There was a time when I was really good at starting a project and seeing it through to the finish, that was before I discovered Instagram and Pinterest. Imagine that… a life before Instagram! Then things started to change, I was surrounded by inspiration and a constant flurry of Sew-Alongs and Quilt-Alongs that just looked too tempting to pass!

I started this year with a firm ambition to finish old projects, not to start any too many new things until my old projects were finished and finally to curb my fabric buying!

So we’re now in the final quarter of the year, how do you think I have got on with that pledge?? Yes, that’s right, not that well!

As soon as September arrived it sent me into a little bit of a panic. WIPs/ UFO’s were piling up and like a fiend I was starting new projects. It had to stop! So I have attempted to pull back on the new and crack on with the old, and surprisingly this is going relatively well!

My Square Love Quilt top that I finished back in March(!!) has been sat waiting all this time to be basted and quilted. I had the backing so there was no excuse, except I hadn’t been able to decide on how to quilt it! I originally had thoughts about hand quilting, I thought it be fun to choose matching threads for the pink, blue and yellow, but in the end I just wanted to get it finished so I went to the machine and used my new favourite way of quilting the ever so forgiving wavy lines!

I’m wishing I had done this sooner, all it took was an afternoon whilst Mabel was at Pre-school, after waiting 6 months long months!

Such a delightfully satisfying feeling crossing something off the to-do list! It has even got the Louie seal of approval! After it has been through the washing machine I would like to donate it to Project Linus (if they will have it). Donating a quilt was another thing on my to-do list this year. I mean I can’t keep them all, and I have got to the stage where we are starting to drown in them! lol.

Feeling buoyed up by my first finish I swiftly moved onto the next unfinished project, my Chamomile Quilt. I’m not sure if I blogged about it on here, but over on Instagram waaay back in April Alison of Woodberry Way the designer of the pattern had a QAL. Even though I had said I wouldn’t start anything new this was a perfect opportunity to use up my stash, it was such a beautiful pattern it was impossible to resist!

It was all going so well and I was charging through my blocks until it was time to sew it all together and my cornerstones were not meeting up at all. I’m talking half an inch out in places! I may have cried a little. It got sent to a drawer with only one row left to add, just because I couldn’t bear to unpick it all but at the same time I couldn’t bring myself to leave it as it was.

So armed with my seam ripper I finally got to work and it actually didn’t take that long to undo. A whole lot quicker than it did to sew them all together anyway! I learnt a valuable lesson with this quilt and that is, pins are actually very useful, and not a waste of time! I thought I was going to have unpick all my sashing/cornerstones too but with the help of a few hundred pins the seams actually met up a lot better than before!

I am so pleased I took the time unpick and redo it, as frustrating as it was and as tempted as I was to leave it and let it be imperfect I am glad I didn’t, at least I can look at it now and be happy rather than annoyed with myself! This is the biggest quilt I have made to date and it will fit perfectly on our bed, however having said that I fear it might be a little too “cutesy” for my husband!

I will have a full reveal of this quilt when I have my official quilt holder to hand! :D

I have been super organised and bought the backing. For the quilting I think I will just go with a straight line grid style.

Finally my other quilt that is in the pile is my Swedish Bloom. It is basted and I have started a little of the quilting, but I’ll be honest I’ve fallen a little bit out of love with this quilt, I know what it is, it’s those greens! I am not really a green person and they are far too bold for my tastes. I also need to unpick some of the quilting and redo it. I’m not sure what to do with it after really. Some of the blocks have very dodgy/short seam allowances being my first real go at Foundation paper piecing so I don’t feel like I can give it away. I’m afraid it might be a bit holey after one round the washing machine, but at the same time it would be a shame to shove it to the back of the cupboard! What would you do? Have you ever fallen out of love with a quilt/ project you’ve been working on?

There are still other quilty WIP’s on the go including my Blooming Blossom and Mandolin but as they are EPP I am not going to put too much pressure on myself for these!