So on Sunday afternoon, I filmed an episode of “Sew with Jo”. My plan was to work on my Old World Fantasy quilt. That is this quilt…
It is a mystery from Quilted Twins. I was working on it last year as Covid hit. I was also working on Bonnie Hunter’s Unity quilt along…and of course, mask making.
I completely lost my steam on this project. I like the quilt. I love the colors, but I was not in the mood to finish it. BUT, I was in the mood to have more UFO projects finished. I was in the mood to have my sewing room cleaner.
This project has never been officially put away. It’s sat on a stool in my sewing room with the hope that I’d get the desire to jump on it and finish it.
That desire to “jump on in” never happened. Then two weeks ago I decided that I would make a commitment to sew one more row on every week. I grumbled but each week I added a row.
Well, on Sunday Kalissa called me and said, “Film a video Mom”. I will edit it on Monday. I didn’t have anything immediately planned so decided I would do a “Sew with Jo”. The only problem, I really didn’t have anything to work on. That’s when I remembered that I had this quilt. I needed to make more sashing blocks. So I decided I would sew them for the “Sew with Jo”.
In the video, I told all about how I was going to power through and do one more row each week until it was finished. I told all about how I was running out of steam for the quilt. I told all about how I was needing to make myself do just one more row each week.
Well, a bit into the video I realized that it was hard to talk and sew when I needed to sew long strips together so I switched gears a little and worked on my spider web blocks and then went back and did the strip sewing after that.
I sewed for about an hour with you all. HERE it is…
But…after I was done with the video, something happened…I thought to myself, how long would it take if I just applied myself and got this sewn? I decided to find out…so…
I sewed as far I could. I added rows. I added sashing. I got to the corner and realized I needed another block. I thought about quitting right there. I had done more than I committed to for the week. At this point, I think I had three weeks’ worth of commitment done. That was good. But I thought nope, power through. So I went to the project bucket and pulled out these pieces that were what I thought were leftovers. I found the directions for the block and made it.
I sewed that row together and onto the quilt. All I had left now was the very corner and a sashing row. Darn. I was one block short in the sashing row so I made that.
From there, again I thought to quit. I had done what I needed to be able to clean up the tote that had been sitting with the sewing room, after all that was one of my goals right? I decided nope. I was going to iron it and trim the sides.
I hate quilts that require me to trim the sides. I feel so unsure of myself when I trim. I know that about me and I knew if I didn’t keep going with this little bit of momentum that I would likely let this top languish once again. So I trimmed.
I did have a small interruption. Karl brought me chocolates…I love him for thinking of me! The one on the left was chocolate-covered bacon. YUM. Another was chocolate covered crushed potato chips. That was good too…plus truffles!! I didn’t eat it all…I tried some and put the rest away.
But, back to my quilt. Here is the center of the quilt…
I know it’s not perfect. I know a couple of the blocks are twisted. I honestly don’t care. In fact, once I noticed one was twisted I purposely kept twisting them. Now, so many are twisted that it doesn’t look like it’s “wrong”. I am perfectly fine with it. I know some of you are gasping and it’s totally okay if you are. At this point, I am doing what I can to get to a finish on this.
I’ve already decided this is going to the fire department benefit if they have one. At this point, I haven’t heard what the plan is. That is the beginning of March so I’ll know soon. It also gives me a focus to keep working on this…
I am still committed to completion. I’m hoping by Monday I can show you a finished top. I’m adding borders in my morning sewing sessions. I think with a few half-hour sessions I can have the borders on. I did already pick the fabrics and cut them out. The pieced border is already together so..I think I can do it.
So…I apologize for misleading you while I was filming the video. I really had no intention of working on this quilt except to work towards getting my one more row on. Happily, the momentum was there so I just kept powering through. Hopefully, that momentum will stick and I’ll have that finished top to show on Monday and I’ll not be writing another retraction for saying something and not doing what I said…in this case, I think you’ll all forgive me. I know all of you if you had the momentum to keep going on a UFO you’d do it too!!
Check back Monday and see if I have it finished and in the meantime, please go watch my latest “Sew with Jo”.
Just spent a Happy time watching your latest Sew with Jo video. Your were talking about family birthdays. 25th January was my Mum’s birthday. She would have been 111 last Monday. Our daughter’s birthday is tomorrow, 31st January and on Tuesday (2nd February ) it’s our son in law’s and granddaughter’s birthday. Just imagine all three are Aquarians!
That’s not a lie. I have done that myself. In my self talk I have said I will finish the quilts I have in process for family and friends, then something happens and I get distracted by something else. This time one friend got covid and could use a couple of meals and I thought of a warm lap quilt to snuggle under while recovering. After getting done quilt done I heard from another long time friend who lives far from me now, that her husband had pasted away, so I made another lap quilt for her. I really need to focus on the quilts I have in process. Jo you always inspire me to try another quilt pattern, complete the ones I have in process and just life.
Good for you JO! Pedal to the medal.
I would not classify that as a lie. Things change. Just like Ginny above states, she plans to do one thing, but a need arises and then does that – something I think all us quilters do, especially if we have a life outside of quilting. Jo you complete so many quilts and it just doesn’t need to be in any order. This quilt is so beautiful – love it!
Looking forward to watching the newest “Sew With Jo” this afternoon to keep me company while I’m hand quilting on Bonnie Hunter’s Lazy Sunday quilt!
Love your ‘Sew with Jo’ plus your blogs. You could just do them live, we would care!
It’s always great to finish a quilt. I finished a top last night. Loved it. I had made an inventory of all my UFO’s the other day. Toooo many. Some are just fabric and patterns. So it felt great to get one done. It was an easy one but I’m hoping that helps with my momentum.
Another beautiful quilt. Thank you for sharing that you sometimes lose interest in a quilt and put them aside for awhile. I am early in my career of quilt making and not working on as complex quilts as you but, sometimes, I lose interest in a quilt and put aside. I thought I shouldn’t feel that way.
Kathy, most quilters I know get excited about making a quilt only to find they lose that spark somewhere in the making and put is aside. That’s how we get so many UFOs!!! Coming up with a doable plan to actually get those laggards to the finish line is the key – I use working on a meh quilt as the price for working on that new, exciting quilt…equal amounts of time on each and I get them done! You are completely normal, for a quilter!!
When you discover an error but then keep it instead of ripping…it is called a design choice. I like your choice. Good for you for powering through. One more UFO will be off the books.
I’m glad you powered through on this quilt, Jo! I love it! I’m working on a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt (Frolic) right now and I’m trying to “power through” on it also.
Jo, don’t feel bad or beat yourself up. We care about you and your adventures!! We are all going in different directions ! I was close to finishing Grassy Creek, I stood up and looked around my sewing studio, it looked as though a gigantic exploding bomb had gone off in there, couldn’t stand the chaos, it had finally won !! So for the past 2 weeks, I’ve been cleaning & straightening up the chaos, not to my liking, BUT it has got to be done !! I love that Karl thought of you, how sweet. I just delivered to my youngest son, several bags of Valentine “chocolate” candy. He came to visit for a few days and ate every piece of chocolate candy we had, telling me, it always taste better at ya’lls house momma ! How sweet to come from a 32 yo grown son ! Take care Jo, stay warm.. Hubs & I managed to get our first Covid shot too !! Yippee !!
Finding the Mojo to continue isn’t lying. You far exceeded your commitment.
Can’t wait to see the finished top! Yea you :-)
Happy Saturday Jo.
Go, Jo, go!!! I applaud you for sticking with this gorgeous quilt and riding the top finishing wave while you were at it. Let us know if there’s a way we can participate in the fire department benefit (without being there.) I absolutely LOVE this quilt!!!
Goodness! No apologies needed, You share the REAL of quilting. It’s a good quilt, done well and will be loved. I also recognize the feeling, very good feeling, of just finishing that THING that has weighed you down. Thank you!
Calling what you said and then did something else is technically a lie. But getting something done that’s been hanging around is called great job. Well Done.
So Funny. Your quilt pattern is Becky Peterson’s Mystery Quilt. Becky’s blogged this week about why it’s OK to change up a pattern to make it yours. It’s even ok to not like how a mystery quilt is going and do something else with the parts. Looks pretty great to me.
I really like the fabrics you used in this quilt and I look forward to seeing it all done, no rush. I belong to 2 quilt guilds and we do lots of classes and learn new techniques which leave me with lots of started projects but not a lot of interest to finish. With the pandemic we have not been meeting and I’ve spent my time powering threw all those projects. Sometimes I need a swift kick to keep on track to get one done but I’m glad to say only 2 more to finish. I have really enjoyed hearing how you are powering threw with all your UFO and those that you need to long arm. You inspire me to just finish it.