Zig Zag Zorg: A UFO No More!

Zig Zag Zorg, Finishes 45" x 45"

Woo hoo!  Time to celebrate a newly completed UFO, with bonus points awarded for being a two-time, two-quilter UFO!!  And now you are probably asking yourself:  Who? What? When? Where?  and How?!?  I am so glad you asked!!

Back in early 2017, my guild hosted a new UFO Exchange many thanks to Suzanne, a member who organized the logistics.  Members were invited to drop off a UFO project and exchange it for another member's UFO project.  I am a little embarrassed to admit that I cannot recall what UFO project I turned in but I was very excited about the new-to-me UFO that came home with me to finish & keep: a bundle of rectangle units in yellows, greens, teals, blues & purples. I just loved this bright & cheery palette that was beautifully curated by fellow UFO Exchange participant, fabric/color enthusiast and quilting buddy: Sarah Goer.

Fast forward to March, where Sarah and I were signed up for and shared a table at our guild's out-of- town quilting retreat.  With the May UFO Exchange on the horizon, I brought the fabric swatches and some yardage in matching colors from my stash, solid white and zero game plan!! Over the course of the weekend, ideas formed and I began experimenting with some simple, improvisational stack, whack & reassembled rail fence blocks.  I was excited about the possibilities and continued to create sets of pieced units that were half print and half solid white background.

Who Needs a Design Wall When There is a Design Table Available!!

Once I had a collection of pieced blocks, I had fun auditioning a variety of layout options.  These pieced units lend themselves to pin wheels & zig zag designs, both of which were exciting!  Luckily I arrived at a radiating design featuring a pin wheel center surrounded by zig zag lines.  There was some finetuning of the placement of colors/values/patterns but once finalized, this simple10x10 gridded quilt top was quick and easy to assemble.

Improvisationally Pieced Quilt Top

As the quilt top started to come together, my tablemate and former owner of the UFO, may have started to express some regret in letting this UFO go.  But again, I can neither confirm nor deny these rumors!  ;-)

Only a completed quilt top was required to be presented at the May meeting in order to qualify for  the UFO Exchange prize drawing (with the grand prize including edge to edge quilting services generously donated by a SCVQA Affiliate Member, Grace Gershowitz)  Here I was with my completed quilt top, a whopping 2 months ahead of the deadline...a quilting miracle!!

As I did not win the grand prize, I still needed to tackle the quilting.  I had a game plan but just needed more time to tackle the zig zag meander stitched into the white background areas.  And so it became one of a few newly added UFOs started in 2017.

More Zig Zag Fun

Fast forward to the new year...when I had a little downtime to work on some of my UFOs.  After stitching in the ditch along the zig zag patterns, background quilting was completed.  Leaving the print fabric zig zags unquilted added some great loft...but I worried there was too much?  A simple echo line was stitched 1/4" along each edge of the colorful zig zag design, which worked well!

Stiched Zig Zag Echoes

The quilt title draws inspiration from my Comedy Improv studies.  "Zig, Zag, Zorg!" is one of the warm up games that we play at the start of classes and prior to our shows.  It is a great exercise that helps me to be in the present, attentiveness to pattern & repetition and best of all, to just have fun--all of which relates to improvisationally pieced designs!!

Many thanks to Suzanne for hosting this year's UFO Exchange!!  And special thanks to Sarah for donating a pretty spectacular UFO for me to complete!