Quiltndollmaker's World

Today I have decided I would get another Quilt Block Sunday sampler quit top together since it has been waiting so long to see it's completion. I have been on a mission this year to complete most
all my UFO's from as far back as 1995! Those were the days of cutting each piece out by hand one at a time....but, I discovered rottary cutting and everything changed in a big way!

Yes, way back in 1995 after quilting for over a decade with old donated cast off fabrics I decided to
go to a REAL quilt store and buy fabric for a quilt. I spent hours picking out that fabric and spent
about $50. which seemed to me to be a fortune. I had a pattern from Southern Livings sampler
calendar with a square for each month. Well, we all know how those square a month goes..ha!
Anyway, I savored that fabric for months and as they say I would pull it out and pet it too. I was
scared to death to cut into it. Eventually I would cut a little here and there and put those squares together and I did this for months and then it was years. Then it got put aside with
new projects and three small adopted kids and two teens to raise.

Many years passed and my budgeting got better and better and my ability to buy more fabric grew too, it was great! You know how we quilters are about our stashes. So, after many years of my stash growing and my projects growing too! Plus, those were the years I spent much time in my gray van sewing by hand waiting on kids at lessons. It was a crazy time in all areas of my life!!! The time went fast for me....my hand quilting was oh soooo slow though...

In the fall of 2008 I got the crazy idea to move my sewing room to a basement room that was larger than my little space upstairs. I thought I was used to the basement since that was where my first little sewing space was in the very back room with the heater unit. My middle daughter moved out to a place of her own and there it was... a huge room with an 11 foot long closet.... and huge folding doors!!! A dream come true!!! I set about moving all of my collection of sewing machines, tools, fabrics, tables, quilting machine, etc.

What a mess of stuff I had and when it came to those "unfinished objects" I had a moment of panic or a total mortal moment of recognition. I could see into the future and my kids standing in my sewing room after I was gone saying..."thanks mom, for leaving us all these unfinished quilts! Well, at least she was organized. Ok, so who wants to get these put together???" None of my girls sew at all... It was then that I decided something had to be done. I made a vow to myself to buy no more fabric, well maybe not anymore fabric, but definetly I could not start another quilt till I got most of these tops put together!!! I began counting my UFO"S and discovered I had over 14 quilts in varios stages of completion...ugh! What have I done!!! How will I ever get all these done! Oh, yeah....I have a short arm quilting machine now...but, oh my goodness how did I get this out of control!!! What was I thinking....

Ok, so now I had all my stuff in that huge room and began the task of getting organized. You guessed it...I spent months getting that room set up and ready to sew....I love organizing. Then when I got it all together I could not find anything in my super organization. In my tiny room upstairs I knew where every tool was stored and had been for years! Frustration set in and I lost my mojo! No matter what I could not get the inspiration to sew. That is a bad place for one like me to be in. I decided the room was too quiet and too far from what was going on upstairs with the family activity all around me! There was no choice but to move it all upstairs again! This further instilled in me the decision to complete these UFO"s once and for all even if it took years...which it will!

It took me weeks to get it all back upstairs again, the quilting machine being the biggest challenge. Oh, and the room seemed even smaller than before, but I didn't care, I was happy again and my mojo to sew was back. The women at Quilt Guild were even asking me for months what had happened to me since I was not bringing quilts for show an tell anymore that winter.

So, here it is October 2009 and I have gotten a lot done! I have completely finished four of the quilts complete with binding hand sewn on. I have one of the Sunday Samplers on the frame now and
I have completed six tops with binding even cut out and it feels great!!! I have no idea what I am going to do with all these quilts but they will be done! What a great feeling it is to see those empty project containers. Now, I can start the whole crazy cycle over again...hahahaa! Yes, and that 1995 Calendar sampler quilt is one of the six quilt tops waiting to see the quilting frame!!! Oh happy day!!! I have promised myself to put pictures up later...right now I have to get back to that Quilt Block Sunday Sampler top!