics and kitting blocks. 

Oh look! I was going through my fabric books, and here's the fabric that is framing the blocks, lower left.  I bought it in September 2000, at the quilt shop in Toowoomba on a teaching trip. I bought it for this project, so I've been wanting to make it for 21 years. Wow.

I bought three metres, hopefully there will be some leftover, to use in other projects.

It's so much fun to be working on this, so satisfying.  I have no idea why I put this off for so long, but in my twisted thinking, if I make it, then I won't have it to look forward to anymore.  That doesn't make sense even to me.

I'll tell you about the new projects tomorrow.  For now, I'm going to go and clean up the mess that is threatening to drag everything to a standstill. I have a few more days of quarantine left, and I'm determined to spend all of it sewing.