2012 UFO Challenge

Giants Win In Overtime - Superbowl XLVI
just had to get that out.

I met last week with Jill and Susan and instead of starting a new challenge project, we've decided to finish some UFOs this year.

We are also going to swap flying geese units every month.  We've decided to use bright, fresh fabrics and solids for fun.  I'll post when I've made my first sets.

Here in her own words is Jill's UFO project:

After Barb introduced me to English paper piecing, I have fallen in love with it, the accuracy which I could never attain otherwise and the relaxation of whip stitching together the prepared pieces.   Of course it is additional steps, with the basting and paper removal, but I enjoy the results very much.

I started this "star" project some time ago and picked this as my UFO for this Barb/Susan/Jill quilt-finishing deadline!   I have yet to come up with a nice setting design, so I am not sure how many star blocks I need.  I am thinking maybe six and as you can see,  I only have two finished, almost three.   I had better "put a fire under it"...lol.

 I also want to do a setting where the multi-colored stars seem to "float" on the black background and I also hope to come up with an appliqué design to add to either the center of the quilt and/or the border.   I love the combo of pieced and appliqué...my favorite.

Barb thinks perhaps the appliqué will be too busy, as it is already pretty colorful.   So I am rethinking that.  Right now I want to finish the six blocks,  put them on my design wall and try to finalize a plan.

Here in her own words is Susan's UFO project-

It was easy for me to pick my UFO challenge.  This quilt has been on my design wall for months....and months....waiting for the border.

"POTUS 1789-1901" is a quilt I designed with the quilting in mind.  It is a two block quilt.  The president block looks odd, silly really but placing a wreath stencil on top to show what the quilting will look like gives a better idea of where I am going.

The president images are from an old Windham line.  I thought there was a misprint at first because one president had two images.  A check of the facts showed that the printing was correct.  One president served two terms but not consecutively.  I love making quilts that include little bits of history.

And here is mine -

I started this quilt in 2009 to commemorate (again) the 2008 Summer Olympics.  I loved that the opening ceremony was on 8-8-08.  It would be great to finish this one before the 2012 games open in London!

I put this away when I started working on my Mother's Garden quilt and other projects for the quilt show last November.  I have posted on this quilt before and you can find them by typing "olympic star" in the search box.

I have the quilting area you see on the upper left hand side, then binding and labeling.

I will reporting back on these projects.  Our deadline is set for mid-April.

Are you currently finishing last years (or the last 5 years) projects?  It seems every year we quilters try to finish our UFOs.  Why is it so much more fun to start them?