Love It? or Over It?

The February 2014 issue of The Quilt Life just arrived in the mail this week and I've been reading an article here and there as time allows.  This morning I was about to take a nap and settled in with TQL.  As I read Claire O'Donohue's "Shifting Gears:  Still Love It, Maybe, Over It" article, I felt inspired to head back to the studio to rethink some of my haunting UFOs.

While trying to meditate, Clare comes to the realization that her studio is filled with UFOs and fabrics/pattern kits that haven't even been started.  And while these UFOs once provided her with inspiration and creative energy, they have since lost their zeal and burdened her down to the point she considers giving up quilting entirely!  So she pulled out all her UFOs and purchased kits and sorts them into 3 piles:  Still Love, Maybe and Over It.  Those projects in the Over It pile were tossed and/or donated.  She finished those projects in the Still Love pile and afterwards revisited the Maybe pile, several of which were either finished or tossed.

This was just the spark I needed to sort out my growing number of ancient UFOs.  Reading her struggle with UFOs and how she developed a solution for deciding what to do with projects long past immediately called me to action and I went to the corner of my studio where I've been tucking away ancient UFOs.  Looking at this pile of mostly finished quilt tops and blocks/units, I remember the enthusiasm and excitement of starting each of these projects and all the work/fabrics invested.  However, quite a bit of time has lapsed since, my quilting style has evolved so much and my passion for these projects has fizzled.  Much of that lost excitement can be attributed to the fact that most of these projects involved less than stellar fabrics which no longer hold aesthetic appeal for me and I hate touching.  Now that they were out in the open, I went to work deciding their fate using her system of Love It, Maybe or Over It::

• The purple and green pansy 9-patch quilt top was the 4th in a series of Pansy quilts using leftover fabrics/blocks.   I held onto it and a piece of pansy fabric backing with the hopes that I might use it as a practice piece for quilting.  But quite frankly, I do not like the design, the fabrics and would dread quilting it.  So OVER IT!  So off it goes to Philanthropy where someone else can practice their quilting motifs and make a nice lap sized cozy quilt.

• The blue, green and yellow bow tie quilt was intended as a wedding gift.  I created a concentric circle design but wanted to add pieced triangle units to create a medallion quilt.  Problem was, I didn't have the design skills at the time and have since lost interest in the fabrics, design and doubt the happy couple would appreciate such a quilt when I am sure their color preferences have changed.  So it is with regret that I am OVER IT and it is off to Philanthropy where perhaps it will be finished for another happy couple in our community.

• The other bag contains a pile of stack and whack blocks using red, yellow, green and blue fabrics and matching dinosaur fabrics.  Again, it used yucky fabrics and the little boy has since grown up and I suspect is well over his dinosaur phase.  So OVER IT and off to philanthropy for another young child who still loves dinosaurs!

• The two projects in the top left were merely experiments for quilt challenges.  Both used good quality fabrics but the project design itself never went beyond the experimental phase, so they are both to be scrapped entirely.

I am left with a few projects in my Maybe pile:

• A watercolor quilt that was intended as a baby quilt (and I am sure the child is now in elementary school.)  I thought it would make such a lovely Monet-esque Water Lily Quilt and I even found some cute frog patches that I thought I would stitch onto some lily pads.  But despite its small size, there were a lot of pieces and some of them didn't fuse properly to the fusible grid.  The strips are done and everything is numbered and I just don't know whether I would want to complete it or not.  Besides the fusible leaves a yellowish residue on my sewing machine surface.  So the more I discuss this project, the more I am leaning towards OVER IT!

• There is one more UFO lurking beneath my sewing table, a crazy quilt made from baby clothes of a family friend.  As these are all precious and one of a kind fabrics, I simply cannot in good conscience, toss or donate them.  So I will have to continue making up a few more crazy quilt blocks and assemble it.  I think I had 10 or more blocks done and was aiming for a 4x4 block layout--so just a few more left to go.  MAYBE one of these days...
• My Rainbow V's which hangs in our hallway.  While the fabrics are not the greatest, I still love the colors and design.  I look out at it nearly every night before going to bed and dreaming up possible quilting designs.  I've also purchased yardage of several different fabrics which might make fabulous borders (and any losing candidates will make great backing fabrics!).  MAYBE one of these days I will pull it off my walls and take the next step in its completion.

And who knows, I may have some other UFOs lurking about well tucked away awaiting their final fate.

But already I feel free to work on those project that I am passionate about, such as my Morning, Noon and Night pattern started this year while I still LOVE IT!!