The Oldest UFO

One of my goals for this year has been to get some UFO's off the shelf. This quilt is the oldest of all my UFOs.
A long time ago I got a crazy idea over Thanksgiving weekend to make a queen sized quilt for each of my siblings. The first two were easy, a blooming 9-patch, and a modified scrappy bargello. Both were quilted with fairly simple meandering and done in a week. This last quilt was harder. I had a stack of blocks, and decided to make a sampler quilt.




Well enough. I made the borders, planning as I went along. Got it sandwiched and did the bare bones quilting (stitching in the ditch around ever major element) and began doing some of the detail work in the blocks. I got stumped about what to do next, and as I usually have done, put it aside. My sister opened a box with a partially quilted quilt and happily gave it back to me so I could finish it. Then I got pregnant. I got distracted with other things. Our dad was dying. We were both expecting babies. This quilt languished. Then, not long after dad died, my husband and I decided to move to Georgia. It got packed in a box and all but forgotten about.


Mimi and I have been joking about this "unfinished symphony" for nearly a decade. Last month I decided to finally drag it out and finish it so I could give it to her for a Christmas gift this year. (Lesson here, folks... if you wait long enough, you can give the same gift, twice.)




Well, last month finished out without even a stitch going into this quilt. But yesterday I pulled it out and got to work. The Lord himself must have sent me strength and determination because I got most of the quilt finished in one day. All of the detail work that was needed in the blocks, and the next three borders is done. I have only the final border to finish and then the binding. Hooray!