Julie put out a challenge for us to show our oldest UFO. Well here is mine. I am guesstimating this is about 17-18 years old as I remember the home I lived in when I started it. All the 9 patches are hand pieced and the rows are also hand pieced. The rows are put together by machine and so is the border. I hand quilted this quilt by putting a wreath of hearts in the solid squares and single hearts in the 9 patch squares. 
I took my very first quilting stitches on this quilt. *Heavy sigh* Here is where it all went wrong. I was a BRAND new quilter and had work so hard on this quilt. It was to be a gift for my mom. I was 3 blocks away from being done, when a fellow guild member said "Is that cotton batting? You need to quilt every inch when using cotton batting! THAT WILL NEVER HOLD UP!" I felt very foolish...so I went back and started to cross hatch every single inch of this quilt. 
My skills developed as I began and finished other smaller projects and as time went on, this quilt was stored. I decided to give my parents quilts for Christmas one year and pulled this out to finish up for my mother. Now remember, I taught myself to quilt and had no previous sewing experience. This being my first non-tied quilt, it was full of mistakes. .JPG)
MANY corners did not come close to matching up, and the borders..... 
All 4 corners are like this....what was the plan here??? I have no idea. It was my own version of putting on a border. Of course this will never work.
.JPG)
I came across this, for the umpteenth time in as many years.... .JPG)
I just love this quilt and will someday make it (or a smaller version of it)...it is one of my oldest UFO's that has never made it out of my dreams.
.JPG)
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13 comments:
A very lovely UFO, you should just quilt a bit on it each day and before you know it it would be done. The corners can be remendied with a bit of immagination. Keep working on it.
I didn´t know that cotton batting had to be quilted every inch!!!
I never heard that about cotton batting?
Still one day you might finish, & I am sure the corners could be easily finished.
Perhaps the border isn't a border at all?
I piece extra pieces along the side of the quilt so that I have extra room to move my quilt hoop to the edge to stitch. Why not use them that way... and then remove them when you have finished the inside quilting and apply the binding...
unless that is you have already started to quilt into them...I couldn't tell from the photo.
I will show my oldest UFO this week, also and unfinished hand quilted log cabin...somewhere around 8 years or so...the quilting is a hoot!
Wat memories! I can remember sitting around your table helping you mark on that cross-hatching...or am I dreaming that?
Why not quilt on it for only 10 minutes a day? What a lovely memory it would be to see it out...and it would match so nicely in your little living room!
I don't even know what my oldest UFO is, I might have to show a few! LOL.
I certainly don't quilt my cotton batting every inch, but hey that's me! I love those Amish quilt blocks.
You might look to see if the cotton batting you used has a scrim that holds the cotton in place. If it does you might not have to quilt every inch - but since you started the cross hatching you may want to finish up with it some day to make the whole quilt the same. Some day you might want to pick it up again and finish it up - you never know! I', going to have to dig up my oldest UFO!
Wow -- a lot of work in that quilt. I can see why you don't want to finish it though. Have you thought about maybe (hold on here don't have a panic attack) cutting it up and using the pieces for something smaller? Maybe a wallhanging of part of it to remind you of how far you've come along with some pieces made into other projects? It could be a great way to use the UFO that you're not planning on finishing. Just an idea :0).
My oldest UFO is a cross stitch about 12 - 13 years old. I have a couple of UFO quilts about 10 years old and other assorted goodies.
Loved the pics,
blessings,
Hi Bren!
Long time no posting! What can I say. I've been busy with life. I guess a good kind of business! I have exciting news though! I signed up for a quilting class! It will be 4 Tuesdays in May. We are going to be doing a queen-sized log cabin quilt. I am a little wary...but the lady said for a first time, I should be fine. So excited though! I know it won't be perfect....but that's ok. I wish you were here to help me pick out material! I am intimidated by that, because it can be so hard for me to make choices!
I know what you mean about wanting to open up your windows!!! I do, but I have to limit it, because of hubby's allergies!
And where do you get these wild and crazy ads? They are hilarious!
Blessings!
Monique
its a nice quilt Bren... my oldest UFO is so old that its now an antique !
The corners on you quilt could be finished with cornerstones to even tehm out. I'll have to think about my oldest Ufo, now that I have been pulling them out and getting them finished. Recently I posted several that were at least 10 years old. I'm sure I have a few more lurking about.
Wow! I'm impressed...you hand pieced and hand quilted--I've never done either--unless you count my one and only practice sandwich for hand quilting! I love the quilt you ended up giving her too! They're both lovely :)
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