I’ve been reading small hands for a long time. It’s written by an African-American (I think – this may be my term and not hers) single mom lawyer who does things with crafts and food that make me envious. She signs herself “a.”
Recently she highlighted an idea offered by acechick. It’s called the finish along. Acechick’s concept was to have knitters swap and finish each other’s languishing projects, the ones that are practically done but just need finishing. Finishing is apparently some technical knitting term that surely involves witchcraft.
a. of small hands proposed a variant where you commit to finishing your own unfinished projects and post the pictures on your blog as you go. She set herself a deadline: 3 quilts, 100 days. She’s already finished her first one. I never thought I was that big on white sashing, but with the quilting she’s done it’s quite lovely. All y’all quilters out there should check it out.
I have 9 projects sitting on my quilt rack waiting to be finished, after having spent $3200 on a new sewing machine in March that I have barely used yet. Some of these projects just need quilting and binding, one needs borders. I hereby commit to finishing them all in the next 100 days:
From left to right, oldest to newest:
- Alien baby quilt, started in 1998 for myself. I made a replica for a friend’s daughter, but never finished my own. it needs quilting.
- Round fish quilt, for me. Started in…1999? Needs quilting and binding.
- Tiny paper-pieced wall hanging, I think the block is called Oddfellows. Started in Boston c. 1999, needs quilting and binding.
- Lightweight flannel that needs to be made into a super-large baby blanket. I made one already for my sister last fall when my nephew couldn’t sleep without being swaddled. I had so much trouble with it that I wanted to use starch on the second one, but then it took me forever to buy starch and now I’m afraid of it. Note to self: deal.
- Bugs quilt, which I bought the fabric for two years ago. It’s for my nephew Nicholas, who is now one and a half. Needs quilting and binding.
- Lizard baby blanket with ribbon “tags”, needs quilting. I made this prototype for myself this spring to figure out how to make the green one for my nephew, which is next.
- Green “tinkertoys” blanket with ribbon “tags.” I dreamed up the idea while visiting my sister in Colorado a year ago, because my nephew was in the stage where he was obsessed with grabbing tags on clothing and trying to eat them. This needs quilting. It will be for the new baby in my sister’s household, since by now my nephew is past the tag stage.
- Ocean quilt, for my friend E’s baby daughter. I got it pieced before she was born this spring, then it fell by the wayside. Needs quilting and binding.
And on the wall:
Crop circles quilt, started as a holiday present for my ex-husband in 1999. Though I wish with all my heart that I could do over the machine applique (it’s a mess), I’m not going to. It needs squaring and probably an additional border to stabilize it, then quilting and binding.
100 days from now is, I think, January 31st. Time to get moving. After all, my sister’s having another baby and Jped and his wife are having twins, so I have three more commitments behind these old projects!