THE QUILT NOTEBOOK
Last week we reviewed our quilt notebooks and some of us graded our progress fairly harshly. Read more HERE….
The point of the Notebook is to get you thinking about the way you work and stumbling blocks to completing quilts. It’s really just a way to focus your work efforts. If you are thinking more…give yourself a good grade for that… but if you still have a pile of projects, here’s another source of help….
THE GIVEAWAY
Mary Huey of Mary Huey Quilt.com is offering a chance to win a spot in her “Unfinished Quilts–Assault Tactics” home study course.
TO ENTER
- Pop over to Mary’s blog site HERE
- Tell us how many UFOs you currently have AND/OR what your biggest stumbling block to completing your quilts…is it free motion quilting?…layering a quilt?…how to add the appliqué?
- The Winner will be announced on Friday.
A NOTE FROM MARY HUEY
Hello to my fellow Inbox Jaunt followers! I joined you during the fall of 2013 when I discovered Lori’s great tutorials during my efforts to upgrade my machine quilting skills. When she began the QUILT NOTEBOOK series in January, I was intrigued.
I’m Mary Huey and among my other monikers (quilter, teacher, shop owner), I am a UFQ (unfinished quilts) “facilitator” or “stimulator” or “enabler”. I can’t even begin to imagine how many UFQ’s I’ve helped my students and customers begin. When I closed my shop, Erie Street Quilts in Willoughby, Ohio, in 2005 I came face-to-face with a mountain of UFQ’s as I worked to merge the leftovers from the shop with all the stuff already in my studio. I had 72 finished quilt tops alone of varying sizes ready to quilt and lots more projects in various stages of unfinished.
“Quilter, finish your own stuff!!”
So began my own journey tackling this overwhelming backlog. Along the way it inspired some humorous guild lectures as I shared how I was dealing with my UFQ’s. The feedback from these programs was very encouraging and so I pulled the strategies that worked for me into a four lesson course which I call UFQ Assault Tactics.
Each lesson begins with my ideas & strategies on a different aspect of gaining control of your UFQ’s. Participants are then assigned three or four tasks to move forward. When each lesson is finished, participants e-mail me a little report on their progress – I even accept photos if one hates to write reports – along with questions and challenges they’ve encountered for feedback from me. Then I send out the next lesson and so on. Participants have taken from 3 to 8 months to complete the course – the pace is self-determined though I will niggle if you seem to be slowing down. I’m always just an e-mail away!!
Feedback from participants has been good – quilt makers have made progress with their existing UFQ’s one way or another and they’ve learned what changes they need to make to prevent excessive UFQ’s in the future. UFQ’s don’t go away completely, but they can be less overwhelming.
Personally, I’m down to about 25 quilt tops in my queue and I’ve reversed my own tendency to start more than I finish so that now it’s I maintain a 1 start to 3 finishes ratio. That’s huge for me!!
Come on over to www.maryhueyquilts.blogspot.com and visit me today!
I’m sharing my thoughts in response to Lori’s question about “stumbling blocks”. It might give you some insights into your own habits. Then leave a comment with the answers to Lori’s questions of the day and on Friday we’ll chose a winner of a UFQ ASSAULT TACTICS home study course.
If you don’t win, you can order the course on my website at MaryHueyQuilts.com Just think by the end of the year, you could have your own assault tactics in place!
Good luck, Readers!
Lori
PS…All images are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to pin, blog, tweet with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt…For any other use, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com. Thanks!
29 comments
Jea
This is my first visit to your blog, and I like what I read, so I’ll be back. Love this tip on tying with free motion. I currently have 7 quilts in various stages of “hmmm”. Since I don’t work from patterns, I just let the fabric lead me into a quilt, I often have to pause to think where-to-next? Three are from my stash and I am stumped for another 2 yards of some sort of color to finish. I love to sew and am flirting with the thought of free motion quilting. I love what you showed us. Thanks.
Quilting Jeannie
My name is Quilting Jeannie. Sorry for the typo.
Julie S.
I have at least 15 finished quilt tops, 3 bags and a few in-progress tops. One issue I have is getting the back made. I finish a top and move on to another project without making a back. I get so excited to start something new. Also, I love to take classes, especially with visiting national teachers. I’m excited to learn something new. I’ve tried telling myself no new projects until I finish my UFOs but then I get discouraged thinking I won’t be able to do any new quilts for several years. I’m taking 2 classes with Jane Sassaman this weekend. I want to enjoy the classes but I feel stressed knowing I should just work on my UFOs.
Barb E
I don’t know if this will work for you but I put two tops together and make one quilt. I make one the top and the other the bottom. I FMQ the top one and have had some really wonderful back quilt looks. Plus now you have a reversible quilt.
Janet Vickers
I was going to tell you my stumbling block to finishing my UFQ’s but after reading Dorothy Kennys message I think I would like her to win. Good luck Dorothy.
Karen
First thank you for helping me to refocus. I have UFO in the form of fabric for a quilt in a box, to those that only need binding. Not enough of my own; I am learning to use my longarm.,I rescue unfinished project at thrift store to practice. I make samples for my sisters fabric business.ii am pleased to say. I have almost finished two projects. One that had a time limit , will be done this weekend. A thrift store project quilted and bound. Done. It is easier only having three quilts to worry about. I make a list of supplies. That is all I allow myself to buy. Only new project are for business. Again thanks for the challenge and new focus.
yattaquilts
I don’t have so many UFO’s ….BUt I do have piles of fabric purchased for a particular project that I never started, what I would do to get rid of those piles of fabric!
Quiltin Jenny
I couldn’t even tell you how many UFO’s I have, but it’s more than 20. (EEEK!!) My biggest stumbling block is making backs and sandwiching them. I have lots of tops completed, and many of them would require only minimal or simple quilting, but making a back stops me in my tracks, and then I can come up with any excuse in the world why I can’t put the sandwich together right now.
Lin Sirenas
I currently have five UFOs — four lap quilts and one small bag. I tend to get stuck at the quilt sandwich stage because I don’t like to layer the parts, or the pinning, spraying, or basting. I enjoy doing the quilting, once I figure out the strategy.
Sharon - IN
Well now, that sounds like fun. Oh wait, maybe it is more like work! I like Mary’s ratio of 3 finished to 1 new start! I’m popping over to check her out. Thanks for the offer!
Debbie D
Let’s see..
Just finished – 6 placemats & matching napkins
Harley Davidson wall hanging basted
The layer cake sampler QAL is almost done..
2 patchwork Scottie baby pillows 1/2 done
Union Jack lap quilt, not even cut yet
Bed runner & 2 shams cut
A million dog scarfs – cut, some sewn
Then in my mind and some I even have fabric for
3 mantle runners
Reversible table topper
kay
My greatest stumbling block is starting too many new quilts because I JUST CAN’T WAIT! I love the instant gratification of starting a new one I’ve been obsessing about. If only I would finish before starting the next one, and the next one, and the next one… I think I have quilter’s ADD. I would love (and I need) to take this course!
Dorothy Kenny
I think I have to give everyone in my family and my friends quilts as well as supplying donation quilts to our local quilt guilds functions. Therefore I have purchased a lot of fabrics/patterns with various quilts to be made. I have also purchased kits and they frighten me the most because what if I make a mistake or what if something is missing from the BOM I purchased 2-3 years ago so they never get started. I found Lori’s site in March but had already started with getting organized in January. Lori’s The Quilted Notebook has been started but I haven’t really gotten down to writing everything down most of it is in my head. Time Management has been one of my problems as well as over commitments to myself and others. I make promises to myself that I can’t keep and feel like the Hamster on the Wheel.
Would love to win the course by Mary to help me be more productive and achieve my goals as I may be going back to work later this year, I have been out of work for 6 years due health issues. Some of my disability $$ will be ending in mid summer and just don’t know how we will make it.. Need to pay off debts we have accumulated since leaving work so a lot of my “Free” time for quilting will end.
I turn 66 this year and life is getting shorter and shorter to do all I want to do in quilting before I leave this earth. So much to do and so little time but with Mary’s course and Lori’s Quilting Notebook I am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel!!
Thank you ladies for all you are doing to help the rest of us meet our quilting goals and enjoy the trip while on this journey called “Life” as well as continue to give to others which is why I believe we are here.
Sew Sincerely,
Dorothy’s OTR(Over the Rainbow) Quilts
Cecilia
Deciding on a quilt design is what takes me the longest to figure out. Thank you for your great tutorials, they are very inspirational and have given me a lot of new ideas.
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Susan Jones
I guess my biggest stumbling block is time. I feel like I need a large block of time to work on projects, when I should just work in frequent shorter times. I am still working on my first full sized quilt. I took a day class 15 or16 years ago that taught the piecing. The top is nearly done, but not quite, lol. I have made smaller wall hangings, clothes, and such in between times. I still like my quilt. I originally wanted to hand quilt it, but after discovering Lori’s blog I have decided to machine quilt it. Another thing that holds me back on some projects is I want everything to be perfect the first time. I realize everything takes practice and will get better over time, but I’m impatient. I enjoy reading everyone’s responses. Makes me feel better about myself. Cheers!!
Barb E
I decided I would never have UFO’s but I now know that is impossible. I have 3, I from a course I did last year and one from BOM and the last one is from a group sew over a summer. I had big plans this winter to get two of them done but found other projects that intrigued me so I left them behind. Now I am rebuilding a house so this summer will be a write off for me on completing my projects. I have enjoyed very much doing the notebook and am amazed in how much I have accomplished. I am now spending a few hours each week practicing all your lessons and will attempt to finish one UFO this summer. I am also not doing any other large quilt until these three are finished. Thanks for helping me to get organized.
charmers3
I took a trip to Mary Huey’s blog and discovered a lot of great incentive ideas. Thank you for having her comments and topic in your blog today. Thanks to your notes today, I signed up for future input from her blog…….now I have to put these ideas into practice and see the “amazing”results I can achieve….especially the 20 minute a day sewing plan.
Priscilla Golz
I have about 15 quilt tops that decorate my studio and another 20 that sit on hangers on an open closet rack – also in my studio. I feel guilty as some were started for wedding or baby quilts several years ago and still sit unfinished. Most are “I just don’t like it enough anymore to finish it.” A few fall under “need to be quilted and I’m not that good.” My solution to date is to let most gather dust or give the tops away at guild meetings. Then I read about the Quilt Notebook. Yay! I’m starting to organize my UFO’s and that does feel good! From your website I have also been encouraged to work on free motion quilting as a daily practice and that is giving me more confidence! Good progress, but I am still dragging behind actual work on UFO’s, not to mention the boxes of unfinished traditional and applique blocks. I could really use a boost to get going! Thank you.
Kathy S.
My biggest stumbling block of completing quilts is that I can’s resist a good quilt along or BOM project. I keep joining them and joining them. BUT, I DO finish quilts! I just have a lot going on at once. Currently I have 38 WIPS.
Anna
My problem is that I can’t say no. I think I can fit in all the requests to do quilts for family and friends in between my own projects. I also tend to like to experiment with new ideas and of course, they take time too. I am so happy that I stumbled on you and Mary. There may be hope for me yet, having you two ladies on my ” virtual team”.
Terry@aquiltingblog.com
My biggest stumbling block is trying to decide how to quilt each of my finished tops without messing up all the work I put into them….that’s why I have a UFO ‘collection’ instead of finished quilts.
Marsha
I have 8 unfinished quilts. My biggest stumbling block is lack of confidence. I hate the thought of spoiling a god looking quilt with mediocre quilting. Lori, your blog has helped me a lot with that. Simplifying the steps andf giving me things to practice is awesome! I would love to win this course.
Vera Thompson
I have many UFOs. When I started thinking what stopped each one, some of them are crazy. I started a many trips around the world from a magazine back in the 90s. DH was needing plexie glass and cut up the board I had been using as a design layout surface. He has since made me a large cutting table which I could use. I just need to do it now. Another one I was laying the pieces out on the floor in a spare bedroom. We took in a foster child and he needed the room. The rows are pinned together, I just need to do it. Grandmother’s flower garden, I was stumped on the edges. I have since learned what to do, but haven’t done it. I have several tops that need quilting. I love to start new projects and finish them. It is the part in between where I get stuck.
Allison C Bayer
Whoa . . . do I ever need this!!! I’m in Texas and not only is the state experiencing a drought, but so is my sewing. Just call me overwhelmed with scrappy projects. The second guest room is actually a UFO room. I’m a piecing fool and have completed tops with backings, bindings and labels that fill a double closet. I’m a longarm quilter by day for the public; so I schedule one quilt a month for myself. The boxes of projects from early on in my quilting career are staring at me and I need to be ruthless in considering what I really want to finish. Perhaps Mary’s DVD will equip me to sort them and share with the local guild auctions coming up. Thanks to Lori for her continued inspiration and her guest bloggers. I hope to win. Allison in Plano, TX
Donna Phelps
I try very hard to start and finish a quilt at one time. Unfortunately, I believe I am like most quilters, sometimes no matter how much I try to discipline myself I just cannot finish and the quilt becomes another UFO. My hang-up is in the quilting stage. I have a new machine and have not yet mastered my free motion method on the machine yet. I have to dig out the old machine to do free motion quilting and right now I have 5 UFO’s just waiting to be quilted.I will get to them – eventually…
Sheila
The stumbling block for me to finish my quilts is lack of time! I always manage to finish gift quilts (especially for grand and great grand children), but never seem to find/take the time to do anything larger. There always seems to be something that takes precedence.
Shelor Robin
I have followed each and every step of the way–of course, I read all your blogs. However, I only read–not did!!! As soon as I finish this and this . . .
farmquilter
Thank you for all you do to get us to finish out quilts! with 60 tops waiting for quilting, I know where my stumbling block is 🙂 But customer quilts always come before mine…I need to start putting a quilt of mine on the frame after I do 4-5 customer quilts. With hand-guided custom quilting, it takes me a bit more time to get them quilted then if I would do an all-over pattern!
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