Friday, January 4, 2013

2013 ~ The Year of the Finished Project

If there’s a single theme running through my favourite bloggers’ posts this week it’s that of finishing up those UFOs. Everywhere I look we’re being challenged to let our UFOs (Unfinished Objects) and PhDs (Projects Half Finished) see the light, take a deep breath and just do it!

Lynne, here in Sydney, is one of these encouragers and you can read the details of her Linky party here.

Basically, on the first Thursday of the month she asks us to blog about an unfinished project we plan to work on that month and to link that blog post to hers, and to her Linky party, so all the others can pop by our blogs and see what we’re up to. Mighty neighbourly!

IMG_7382

On the first Thursday of the following month you can either proudly proclaim your latest finish, show off your progress if it’s still a work-in-progress (WIP), or ‘fess up if you’ve fallen back off the wagon!

I’m starting with my Roebuck Quilt, which has been around for almost 5 years. I have several UFOs, if I’m honest, but this is the only one I feel excited enough to tackle right now.

It’s a reproduction of a quilt made by sisters Lizzie and Margaret Roebuck in 1861 on a ship sailing to Sydney from England, and I started it on Valentine’s Day 2007 at a class with Robyn Evans at Quiltsmith. There are hundreds of scraps in this quilt, mostly in Civil War and reproduction prints, and though I’ve moved on to using brighter, more modern fabrics in my quilts, I still love this one.

IMG_7383

This was me working on the hand quilting in August 2010, before I was distracted by dazzlers like the Whirligig Quilt and Daisy a Day. Sometimes I can be so fickle.

IMG_7403

Still, I’ve made progress recently. I’ve bound the Roebuck and I’m currently quilting that last border, so the end is nigh.

This is a quilt Boak loved, and he had been encouraging me to apply myself to finishing the quilting, so I have a little extra motivation going on here!

IMG_0601

Please pop on over to Lynne’s blog, get her button and join in the fun.

YearofFPbutton_zps3eaeb2c3

Red rose  Di

12 comments:

  1. Love your Roebuck and Robyn Evans has her Roebuck hanging in her studio at Mona Vale and it is amazing too. Patchwork on Pittwater is her shop/studio. I'm sure she would love to see yours finished. I'm making the hexys for mine at the moment and using bright fabric as mine is a roebuck with a twist:) Thank you for sharing and enjoy finishing your Roebuck:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Di, that is lovely! Had you thought about putting a dedication to Boak on the label, as he liked it so much?

    ReplyDelete
  3. You certainly do have motivation to finish it -- in many ways!

    Glad to have you join the party!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love this one! You've got some really wonderful, cheery, reproduction fabrics in it. I can't imagine hand sewing a quilt on a ship like that. I get so car sick any time I try to read or stitch, I'm sure I would be a REAL MESS if I tried something on a bucking, rolling ship!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm glad to see you have the motivation and excitement to finish this beautiful quilt. It's truly stunning. As for UFOs, I'm resisting all enticements to join in those challenges. Though I have 17 UFOs, and can account for every one of them (on my blog menu tab), I don't want to set myself up for failure. So I will work on them when I can (so MANY are hand work!) and hope to knock a few off the list by 2013. Good for you to make the UFO commitment. I'll be cheering with you, and enjoying watching you complete each one.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Di~~ This quilt is absolutely beautiful!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Di~~~The quilt is absolutely Beautiful!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Di this is a lovely quilt - I'm looking forward to seeing it completed. I too will be working on some UFOs but also tackling getting my sewing room more organized so I can find things. :) blessings, marlene

    ReplyDelete
  9. Pretty quilt. It's soo nice to see that there are people who still hand quilt. What a wonderful legacy to leave posterity. =)

    hugZ,
    annie

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from you, so please leave me a comment.