I don’t know about you, but I have a really hard
time finishing my quilting projects. Back when this journey began (7 years ago), after
I got my longarm, I would piece a quilt, make the backing, quilt the quilt,
bind it and put a label on before moving on to the next project. I didn’t understand how anyone could have a
UFO or an unquilted top…just not the way I worked. I know I was blessed to have been able to buy
a longarm 9 months after piecing my first quilt and that quilting with it came
very easily for me.
Then I got to spend 8 months in 2011 house/pet
sitting for my daughter while she was deployed to Afghanistan. It was a wonderful, selfish time for me of
doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted – seriously, how much time could I
devote to a cat and a Chihuahua. The
biggest plus for warm-loving me was that I spent March through October in
Riverview, Florida!!! Of course, living
in Washington, I had to leave my longarm behind, but I loaded my truck with my
sewing machine and about ¼ of my stash, drove across the country to happily
begin cutting and stitching away. I was
accepted with open arms by a lovely bee group, SewWhat, in Brandon, Florida,
and I met weekly with them to sew, shop hop, go to quilt shows and eat lovely
food. I bought more fabric, rulers, and
patterns, which I promptly made into more quilt tops.
Then I got a wild hair and decided that the cat
needed his own little quilt to lie on while on the couch, so I quilted that
little quilt using my sewing machine. I
just did an all-over loopy pattern and it totally sucked. Railroad tracks on the back (cuz I haven’t a
clue how to adjust the tension on my machine, still) but it was just for a cat
so I just left it. However, that meant
that there was no way I was going to even attempt to quilt anything else on my
lovely Janome. So I just kept making
quilt tops…over 50 of them!!!
Now, I know that I have quilted about 10 of those
quilts, but I just can’t get seem to get the pile down at all! So, for 2016, I am going to need some help to
make goals and actually achieve them! In
2015, ALYOF provided me a monthly goal to achieve, with accountability in the
form of the month-end link-up. Well,
ALYOF will not be happening in 2016 so I had to find another carrot to keep my
nose to the grindstone!! I found Leanne who blogs at she can quilt.
In 2016 she will be teaming up with seven other bloggers to host FAL (Finish Along) with quarterly link-ups and they are going to be my "carrot". If you need a "carrot", why not come play with us and finish those UFOs and quilt tops!!
I feel your pain , just this month I have quilted 5 of my own quilt tops!
ReplyDeleteAnd still have 5 to go , of my own , my customers quilts are waiting. And now calling my name. Be blesses DANI
I tried that this year, (or was it last year?) and I didn't stick to it. I'm going to give it another shot, along with my paper-and-pencil planner, and see if I do better this time. =)
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