UFOs

 20/10/20 - I have to post today!

I am in several online textile groups and people have been doing all sorts of things. One that caught my eye the other day was someone who had got out some UFOs and was actually (gasp) finishing them. 

That started me remembering: I have several pieces that range from the mid-1980s to earlier this year. I got out one, a hand pieced log cabin double bed quilt - it is HUGE because I must have thought that bedspreads went to the ground on beds, I think I was remembering the old chenille bedspreads that did (if I am actually remembering correctly). 

It is made up of many, many pieces of fabric. Polyester fabrics were all the go in those days, so it has a mix of pure cotton and polycottons, probably some polyester too. Fortunately, that won't matter much as they were all sewn onto a backing block, so differences in fabric weight and, hopefully, shrinking rates should not come into consideration. 

The method was to draw up a grid on the backing fabric, then cut the top layer into strips, fold them in half and line them up with the grid. Then you cut the strips to be the length  you want to fill in the next part of the grid. You sew along the fold, lined up with the grid and then folded the piece over and lay the next piece of fabric over that - you end up with three layers of fabric. This is a very effective method, easy to do. But ... if your quilt is large, it weighs a LOT. I weighed mine last night - two and a half kilos!! And that is without the batting or a backing piece. 

Now it will either go back into the cupboard or I will try to finish it off. 

One idea is to put felt on the back, doing away with the wadding/batting and backing fabric altogether, and using it as a throw on a couch. Another suggestion, (I asked some of the people at my Zoom meeting for the Embroiderers Guild's Creative Play group today) to use it as a floor rug. Another is to unpick it and make some smaller quilts. 

All too hard today! At least I have seen it again and will let some ideas run around in my head. I'll have to source some felt or backing of some sort that will be big enough too!