Category: Behind the Seams

Welcome to UFOvember!

They lurk at the back of our craft cupboards, taking up space and emotional energy: the UnFinished Objects.
You started the project with the best of intentions, but then you ran out of something: materials, time, passion for the project, motivation, direction (how do I quilt it????), the skills to do it justice…
You’ve invested precious time and money into the project, so you’re not about to trash it. With the pandemic putting further pressure on our crafty budgets, time, and energy, this is the perfect time to dust off those UFOs and help them back on their journey to completion (and potentially fast track some holiday gifting!).
Welcome to UFOvember! Over the next 30 days, I invite you to join me in examining our crafty orphans and deciding whether to Resume work on them as planned, Rework them with a Plan B, or Rehome them to another crafter, who can joyfully get them across the finish line.

The Evolution of Retro Tetro

Retro Tetro was the first quilt pattern that I ever published. But before that, an earlier version of it was also the first quilt that I ever designed and made. (It’s also my oldest UFO, but let’s ignore that for now!)

My goal was to make a baby blanket that looked like a Tetris game that was going well. All results when I searched for images of “Tetris blanket” showed a major lack of understanding of how the game was played. In fact, they looked like someone was deliberately trying to play the worst game of Tetris possible, making it impossible to get any full rows.

As a non-quilter, I started the design process in PowerPoint. It was my go-to program for drawing geometric shapes, and I knew my way around it very well.

Vortex Quilt – Crib Size in Phosphor

Y’all know I love a good rainbow quilt! Yet somehow when I saw all the beautiful day-glow colours in my friend Libs Elliott’s Phosphor collection, it didn’t occur to me that they would actually make a really awesome rainbow, until she posted a picture of them all lined up in rainbow order.
I immediately ran over to mock up this baby Vortex quilt and then begged for some fat quarters to make a sample. It was June. It was Pride month. It was the awesome neon quilt that the world needed in that moment!

Cuteness overload warning: Making a quilted apron

This cute little apron is a modification of a pattern from my friend Dara Tomasson’s new book Walk, Jog, Run. I used these adorable Pine Lullaby prints from Art Gallery Fabrics and cut the squares at half the size to make a toddler size version of the apron. It came together super quickly, and I just love how it turned out.