I know, I know . . . . You want to know who won the scrap box, don't you? Well, let's do that first then. Shelley, come on down! Shelley has been a long time visitor and I don't think she's ever won anything from me before--at least not that I can remember, and I've got a memory that's good for remembering things at least as far as a month or two back.
Shelley said, "Oh lovely box of scraps, please come live with me :) You will have a warm and comfy home with lots of friends to play with! Kim, you're so much fun!" (Does it help to say nice things about me? Well, I guess it doesn't HURT, right?!)
Shelley, please email me your mailing address and I'll put the mysterious scrap box in the mail to you. Congratulations!
Okay, now for some quilty business. I did it again.
Another quilt top, from another set of already-made blocks. These were from an online quilt-along that I lost interest in at the point of making the ninth block. I've decided that online quilt-alongs aren't for me. Not, at least, the ones where guest designers each design a different block. They're fun to participate in, but in my (admittedly limited) experience, I don't find the designs make for a very cohesive quilt in the end, do you?
But you know what? I think some kid will really enjoy looking at all the "critters" in the fabric of this quilt. So I decided to put the blocks I'd made together into a quilt for a child. I'll quilt it simply and donate it to my guild's community service group.
You know what I was thinking as I was finishing the piecing on this one? I was wondering what YOU do when you fall out of love with a project you're working on. Do you soldier on and finish it anyway? Do you set it aside because your time is limited and you can't stand to spend it on a project you no longer like? Do you donate it to community service? Do you "accidentally" set it on fire? Do you have a giveaway on your blog and stuff it all into a scrap box?
Obviously, for me, I just set these unhappy projects aside and move on to something else, but now it's time to deal with them because I can't keep storing them--I just don't have the space. So tell me . . . what do you do? Maybe you have a suggestion we haven't even thought about yet!
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18 comments:
I stick to smaller stuff (baby quilts, table runners, etc.) so when I don't like them it is easy to finish them and then give them away as gifts to unsuspecting family members...who just think they are lovely because they don't do this stuff!
I just usually stop working on them. I have a few in my UFO file.
I have found that the online quilt-alongs with a specific theme like the one I'm doing right now through moosequilts.blogspot.com called fat quarter stars leads to a nice cohesive quilt but I know what you mean when all the designers work from their own page and try to out-do each other. I vote you start one doing something similar to your bunny appliques. I'm sure there would be a bunch of us sign on!
it's funny you say this. I have a BOM i am working on that my Mother bought for me. It was from JoAnns in 2000! She bought it on clearance and I have extra of a few blocks. Mom has been gone for almost eight years. These blocks make me sad. I work on them here and there because I have them, but I have to say THEY ARE BLUE! I don NOT like blue, Mom did not like blue. I don't know what she was thinking! If I remember she bought herself the green colourway that year and me the blue! I only recently began to work on them and I guess for me it is experience anyway! Not sure what I will do with it! Glad I'm not the only one!
I have only one ufo that I really don't like anymore. I spent a long time picking out the fabrics, but what a dud it is! This is one I may accidentally set on fire.
Each month at our guild meeting there is a table set up for us to put things to give away....known as the "free table". It's a good place to get rid of things we don't want anymore, and to find things we could use. I love to find a treasure for myself and hope that my cast-offs will be a treasure for someone else.
I set them aside with no guilt what so ever. I believe in moving on to work on something that makes my heart sing. Life's too short.
Synthia had such a good suggestion about the "free table". We had one of those at a retreat I was on, and many people brought their abandoned projects to give away. The following year, a woman returned with a finished quilt she had made with a set of blocks I had lost interest in, and it was gorgeous! One persons trash is another's treasure!
I set the project aside for something that has a more pressing deadline. I may or may not come back to it, but life is too short and my sewing time so limited that I can't waste it on a project I don't enjoy. Sewing relaxes me and I want to enjoy what I'm working on. As for BOM's, I've never gotten "in" to them. I have one from 2009 that is all Thangles blocks and while I love the blocks, I got into it with friends and when the group of online friends went our seperate ways, I lost all interest. I love the colors, so hope to one day finish it, but without a cause, it hasn't seen the light of day. I think a person has to be choosy about what they participate in, especially online or the only thing one sews is blocks for others.
I was doing the same quilt along as you Kim and I too, put it aside. This last layer cake one... the blocks were, I hate to say it... UGLY! The jelly roll one was much better (I haven't finished that one yet either but I plan too). I think I will take those layer cake blocks that I did finish and make them into a mini quilt for my daughter to play with. She will enjoy that.
I put them aside for a few months and if after that time I still don't want to work on it I donate it to either a seniors centre or a charity that makes quilts to give away.
I'm with you, I lose interest and set them aside and then sometimes I finish and give to charity. The last on-line mystery I did way back when, looked like Walt Disney threw up on it. Colors were everywhere with no rhyme or reason. Nothing matched OR coordinated. What a mess. It would make a sick person worse, so I gave it to the homeless shelter instead of the nursing home so as not be accused of an accessory to manslaughter if the old person met an earlier than expected demise. This year I am going to try to finish some of the many UFOs and get them out of here.
Congratulations Shelley! :-)
I finish them and give them away if I don't like them, or cut them up into smaller things or donate them to a 'free' table, anything that takes them out of my sight. LOL ;) I don't do on line block along projects with multiple designers anymore either~ for the same reasons.
Have a happy day!
I end up completing them and giving them away. There are so many causes that are thrilled to receive the donations. I do it to make room on the shelves for new fabric!
I agree with you...those blocks have nothing in common with each other. Its hard to make an interesting sampler quilt. I urge you to make a UFO list. It is so helpful. It's a reminder, it tells you which would be a good project to take on vacation, It lets you get rid of a project.
One of the most popular items at our guild's silent auction are other people's UFOs! Go figure. :-)
Congratulations to Shelly. And when I fall out of love with something, it sits on the shelf or in the rubbermaid tub for years. Well maybe not years, but I just have to put it away. And then one day I find it, and it's all new again ;-) Many times they become charity quilts or little love gifts for someone visiting.
I set them aside. Then some day when I'm not feeling creative, but feel I need to be "doing something productive" I drag them out and finish them up quickly and easily and put them in my donate bin.
I started that quilt along too. Now I'm wondering what to do with my blocks. I might fill it in with the current quilt along blocks that I like. I too vowed to stay away from this kind of quilt alongs. When I fall out of love, I put It aside for awhile and work on something else. One day I'll love it again! Just make sure you don't go overboard on the UFO list ;)
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