Cool Quilt

I've no recollection at all, really, of who it was that suggested I look into the Patchwork Penguin's annual UFO challenge as a way of coming to grips with my UFO abundance.  To whoever you are:  I'm once again grateful to you!

The way this challenge works is that Patchwork Penguin asked each participant to select ten UFOs and give each one a number.  Then, beginning in January, each month she randomly chooses a number and that is the UFO we work on for that month.  I decided that for UFOs that were nearly-completed tops, finishing would mean getting them quilted and bound.  For UFOs that were bunches of blocks or some blocks made and fabric to make more blocks, completion would mean getting them assembled into a top to be quilted and bound sometime in the future.

Friends, it has worked for me.  As of tonight, I am six for six.  The top above was my Project #9:  Amish "solids" with black.  When I got into the box that held the blocks, it turned out there were way more than I had remembered and putting them all together was way too jumbly.  So I sorted out the cool colored blocks and put them on point with solid black squares separating them.  It will eventually be quilted and then bound using one of the cool colors.  I'm considering this my finish for June and will put the rest of the blocks away -- if Penguin runs this challenge again next year, I'll pick out another group for another top.

It has worked well for me to get my projects to flimsy stage and then to shelve them until a quilt is needed.  Then I get it quilted and bound.  The flimsies take up much less room than finished quilts do.  And somehow it is easier on the checkbook this way, too.