UFO's!!

Whoa!  Did you see that UFO!!  No....well....you are going to!   No, for my non art/quilt friends, you are not going to see space ships in this post!  
To quote Janet Wickell from About.com, "A UFO is an Unfinished Object - the remnants of those quilts we start to make but never seem to finish."

In my post yesterday, I mentioned that I didn't have many unfinished projects and I don't think I do...so after Bob left for his Father's Day golf outing, I walked Kalee a mile, had breakfast, got dinner ready, went to farmer's market,  then started in cleaning my sewing room, which consisted of putting away some fabrics I had stashed in my 'working cabinet'....you don't know what a working cabinet is!  Well, it's where you stash everything you are working on so your sewing area stays nice and tidy!!  And folks think you are even more organized than you are!

Anyway, digressing again aren't I!!  As I was putting fabric away from two drawers (yes, two!) the 3rd drawer contained my UFO's!  So I thought I'd share them.  Actually, I am going to take them to our Fiber study group next month to get some feedback on what to do with them, if anything.  So here's my UFO's!   

Quite awhile ago I was actually teaching hand applique at our local quilt shop (which is now sadly closed)...so I was always putting together class samples.  For some reason I really liked this piece, so I kept it in my 'project' drawer and wanted to finish it...but it needs a lot of something!


The bottom leave are needle turn applique. And the last picture for this piece is machine applique...I wanted to show both types of applique (20"x27").

This next drawing was for an English paper piecing project I started in the fall of 2010.  You can see more of the process here.  Yes, I love hand work of any kind!

I used some silk dupioni in this piece and again, it has potential but I just don't know what for!  Perhaps I need to finish the entire piece!!  12" x 16"







This next drawing was for another hand applique sample.  It combines hand and reverse applique.  

 The panel on the right isn't attached, obviously...and is unfinished.  There really isn't a lot to finish on this piece (16"x21").

This next piece is more recent and was inspired by Linda Kemshall (Design MattersTV).  It's suppose to represent Kantha Embroidery.  This stitching is very relaxing and portable....19"x22".  A keeper for sure....

 Another one I know I'll finish...just don't know when!  But it doesn't matter does it!












This is a larger, unfinished applique piece!  46"x48"....I painted the fish based on Velda Newman's painting technique.  And of course I had to hand applique my 'little' fish, which aren't really little...the biggest one is over 40"!   The other two are only 22".  Really it just needs to be sandwiched and quilted.  Well, maybe some embellishment with seaweed????

 Back in 2004, I attended a class in Houston at IQA festival with Hollis Chatelain called 'Quilting Designs and Use of Threads.  We each had to bring a finished quilt top for discussion on how to finish it.  I honestly don't remember how she suggested I quilt this piece or even what threads to use!!  BUT....I did come back for a full page listing different tips and suggestions on quilting.  I still reference that sheet!!  Guess I'll have to get it back out if I ever finish this!!

Back in 2003-2004, in addition to hand applique I was teaching a class on making butterfly's out of ultra suede (another post in the future to show!)...so I used some of the suede to make the tail fin.  Don't ask about the green background...have no idea why I used it!!!  Unless these poor fish are living in yucky water!!!  I think it was just the largest piece of fabric  I had for the background!

And last but not least, my final UFO....this is a 23"x30" hand painted piece I was working on.  It's based on a drawing by Ernst Haeckel's Art Forms in Nature.   

I'm using any and all different paints in my paint stash...from fabric to acrylics....you can see where I started to paint the background blue...why was I doing this piece?  Haven't a clue other than I wanted to do a whole cloth piece....this may not get finished....but then again!!!!!






So that's all I have...I don't consider the projects I'm working on now being UFO's...I'm touching them daily!!  That would be my beaded piece and my red QAYG which will need more hand embroidery/stitching.  Those two pieces go together...so they aren't UFOs unless they go in the UFO drawer!!  And there is lots of room in that drawer!  Current UFO's would enjoy more company!!