For the month of January I have chosen to work on a very old blue scrap UFO. I am reconstructing some of the blocks I had incorrectly made while in some kind of quilter's fog. Here is one example of the blocks I didn't like...2 of the 4 blocks are too scrappy for my liking.My real life UFO support group encouraged me to finish this quilt and just mix in these scrappy blocks with the ones I like, and I tried to, but this project has been in the closet for many years, so apparently I wasn't happy with that solution!
I finally got out the seam ripper and took apart the offending blocks (there were many more than just this one example!).
To make the task a little less onerous, and in keeping with January's blue theme, I put on my Matt Anderson CD's. He is a great Canadian blues musician who writes his own music, plays amazing guitar, and has a unique voice. To listen to some of his songs at his website - click here, then click on "music" at the top, and make sure you listen to the song "To Leave What I Should Have Left" which is one of my favorites. You can hear him sing "O Holy Night" (on You Tube - click here) at a Christmas concert I attended where the audience gave him a standing ovation and wouldn't stop clapping...it was amazing! And to hear him sing with his Mom (gotta love that!) - click here.
OK...enough about Matt!Back to quilting...
Before I knew it, all the offensive blocks were repaired and here is the new and improved version.
Much better.
Here are 4 repaired blocks together. Only 1 block has an issue, but I don't mind that one, so I'm leaving it.Feels great to be making progress on this old UFO, and my goal is to finish the top by the end of January. If I can find some similar light fabric, I might even make the quilt larger...never thought I'd be saying that!
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PS... Mary just told me that today is the 76th birthday of Elvis Presley, singer of Blue Suede Shoes...Happy Birthday Elvis!
Amazing to see that you are not only finishing your UFO, but also thinking about making it bigger. I love your blues themed music addition. What a great way to turn quilting into an event! The blocks look great with your changes. Sometimes the littlest things really bug us about our own quilts, though I am sure a stranger would never notice. I look forward to seeing your finished quilt! Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteYour blocks are terrific. Is there such a thing as too scrappy? It is funny to me that you find fault in these blocks. They are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI'm working on a UFO too. This is a great way to motivate me to work on old things.
ReplyDeleteThese are great!
ReplyDeletePretty Blues to play with on the Blue Suede Shoes singers Birthday...Remembering ELVIS today...
ReplyDeleteI love these blocks, and I love that you are multi-tasking - using the challenge to work on a UFO too. I haven't really got any further than the 'thinking about what I'm going to do' stage of the rainbow challenge, but I've finally made a decision and I will be multi-tasking too :)
ReplyDeleteI am going to check out Angela's blog and get some ideas for scraps! I have a TON of scrap fabrics I want to use up! hmmm Scrap Saturdays could be a good day to work on the scraps. I have so many projects in mind from quilting to knitting to scrapbooking to recipes! Thanks for sharing her blog!!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you are working on a UFO and making it into something wonderful!
Quiltingly Yours
Andrea
Challenges are so great at helping us get things finished. I like your 'repaired' blocks and the quilt will be lovely!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love your blogs...that will be a wonderful quilt one day. Don´t you just love the motivation we get from a challenge?
ReplyDeletegreat progress. I am vowing to do more sewing less knitting this year.
ReplyDeleteVery pretty blocks, blue is my favorite color. Congratulations on getting past the stumbling blocks (no pun intended, really) and making progress on your UFO.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing project. It will be so nice for you to have this optical illusion quilt done in all blues. I bet you'll be glad to get it out of storage. It seems like you're enjoying the process. Thanks for the music clips too.
ReplyDeleteGood job working on an old UFO! I've always loved this block, but have never tried it. Way to go!
ReplyDeleteOh, I love these blocks. This is on my to-do list for this year. I'm liking this challenge from Angela even though I'm not doing as much with it. I have pulled out my blues and I'm working on UFO's too.... and I just love Matt Anderson. Thanks for introducing him to me. I really like him and will be listening to him as I work on my projects.
ReplyDeleteI have a quilt with blocks like these on my to do list....There such a LONG to do list so who knows when it will get done!
ReplyDeleteThose blocks are looking great! I love that you are getting a UFO out of the way, too. Two with one blow!
ReplyDeleteI think your blocks look great! I didn't see anything offensive.
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