By Diane Harris, HQ Stitch Brand Ambassador

I quilted another UFO and for the first time I do not feel like I totally messed it up. I think I have turned a corner.

This is a crib-size quilt I made from two sets of UFO blocks. The flowers are from a pattern called Daisiez by Jan Mullen, who was way ahead of her time with improvisational piecing. I made them at least 15 years ago.

The little baskets are from a book called Cuddle Me Quick by Christine Porter and Darra Williamson, published by Martingale. They shared a free tutorial on how to make the little baskets on See How We Sew. I love the technique, which gives you two at a time. It’s very clever.

Toward the end of 2019, I got all the UFOs I could find out of the cupboards and photographed them. That’s when I noticed that the colors in the Daisiez and the baskets worked together.

There may be designers who get it right on the first try, but that rarely happens to me. I have to mess around and take time to play, and I have to see what does not work before I discover what does.

As soon as I tried this, I knew it was right! I joined the blocks and decided on a yellow inner border.

I thought a checkerboard would pull it together but I didn’t like it. It seemed too active, as if it was competing with the center for attention.

I tried little baskets for a second border along with piano keys. The piano keys seemed to be the answer.

I’ve been practicing machine quilting a lot recently. I have the HQ Capri stationary longarm. Companies used to call them “sit-down” machines, but the Capri can be used while sitting or standing, so “stationary” is an apt description because the machine does not move on a carriage like we think of longarms doing.

It sits still on its Insight table (with stitch regulation!) and you move the quilt freely in its 18″ of throat space. Heavenly.

I may not need a therapist after all (see previous post) because this time I had a plan! Tomorrow I’ll show you how I decided to quilt this UFO.

I’m so happy that it’s not a UFO any more!

Quilt on,