One from the vaults.

Most crafters I know have what we fondly refer to as WIPs (works in progress) or UFOs (unfinished objects).

They are projects that have been started, usually with much enthusiasm, that somehow, somewhere in between that glorious feeling of picking out new fabrics and the triumph of completion, fall by the wayside. Maybe something more exciting came along to distract us, maybe the project wasn't turning out as originally envisaged, maybe we got bored with the colours...for whatever reason, they fall, neglected, to the bottom of our work baskets.

Believe me, I have more than my share of UFOs. So many, in fact, that at one point they were overwhelming me.

So I made myself a little rule...if I haven't sewn a stitch in a particular project in the last 6 months, it is allowed to fall off my UFO radar...in other words, it doesn't count :)

That rule was working well for me until I found myself on holidays in Esperance in January, with very little stitching prepared. Desperate for something to occupy my hands, I reached to the bottom of my work basket and pulled out a UFO that has been sitting there for years. And years. It was Block One of a quilt called Fairy Kisses.

I purchased the pattern as a Block of the Month back in February 2006. I know this because the receipt was still in the packet :) From there, they piled up each and every month, until I had the full complement of patterns, and MUCH less space in my cupboard.

So why did I not stitch them? Well, there were many reasons :)

I had seen the original pattern at a craft fair, and ordered it by phone (I had no internet back then). I had just started decorating baby Merryn's bedroom, and asked for the colourway to be changed from turquoise/pink to mauve/ pink to match her bedroom...so until Block Five arrived, I had no real idea of what the actual colours would be, so couldn't choose my threads.

And when the fabrics finally DID arrive? I hated them. And also realised that the pattern I was receiving was not, in fact, the quilt that I thought it was....and I really didn't like some of the fairies AT ALL.

So there it sat, at the bottom of my work basket...a piece of embroidery that looked like it would never be finished, let alone a whole quilt!

When I started stitching it, I realised that I really like the technique. You colour the fabric with coloured pencils, blending as you go. After the stitching is complete, you cover the pencil markings with a textile medium to hold the colour...it's sort of cool.

So I persevered and completed the stitching, adding some silver for the fairy wings, and changing some of the thread colours...there is some serious stitching in this middle block! Then I went to my stash and traded some of the fabrics that really screamed at me for some that are more my style...and added some polkadots for good measure :)

I'm planning to make more changes as I go along, and hopefully in the end I will have a quilt that Merryn will like.

And let's be honest here...it probably won't look a lot like the pattern...

...watch this space :)

TTFN xxx