Cross-stitch
I know that I discussed these in an earlier post, but am revisiting them because I found another one in the boxes. So that makes 6 projects, dating back to the summer of 1999 (the newly discovered Christmas pattern was purchased the summer of my senior year, so definitely 1999).
Crocheted blanket/afghan
Cross-Stitch Towel
Started: September 2002
This was to be a gift for my first lil sis in my sorority, but obviously, never given, much less completed. Our colors were green and white, national mascot the teddy bear, and local mascot ladybug. So a bear dressed as a ladybug on a green towel...too cute! Don't know if you can tell, but that's not tear-away aida cloth, which I didn't think would be a problem, but now I'm not so sure.
Abandoned: some time in October that year. I can't remember why, just stopped working on it. Probably realized I couldn't finish it in time, so I just quit. Bad me!
High School T-Shirt Quilt
Started: Summer 2003
When I was in high school, my neighbor and best friend's mom showed me a quilt she had made out of her husband's old t-shirts. It was awesome, and I had so many shirts from high school, I wanted to do the same. She had not used a layout like this, hers was more specific to the size and shape of the shirt, but her quilting (hand) was shadowing the design on the tee. That way, the back of the quilt was a mirror image of the front, in a way.
Abandoned: Fall/Winter 2004/2005. Hand-quilting: need I say more? Plus, some of the tees had a lot of blank space, so I was having to design something related to the shirt for the quilting pattern.
Log Cabin Wreaths: Table Runner and Wall Hanging
Started: Fall/Winter 2002
I took a quilting class at church with my mom my last few years in college. The woman who taught the class had been quilting for years, and brought in a pattern that had been published as a surprise, cutting and sewing your material without knowing what the final product would be. Mom and I each made one, and I had enough material to make two, and somehow I ended up with all of the wreaths. Only one was turned into a table runner like designed.
Abandoned: Winter 2003, re-started in Fall 2005 and re-abandoned. Again: hand-quilting to blame.
Now, before anyone tries to say anything. This abandonment of projects due to the difficulty in hand-quilting DOES NOT mean I should give up the hand-quilting. The hand quilting is not much different from cross-stitch, so it's not about the difficulty of the stitch. It's more about the fact that when I have so many other projects going, it's hard to focus on the tedium of hand work. Why be "bored" when I could be starting another new, beautiful project, right?
Winter Sampler Quilt
Started: Summer 2003
In that quilting class, we began working on a sampler, and were told to find a "theme" fabric. Mom and I were driving through Georgia on a trip, and we planned a visit to JoAnn's for the very first time (there isn't one in Chattanooga). And I found this beautiful snowflake print. Fell in love. Immediately found 5 complementary blue and white snowflake/snowman fabrics. And we made somewhere around 12-14 blocks before I moved. And then the project was shelved. Now it's in a Space Bag, taking up very little space in the storage bins, but bugging me!
Abandoned: Summer 2004
Yellow Brick Road Quilt
Started: Spring 2003?
I recieved these patriotic fabric fat quarters in a Christmas FQ "Dirty Santa" gift exchange. Had no idea what I was going to do with them, until our fearless leader brought in FQ designed quilt pattern: The Yellow Brick Road. It was so much fun! Cut here, sew there, cut again, sew again, repeat. I finished all of the blocks, and began sewing the strips together. Got three strips sewn, and then began work on the Winter Sampler, and this poor guy has been
Abandoned since Fall 2003
***UPDATE*** May 2011 - All blocks sewn together in strips, all strips sewn together. Quilt top completed, basted together with backing and batting. Hand quilting begun. I worked on this project for about 2 months before moving on to the high school quilt.
College T-Shirt Quilt
As you can see, this quilt has not been started except in my head. Also, this pile of t-shirts is only half of what I have for this quilt. Being in a sorority in college, I have a TON of tees from every event we participated in. And several from jobs, and other things I was involved in. I think the count is around 30. This will be more irregular in layout, fitting the t-shirts in according to the size of the design on them. I also will probably not hand-quilt it, I've been looking at sending it off to have it machine quilted. I want to have specific patterns quilted in for each "type" of shirt. Sorority philanthropy = shamrocks. Sisterhood-related shirts = ladybugs. Formals = stars or dancing figures. Get the idea?
Abandoned: because I still wear some of the t-shirts to the gym and as comfy clothes.
***UPDATE*** May 2012 - All of the t-shirts have officially been retired. Once they made it to the retired pile, I had my mother come over and we sliced them up into large squares. The squares have been ironed onto fusible webbing for stabilizer. No design for layout. Waiting for time.
Now don't be surprised if you visit this page to see what has been completed and find instead new projects!
