"It takes ages to finish a quilt you're not working on!"

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Old UFO quilt now a WIP quilt!

The handkie quilt might have to wait for a little while now, as I have something else I want to work on first.  I won't finish this completely, as  there is a lot to work on, but I want to make inroads into it before I lose interest!
A few years ago I found this bag of blocks and fabrics in an opshop and rescued it, thinking I would be able to finish it myself. 

No instructions, no pattern, nothing except six completed blocks and a pile of matching fabrics.  When I got home, I spread everything out and tried to make sense of it, but at that point in time, I lacked the experience to figure out how to make more blocks out of the fabrics.  But last night I finally got the help I needed.  Our lovely new Quilt Shop in Eltham has various classes up and running, and one of them is a once a month 2 hour workshop for those who have UFOs that they have got stuck and can't go any further.  I was the first person to sign up for this workshop,  and could hardly wait for Thursday night!  I took along my bag of blocks and fabrics, and spread it all out on the table for our tutor Leanne, to have a look.  She is indeed an expert quilter and stitcher - there were eight of us there and we all benefitted from her knowledge and experience, even though we had different projects to discuss with her.  It was fun seeing what everyone else had, and most of us learned more than what we expected, simply by watching as she advised each individual.


With my project, she showed me how part of the block was made up with flying geese, and the easiest way to make them.  Then she worked out how much fabric I would need, and how many pieces to cut, to make up more blocks.  Of course without a pattern, we had no way of knowing how many blocks were in the original design, but I said it didn't matter to me, I would just make up as many blocks as I could with the available fabric, and make up a quilt top with them.  So I was kept busy for the rest of the session, cutting my fabrics up into the required shapes and sizes.  I hadn't finished doing that by 9 pm, but at least I knew what I had to do once I got home.  So I was very happy indeed - went in with a UFO and came out with a WIP!



1 comment:

Jane said...

love those fabrics, it's going to be a good rescue