2021 - The Great UFO Roundup

I am using the Facebook group, American Patchwork & Quilting's UFO Challenge, to motivate my work on UFOs.

You fill in your list with the projects you most want to finish (or move to a new stage) during the year. They draw a number each month, and that's the UFO you focus on for that month.

I've filled in two lists - one is quilt tops that I want to get quilted and fully finished this year. The other is quilt projects that I want to finish the piecing on so that they reach the Flimsy stage.

How I work: 

Monday thru Friday, I restrict myself to the priority projects - 1 piecing, 1 longarming. This year, those will all come from my UFO lists. Typically I'll piece in the early morning and quilt in the afternoons. After dinner we like to watch 1 or 2 shows, and I'll do hand applique work during that time if I don't have a quilt binding to stitch down.

Saturdays, I let myself work on whatever project calls to me, to give myself a break from the priority work so I don't lose my MoJo.

Sundays, I always work on a BOM, which was often worked on the day before.

Thru all of this, I keep a leader-ender project to the side of my machine, so that one just kinda does a low simmer that one day magically appears as a bonus quilt top. 

This approach works extremely well for me.

Number 7 was drawn for January's UFO work.

Longarming List:  (accomplished 2/13 +5 extras  as of  June 30th)

* January!  ~*~ FINISHED  Feb 26! ~*~ 0. Sew Spooky - need to finish this before starting the 2021 number pulls. When will Covid let me begin longarming again?  (Jan 11th, able to sustain 15 minutes in a day. Feb 24 finishished this quilting! Up to 90 minutes three times a day!)  Finish Report Here

  

* May!   ~*~ FINISHED  May 24! ~*~ 1.=9 (switched for deadline) Marissa's UCCS Graduation Quilt

 

* February!  2. My King'd Dinner Plate Dahlia (on the longarm now)

3. Rainbow Jane

4. Set Sail

* June!  5. Plums in November

6. Thistlepods

* January!  7. Modernology 

8. Listen With Your Eyes

9.=1 (needed another when this number was drawn) From the Heart

10. Allietare

* March!  ~*~ Quilted Mar 26! Fancy puffed silk binding is taking a long time ~*~ 11. It's a Silky wool Flannel Kind of Day

 

12. Martha's Christmas Whirl

BACK-SIDE EXTRAS:

1. "Moose Lake" for Scott  ~*~ FINISHED  Mar 23! ~*~   Finish Report Here

2.  Bathroom Curtain 1  ~*~ FINISHED  Mar 18! ~*~ 

3.  "Morning Stroll" for Scott  ~*~ FINISHED  Mar 28! ~*~ 

4.  Bathroom Curtain 2  ~*~ FINISHED  June 4! ~*~ 

5.  Marissa's Home Quilt  ~*~ FINISHED  June 30! ~*~  (originally named Journey's End)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Piecing List:  (accomplished 5/12 +5 extras  as of  July 5th) 

~*~ FLIMSY STATUS Jan 30! ~*~  1. King sized Garden of Dreams - Panels are partially made. (Flimsy finished right away, as I want this on my bed. 

 (I'm king-sizing this Kona pattern. Lots of math involved, since I didn't want to simply add large borders all around.)

* February!  2. Down the Rabbit Hole - Finished the sunflower round, need to do the rabbits border and the outer diamond border

 This one is on my BOM roll, but I wanted to dedicate a month of priority to it as well.

3. Whooo's Your Mama - needs the stitcheries

 * April!   ~*~ FLIMSY STATUS Apr 23! ~*~   4. Collection for a Cause: Heritage- At least some of the patches had been made. 

 
 I think I made the windmills? But maybe just the HSTs. I'll see when I pull out its box.  (Yep, thankfully, all the windmills are already put together.) 

* June! ~*~ FLIMSY STATUS June 16! ~*~  5. Stepping Stones - blocks are made

This was my first Judy Niemeyer pattern. It quickly got sidetracked by more intricate patterns of hers that called to me. 

6. Amaya - need to do the collage work

* January!  ~*~ FLIMSY STATUS Jan 23! ~*~  7. Let's Build a Snowman - applique has been fused for all the rows, needs stitching and piecing

  

8. Climbing Lanterns - I think it's ready for the 3D pieces to be done up?

* May! ~*~ FLIMSY STATUS July 5! ~*~  9. Chubby Chicks - I think the applique has been fused. Well, main bodies have been, looks like.

 

10. And to All a Good Night - applique panel is started. Will be king-sizing the pattern.

One of the many Sue Garman patterns on my bucket list.

* March!  11. Spanish Tiles - fabrics are boxed together  

 (The original in the quilt pattern book "Living Large")

**I cannot find this!!  Many days of searching have been fruitless, so I'm switching this out with another long-time UFO: Parasol.

12. Fanciful Flight - a kit. fabrics have been washed 

BACK-SIDE EXTRAS: 

~*~ FLIMSY STATUS Jan 3! ~*~  13. Water Reflections

~*~ FLIMSY STATUS  Jan 29! ~*~  14. Winter Woodland

~*~ FLIMSY STATUS  Feb 14! ~*~  15. Forever My Valentine

~*~ FLIMSY STATUS  March 30! ~*~  16. Parasol

~*~ FLIMSY STATUS  April 23! ~*~  17. Wind & Waves (The Lighthouse Quilt)

I actually printed empty lists on the backside of both of mine, for write-ins of extras as they occur, like my BOMs, leader-enders, or left-overs.

I'm currently working on the quilting of my Sew Spooky UFO that I'd loaded up before COVID hit me. I don't want to closet it yet again, so it has to get quilted before my #7 gets loaded for the January UFO call. I'm hoping that happens before January is over, but longhauler issues dictate how long I can work at the longarm each day (or even if I have to take a bye day still).

So!  My 2021 quilting work will be almost completely driven by these goals. Here's to accomplishing a lot of them!