New Projects, Old Issues

Why, oh why, am I starting new projects with so many UFOs hanging over my head?  Yet here I am - with new beginnings.  First, I agreed to be part of an exchange of blocks last September.  I finally got the blocks back from the other gals, and put mine together.

The quilt was designed by Susan Claire (www.susanclaire.com).  Eight friends and I decided to do ours as an exchange, dividing the quilt into 9 sections.  I chose to put mine on a very dark grey background.  The others opted for a very light grey.  I like the way it looks on the dark better - but that's just me.  I sashed and assembled the blocks and put borders on this week (took 3 days!).  But now I have yet again another flimsy that needs to be quilted.

My mini-group decided to make a series of seasonal quilts from a book by Vicki Schweitzer.  We decided to start with summer so we'd have plenty of time to finish the quilt and enjoy it for the season we made it for.  (If we'd started with spring it would have been at least half over before we got to hang the quilts).  The top went much faster than I expected it to - I guess I'm getting better at machine applique (I don't do hand applique at all... tried it - not my cup of tea).  I modified the pattern a little, but this is it - again, not quilted yet...

I really need to get through my pile of tops and start actually QUILTING.  Meanwhile my longarm sits gathering dust in the family room.  I'm surprised my husband hasn't blown a gasket by now - though he does hint from time to time about how much I spent on it and that I'm not using it.  Nudge nudge nudge.... *cries*... I wish I could get over being intimidated by it all.