Back to one of my own UFOs (the "Sandy-ufo", or "Sandufo")--finally done! This one always felt like a really stupid UFO. I got myself all caught up in feeling like I should do more with it than what I really actually needed to do just to call it done. I bought the panel about three or four years ago, shortly after we first moved into our new house. Our house was in a development named "Cherry Hill Estates" and so, when I saw this panel named "Cherry Hill," it seemed destined. And I liked the colors. It was hanging as a sampler quilt at a small quilt shop that's since closed (Pickett Fence, for anyone from around these parts). In an amazing show of complete lack of creativity, I think I just copied all her border fabrics. It was cute--and I wasn't feeling like being overly invested in the project at the time.
I got the borders put on quite quickly, but then it stalled. "Do I quilt just around the blocks and lines, or do I quilt in all the blocks too, to try to make it look like real applique?" Hence, the stopper. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do so it sat, and sat, and sat.Finally, last week, in a fit of "I just really want to get this done and off my shelf," I threw on my walking foot and just quilted all the straight lines. I did decide to get a little fancier in the border, though, so last night I sat and went through one of my practice quilt sandwiches using some free-motion, free-hand patterns that Janet Root had taught in the machine quilting class I took last month. I liked the way the leafy one felt, so I went for it. (See close-up.) I had problems seeing where I was going with the patterned border fabric, but then I realized, if I had problems seeing what I was doing, anyone looking at it would have the same problems, so any errors would be virtually invisible. Woohoo!
The front of the quilt looks pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. The back of the quilt--Well, that's another matter, isn't it? But it'll be on a wall, so who's to ever know?
