Thursday, April 21, 2011

Long ago UFO Resurfaces

 Meet the Stripes Quilt. It was begun long ago when I first got back into quilting after a long time of not quilting. I saw a really cool quilt in one of the magazines my mom had and I instantly fell in love with it. And I thought to make it for my niece for a long ago Christmas to impress and mystify my Sister-In-Law.  (Like that would ever happen.)

The quilt was a beautiful group of dog item fabrics in long stripes with a huge golden retriever dog appliqued in a corner. I chose a bunch of cool bright fabrics that looked fun and kid-like. I was pleased. When I got my stripes made the brights totally overwhelmed the fabrics I wanted to make the dog out of. I was NOT pleased.

So I tossed the stripes into a corner. And there they sat. For maybe another two years. I got the idea (maybe I was forward thinking?) to cut them up into quarters and tone them down with the black. I think I must have seen an Amish quilt or something. Well, this did not turn out to look Amish-like at all. I was not pleased. So it got tossed into another corner.

It surfaced over the years, from time to time. And I would smile at it and put it back into yet another corner. This happened, oh, maybe 8 or 10 times. Then I found it again this week when I was cleaning out my "corner" which now is most of the center of the room AND the two corners. OK, THREE corners.

And I decided to to a hatchet job on it. I want to chop it up! I figure there is no loss if it turns out ugly as sin, right? It wasn't a favorite before. So maybe it will improve a bit even. (I HAS to improve, right?)

With the 15 Minutes Play Group under my wings inspiring me onward and upward....who KNOWS what I will be capable of.  Or what this quilt has the potential to become
So sit back and see what happens. OK? And if you have any suggestions, add them to the pile. Like I said, it can't get any worse! LOL.

glen in Louisiana/QuiltSwissy:  you should see all the UFOs I found in that corner.  But still have not found my Outhouse blocks..........

8 comments:

Theodora quilts said...

Well you have a piece that should be chopped up and it does have potential I would take a piece of paper and crayons and sort of draw out the colors of the quilt don't need detail just the basic colors and then you can cut the paper eny way you like diagaonally or criss cross and even 45 degree angles just have fun with it and experiment and color more papers as you need to test different variations of ways of cutting before you are ready to cut,good luck I hope I was helpfull. theodora

Barbara Arcement said...

This has so many possibilities. First thought was to cut the striped sections into 8-9 inch squares and place onto a solid and draw a line down the middle and sew to make two half squares (you know what I mean...cant quite explain it.) then you will have some interesting squares to put together.
I love the colors. this will be so nice once you decide what you want to do with it. I need to pull out all the old projects I have to finish. I may start cutting into them this afternoon!
have fun with it
hugs from south Louisiana
beebee

Lisa said...

Go for it! Just chop, chop chop! It'll look great. And as you said, it has just been sitting there so what do you have to loose?

Magpie Sue said...

LOL! I don't have any specific suggestions but I'm cheering you on. Looking forward to seeing what this becomes!

Victoria Findlay Wolfe said...

Yes!! Go for it!!! I thinkning can turn that into a beauty through play! We're here to cheer you on!! Go! Go! Go! :-)

Helen said...

Gee, I am always buying stripes when I see them. You have loads of possibilities here.....besides half squares to play with,( which I love), you have the makings for borders, bindings, sashings and more. If it goes into the corner again, please keep it on top of the pile in plain sight.

Nifty Quilts said...

Chop away! But if you want to see it first, take a photo and print it out a bunch of times and chop up the paper copy first.

CharlotteP said...

Great idea to chop a photo first! Go for it, Glen (on paper!)