Some friends were taking this class last year, so I signed up too.

I love the look, but the strip pieced blocks were thick and heavy, in part because of so many seams and in part because they were constructed on interfacing.

In any case, the quilt was too bulky for the friend who usually does our donation quilts. So I got it back from her 6 months later and sent it to Nancy, who definitely had done this type of quilt before.

It’s quilted with gold thread and one of my favorite pantos, Bauhaus. I’m happy with it and will be happy to get it donated!

Here it is folded so that some of everything shows

Quilt Stats

Name: Strip Diamonds

Pattern: Proprietary to the woman who taught the class, though I’m sure you can find something similar.

Finished size: 60″ x 70″

Pieced by: me

Quilted by: Nancy Nelson

And in the meantime, my friend Michele needed her pants mended so we used some scraps from a quilt she’s making!

Visible mending is currently fashionable, fortunately for us!

Do you mend clothing, or leave that chore for someone else?

Yes! I have gotten rid of 12 UFOs this year, and the year isn’t even half over!

Several of these UFOs were actually just groups of experimental blocks I hadn’t done anything with.

Some of those went into the orphan block box, some were made into quilt tops.

Quilt made from leftover blocks

This group of orphan blocks were an experiment cut from a previous experiment!I finally arranged them in to this little quilt:

“U”, 24.5″ x 24.5″

Other UFOs were actual projects that needed a “time out” before they could be made into something. Here are some of those finishes.

Balz, 70″ x 58″

Finished top, about 62″ x 72″

Finished top is about 61″ x 71″

And finally, there were the UFOs I intended to do “some day”.

This feature fabric had been “waiting” to be made into a quilt for Ronald McDonald House, finished top is 49″ x 53″

Now, I’m off to experiment more, which will result in more UFOs. And of course I had more than 12 UFOs to start with, so there are still plenty of challenges ahead!

How are your UFOs coming along? (I have one friend who doesn’t create UFOs, but I like her anyway.)

At the beginning of the year I chose 12 of my UFOs (yes, there were more than that!), and labelled them A through L. Then I put little paper slips in a basket with the corresponding letters on them. At the beginning of each month I draw a letter from the basket and finish that UFO during the month. Here are a couple of them.

This first UFO started a year or two ago when I made this hexagon in a class with Tara Faughnan. It was cut without rulers and was 45-50 inches across.

It was an accomplishment to get all those triangles to fit together smoothly without rulers, but then what? So I put it away for a while. Several months later I took it out and added triangles at the sides to make it into a usable shape.

But I didn’t like it, so I took those fabrics off (yes, it was a lot of un-sewing). I tried several other options.

I didn’t like those either, so I put it away again. And that’s how it became a UFO. THIS time when I got it out, I decided to cut it up! The result is titled Balz and now I like it.

Balz, 70″ x 58″

The second UFO wasn’t that much work!

I got these out, arranged them various ways on the design wall, and decided I was over it. As you can see, I was just experimenting with various quarter circles, and I decided the experiment was its own reward. These blocks went into the orphan block box, and that UFO is done!

This post starts my 14th year of blogging! My goals for the blog have changed over that time, but I’m still having fun so I’m going to continue. The best part of it has turned out to be meeting other quilters from all over the world. Thank you for reading and commenting!