Ready for a Challenge?
Sometime in December 2021, I came across an Instagram post on All People Quilt’s feed that proclaimed the imminent start of the All People Quilt UFO Challenge for 2022. To be fair, I don’t have a lot of UFOs (Un-Finished Objects) as compared to a lot of crafty types, but I’m always looking for a way to encourage myself to finish them. So I followed their link to learn more about this challenge.
Basically, the challenge is open to all crafty types, not just quilters. So, if you have a bunch of abandoned cross stitch, knitting, crochet, or other projects, you can join too. The way it works is that you choose 12 projects from your pile of projects and list them on their handy-dandy downloadable tracking sheet. At the beginning of each month, All People Quilt (also known as APQ) pulls a number, and you work on the corresponding project for that number.
January’s number was 12. For me that was “Any Color Blocks Quilt.” I’ll tell you about Color Blocks in the next post.
Scrappy 16-Patches
I opened my bin of 16-patches that I’d already made – remember, this is a UFO project, so I was supposed to finish an abandoned project. I’d planned to pick up where I left off with the Color Blocks and make quilt number 8, but I wanted to be sure that other patters didn’t call my name. Well, the one that called my name required me to have more blocks made than I did, so I went ahead and chose Back to the Garden, the quilt from August 2021.
But here’s the problem: I had enough of several colorways to make this quilt, and I couldn’t decide on which set of 16-patches to go for with my chosen backing and accent fabrics. So, what do you do when you’re in this situation? You make the star points and audition the centers!
The background fabric I went with was tan with red dots, which went really well with the olivey green with pinky-orange-red flowers for the star points. But none of the 16-patches I’d made really went with the fabrics. *sigh*
Red, which was my original choice was too bold.
Brown checkerboard was distracting.
Orange looked good in photos, but not in real life.
Pink had too much magenta.
Green was just wrong.
So I posted in the APQ UFO group on Facebook, and on my Instagram, asking for feedback. I stared at it for a day – I don’t take longer than that for any quilty decision. I have too much to do to agonize, and I can always make another quilt!
Decision = Made!
I ended up going with red, even though everyone seemed to agree that none of the options were quite right. Some people advocated for just making a whole different set of 16-patches, which kind of defeats the purpose of the UFO project. But whatever, done is better than perfect, right? Some quilts turn out, and others don’t – and that’s OK.
We can all agree that my lighting and photo skills need work. I’m looking for classes, so be patient with me! Try to look past that for now.
Here’s the top, all done. Hanging on my design wall while I figure out what to do for the backing.
All of my previous Color Blocks quilts have pieced backings. It’s my chance to use up leftovers and large off-cuts from other quilts I’ve made. I also use panels that managed to find their way into my stash. I’m not someone who uses panels in general, so I’m always confused by them. But that’s a story for another day.
I also ended up making a franken-batting. That’s where you take the large pieces of leftover batting from other projects and piece them together to make batting that’s big enough for another quilt.
Quilting Time!
With the back made, and the franken-batting assembled, it was time to quilt.
So… I have a Grace Q-Zone Hoop Frame. When I got it, I spent a lot of time quilting with it. For those who don’t know, you load the quilt and then guide the machine by using the attached handles. Sewing machines can vibrate quite a bit, which means that the handles vibrate a lot. When you hold onto vibrating machinery for long periods of time you can create a physical issue called “trigger finger”. And boy did I have an issue! It was quite painful, and even with a cortisone injection, my finger gets stuck and I still can’t fully close my hand. But at least it doesn’t hurt so much any more.
When quilting other quilts on my frame, I found that things wouldn’t stay lined up correctly. It’s not that I don’t like to baste (or pin baste in this case), but if I can skip a step and still have great results I’ll totally do it. Apparently, I’m not yet skilled enough with Long Arming to skip basting. So, I cleared off my sewing table enough to pin baste. It works better on my dining room table, but that was in use for Dungeons and Dragons.
Pin basting done, I loaded the quilt onto the frame and got to quilting. I made sure to take frequent breaks to stretch and give my hand a rest. As much as it killed me, I walked away regularly, even though I was in the zone.
The things we do to keep quilting – am I right?
Done!
So here it is – quilted, bound and labeled. Another finish for 2022!
I took the quilt to work (as I do most of the quilts that I make) to show off to my coworkers. I love that they let me geek out over quilting! They said that it has a “subdued Christmas” feel, and that it’s almost old fashioned. Christmas, without being garish.
Side note: that border and binding fabric with the cardinals all over it? That’s from the 1980s (I think). It was in my mom’s fabric stash that I’d inherited. I used it on the back of another quilt, and I had enough leftover to use for the border and binding here… and I still have a 56″x24″ piece leftover to use on the back of another quilt! Talk about the gift that keeps on giving!
