Restoring Some Order

 I'm making progress on sorting out my Leader-Enders, and my UFOs. Part of me wants to go haring off the path to start another project, but I've resisted so far. This seems to be my pattern of behaviour at the  start of every year. I attack the scraps, sort out the projects, get bolstered by the feelings of control at last. Then I rush away and make a start on several new projects, confident that this time it will all be different and I'll stick to my new organisational habits. But I don't. After all this time I should just realise that it's the way I work and I manage to get lots done so I shouldn't fight it so much. At my age I need to ignore the 'You really should..' thoughts, and the "You ought to....' voices and just do what I want.

I spent most of two days working on This And That,  which was a mess of pieces next to my sewing machine.

Enough pieces for nearly 35 blocks on the design wall.

4 units per bag, 12 blocks kitted.

I have it cleaned up, organised, the units and blocks catalogued and a list of how many more units I need to complete a 7 x 8 block top.  That will only measure 56 " x 64", not overly large, but I can always add a few borders if I want. 

I never did the maths for it until now. I have enough blocks, units and kits for 42 blocks, so I need 14 more blocks. Which will take 56 block quadrants. Which is 25% of the whole quilt. That sort of dismayed me, because I thought I was much closer to a finish than that. 

I think I'll pack the rest away in a project box and use the HSTs as Leader-Enders until I have enough for those 14 blocks. And by golly I know where to find those 2.5" squares when I go looking for them.  Oh well, at least I've got it under some sort of control. 

This is the second top I've made of this pattern. The first one was when I was living in a rented place and I left my stash at the hall and worked entirely out of my scrap boxes. I did a magnificent job of reducing my scraps to almost nothing, and was very fond of this top.  

Last year I couldn't find it in any of my boxes and concluded that I'd sold it when I got rid of about 60 tops.  I regretted that, so I decided I'd make another as a Leader-Ender to replace it.

Last month I moved some vintage bedspreads and uncovered a box full of tops, and there was my This And That top, safe and sound. So now there will be two!  I'll sell the new one when I finally finish it, because I still love the original.  I think there's a lesson in there somewhere, just not sure what it is. Keep better records. Organise my belongings. Or maybe just Open Every Box.