Tuesday, December 20, 2016

One woman's UFO is another woman's treasure! And another giveaway!

First of all my apologies for this publishing before it was ready. I hope those of you who got it come back to see the finished version. My finger slipped and hit the space bar that published the whole stupid thing!!!
27 blocks!!! Jackpot!
my friends at bee brought some items to giveaway, and I had to leave with a few myself. Such as these hand pieced from feed sack fabrics blocks and setting fabric.
I am attracted to these in a big way, and so different from anything I would likely make. They came home with me.

Here's my theory. We start a project, learn what we want from it, and then it goes into the UFO pile. We have a hard time letting it go because :
1. we spent a lot of money on it
2. it's perfectly good/well made/ fine/useful
3. we mean to finish it some day
4. It will make a great quilt when finished
5. we feel terrible abut not finishing things we start
6. we hate wasting anything we make
yardage given along with the blocks!
We store these sometimes in very elaborate containers. We put aside yardage to finish them, yardage that is now out of the running for other projects. We stack UFO's neatly in closets, sometimes moving them around to find something we want.
They mock us.
They take up space and we all need space.
We sometimes feel guilty about them...

For Quilt's Sake Y'all, this is a Hobby!
 It's supposed to be fun!

 What if we just admit we are just no longer excited enough to finish them??

I wonder, isn't loss of interest a valid  reason to let it go?

My friend Cindy let these blocks go.
She let them go to another person who is excited anew about making the project.
She has more space, and I have another project I am jazzed to make. No reason to make it, no burning desire to express myself in it. I just thought it would be fun and teach me something.

I asked her why she was giving it up. She said she wanted to learn to hand piece. She did that and is now done. She also gave up some other quilt tops, books and fabrics. She's happy.

 I said, "You now have more space, and I'm leaving with your UFO!!!"
She said, "Well, my work here is done!"

Another friend brought a bag of notions. Did we all look through them? Yep.  Of course we did.

I left with some zippers, and other stuff I thought I could use. I have a lot of zippers waiting for projects like totes and dog leash carriers but zippers never go bad in their packaging. I took them happily.
extra feed sack fabric to make more blocks
I've been happy to share lately, even ideas and patterns and techniques on the blog. I love other bloggers who also openly share their bounty of ideas and supplies with others.
I'm also happy to receive from others.
I would love to fight the current trend to make a profit at any expense going on  right now.
Let's get out there and share so another quilter carries on.
Which brings me to your gift. A scissor keeper made with American flag fabric.
It has a few flaws, like me. The tension went off a wee bit with the quilting because my metallic gold thread was too loose. Still works and it cute!
I used the pattern going around here The Scissor Cozy!
I didn't follow the pattern. I made it much easier for me, a bit larger, and all in an hour. 
 Want to win? Entertain me somehow. I need a boost. If you leave a comment to win, make sure I know it's an entry and I can reach you. I want to have a giggle so try to entertain me. Good luck with that. I love you all. LeeAnna
 

31 comments:

Mari said...

Not an entry, but. . .

What did one snowman say to the other snowman?
"Do you smell carrots?"

Have a great day!

LA Paylor said...

lol! And you all should visit Mari, who is letting a lot of supplies go, with all the money going to charity! She's a treasure of info

Libby in TN said...

You may have read this on my blog before. Our bee started a procrastinators anonymous group; the first thing we did was cancel the meeting.

Glen QuiltSwissy said...

LOL, I have no more UFOs.....Mother Nature took care of them all for me! (the demolition crew took care of the ones on my design wall and shelves.....) Just need to make more!

Sherry said...

Hey LeeAnna! How are you doing?

I haven't posted it on the blog yet but we have a second dog. A 3 year old Cockapoo named Lacey.

She is an external alarm clock. . .when it is time for my DH to get out of bed I tell her to "go get daddy". . . she jumps on the bed, gets on his chest the licks his nose till he wakes up (which is pretty darn quick)! LOL

Then she runs out to me to let me know she did a good job!

Our dogs have always been older so this is a learning curve for the fun & frustration of a youngster!

Have a great day.

Unknown said...

Did you house burn down? What happened?

Cynthia
marrs_cynthia@yahoo.com

DianeLoves2Quilt said...

Your reason we do not let a UFO go are spot on. You said you like to be amused but your wise words on UFOs made me smile.

chemistafloat said...

Ok, This may not be that funny but it made me laugh. Recently, we had a really windy day. My sister-in-law advised me to put a lot of coins in my pockets if I decided to go out for a walk. She went on to tell me that her dad used this trick when he went to his annual physical so that the doctor wouldn't lecture him about gaining weight!
Most of us don't have that problem!

Quiltdivajulie said...

Glen's house was flooded with 30" of yucky nasty water earlier this year. Horrific process to rebuild ... So much loss.

Quiltdivajulie said...

Not an entry but a WOW for those blocks you rescued. Great list of rasons to let go of things that no lomger light our fires. Great post!

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

You are definitely right about why we hang onto projects we don't really want anymore! I have a couple like that that are nagging at me right now...But I did enjoy participating in Cynthia Brunz' Quilty Orphan Adoption innSeptember. I got a new project that intrigued me, and got rid of something that didn't! I love those blocks you got from your bee group! They could make something beautifuk!

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Oops!!! *beautiful* !!!😳

Pinkadot Quilts said...

I feel like if I learned something but don't want to finish it, I can let it go. Tastes change, there is always new fabric and if someone else loves it I can really let it go!
Give somebody else the opportunity to win I just loved leaving a comment (-:

sonja said...

This is not an entry and ditto to pinkadot,Yes. if it taught and i learned something, peerhaps it does not need to be finished, necessarily. I might have learned that it is not for me. i go on to where the interest leads, where the passion calls me to go. I love the star pattern and feed sack fabric,too.
Happy Winter Solstice to all on the day the light begins to return!! :>)

Ann said...

Good for you - both for letting things go and picking up another project that excites you. I seem to be constantly clearing things out. Too many little trips or perhaps too many projects.

easyweimaraner said...

I like the word UFO pile... for a reason LOL

The Colorful Fabriholic said...

Not an entry, but thanks anyway...
You've articulated well the reasons for letting a project go. I recently gave away a basket of guilt at my guild's "Orphan Adoption Event." And I brought home something that excites me. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with your feedsack blocks.
PS - Murphy drank water from the Christmas tree last night. He had to push aside the tree skirt to get to it. Ah, the joys of a new puppy!

Val's Quilting Studio said...

Oh I'm envious of your feedsack treat!! ENJOY!! I agree....my blog/quilting is for hobby. I enjoy giving and trading too...and truly the friendships between us all. (Laugh: Jackson ate 3/4 of my husbands homemade butter cookies. That's not funny....but it was funny watching Hubby actually pout for the evening. LOL!! BTW: Jackson finally threw them up)

Tails Around the Ranch said...

I'm a BIG fan of sharing UFO's. Congrats on the great scores!

Carole @ From My Carolina Home said...

This is not an entry, just wanted to comment. I took all the UFO blocks I had last year and binge sewed them into tops, then quick free motion quilted them (made 3 total) and gave them to charity. Win win, cleaned out my UFOs and got my charity quilting goal for the club done.

JustCallMeElle said...

I'll put my name into the hat. :-)
We always get a page-a-day calendar and this year it's
'You Had One Job'. The cover looks pretty funny. Check out the toilet fit next to the vanity: https://www.amazon.com/You-2017-Day-Day-Calendar/dp/1449478751/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482431118&sr=8-1&keywords=one+job+calendar
Or in the images - the dress draped on the manikin. I'm looking forward to this calendar.

And I will add another:
Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon? Great food, no atmosphere. (very punny!)

Susan said...

Fantastic description of UFO's - everything rings so true. The same goes for fabric don't you think?

PaulaB quilts said...

Your theory is right on. I definitely agree that designs should not be commercialized. I had never seen that until I began blogging. For example, I see a new design I might like to do, but they are publishing a pattern. What do I do, ignore them and copy it, try a variation of my own, or just let that inspiration die? Why make me feel guilty. I am actually giving them a compliment by using it. Sorry, no joke about this. But let's be merry and enjoy our HOBBY!

Chantal said...

Those feed sack stars are awesome. Lovely fabrics!
Another reason we don't let go of UFO is (in my case) a lack of people to give it to. No one quilts in my family and I don't belong to a guild. So ...we should make winter butterflies so we can feel happy just looking at them flutter by. What do you think? ;^)

Chantal said...

oops! forgot to say; thanks for the offer but I'll pass. ;^)

LA Paylor said...

someone was doing a big UFO exchange online. And you could let those UFO's go to one of your blog readers... There's someone for every UFO!
LeeAnna

Deb A said...

What a nice project you picked up! I really should go through my projects and determine if I will ever finish some of them...and if not find them a new home.

Quilter Kathy said...

They mock us?!?! I didn't even think they were talking in the UFO closet?!?
Who knew?!?
Maybe I need a QuiltCam to spy on them?!?

Marly said...

What a waste!

Marly said...

I'll pass on the giveaway, but I agree with you on UFO issues - space, guilt - but I just can't let them go, they are like my children! (I'm the same with books, I will read them again sometime ... ) Regarding the UFOs I keep thinking that I'll be able to make something else of them: but what? I'm just not ready to give them away. Sad!
Joke:
"Why does Santa Claus wear such thick trousers?"
"Because he's Saint (K)nickerless!" GROAN!
Happy New Year!

Myra @ Busy Hands Quilts said...

The blocks are very pretty. I see why they came home with you.