Another UFO Bites the Dust

Never in my life have I made a resolution in January that I have remained faithful to for eleven months, but I can say proudly that the November UFO is now a finished quilt top! I am so glad, too, as it makes me very happy to gaze upon it. I will let you know right up front that you are going to see lots of pictures of this one!

I am calling this quilt Dusty Trails for the plan all along was to have a quilt that looked reminiscent of quilts from our pioneer ancestors. Over the years, I stored away several fat quarters and yardage of selected fabrics that seemed suitable for this quilt, and I think I hit a home run with it, don't you? I am glad to finally have this top finished.

The history on this quilt has been recounted here before, but I can briefly repeat for you. I saw a store sample displayed in a now-closed quilt shop in Portsmouth, OH, about 20 years ago. I just loved it, so I bought about 5 or 6 FQs of the fabrics in the sample. I made up a pattern to imitate the one in the shop and then made about 9 Broken Dishes blocks. Who knows why I stopped there, but I did. For the last two decades, the blocks and the remaining fabrics have lived in a tub here in the sewing room. I added fabrics occasionally - especially if they seemed in the same historic time period I had in mind - roughly the time of the Oregon Trail pioneers. (Thus the name - Dusty Trails.) Click here to see the first few blocks I made and the additional fabrics I added to the collection.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday I constructed the quilt and added the borders. Ta-da! November UFO finished!

The border fabrics came from my stash, and I made 4 more Broken Dishes blocks to use in the corners. the whole quilt just came out so great - I am giddy with delight at how it looks. Sometimes quilts show their age, but this one seems just as fresh as the day I dreamed it up oh-so-many years ago.

Here we are, now, with just one week of November left, and then one more month of 2017 left. Wow. I  have big plans already taking shape for 2018, but first I still have the December UFO to knock out; I am definitely going to see this New Year's resolution through to the very end.

Finally, I have linked with Beth at Love, Laugh, Quilt and her weekly Monday Making.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

November's UFO

Just two UFOs remain in this year's UFO challenge. I have all the big ones - aka complex ones - checked off the list and just have two super easy ones left to do. Yay!

The Dusty Trails - my name - is a made-up-out-of-my-head project using some reproduction fabrics that I bought perhaps 20 years ago. I kid you not. I saw a pretty display quilt in a store in Portsmouth, OH, and bought fat quarters of the fabrics. Having no pattern, I came up with 3" HSTs and sewed them together in random fashion to make the traditional Broken Dishes block.

What I made so very many years ago is what you see above. It measures 18.5" square, and consists of 9 Broken Dishes blocks. I am not very satisfied with how well my intersections look, so while I watch the Buckeyes this afternoon, I am going to "unsew" this part. This will also allow me to distribute colors better after all the rest of the blocks are made.

 I have spent a good portion of the last day or so cutting out all the fabric I'd pulled for this. I found lots in my stash that will work with this projects, and since it's a creation of my own, it will be whatever size all of this ends up making - probably a nice throw, I imagine.

Some of you more seasoned quilters out there may recognize some of these old fabrics. I am sure the newest piece in this bunch is past 10 years by now. Old, or very, very old, I still like 'em, so I'm gonna' use 'em.

I look forward to getting this UFO checked off my list. And since the very last UFO for the year is also an easy one, I am very seriously considering attempting to do it this month, too. Then my December will be free for NEW projects! I am very much interested in new stuff, as this year's focus on UFOs has gotten really tiresome lately.

Happy Quilting, Friends!