This queen sized quilt is one that I made out from someone else’s UFO. One day last fall, I received an email offering a partially made quilt top and coordinating fabric. An unknown quilter had gifted it to Judy, who was moving to a new home and purging her sewing area. Judy needed to pass this along. This was the photo.
Judy’s UFO Gift
The photo intrigued me. Confident that I could finish assembling the quilt, put on some borders and then quilt it, I gladly accepted the UFO. I like a challenge. However, when it arrived, I saw it in a different light. The photo does not show the intensity of the chrome yellow fabric. When I put it up on my design wall to consider how I would finish it, I found the yellow and red fought for dominance in the quilt. Every time I walked by, I shuddered. It bothered me so much that I ended up taking it all apart. I used the extra fabric to make more red and white singleton blocks with a polka dot center. I made a few half snowball blocks to extend the points out into the negative space beyond the center. Then I added a red check inner border and a red polka dot outer border to finish the top.
Before I quilted it, I noticed a dirt smudge on one of the snowball blocks. I decided to spot wash it before I quilted it. It came clean and I hung it to dry. The next day when I mounted it on the longarm, I noticed that the colour from the red check fabric had bled into the white fabric. After a quick internet search on what to do when excess dye runs, I ran to the grocery store to buy Dawn detergent. I filled the bathtub with lukewarm water, added half a cup of Dawn and then laid out the top to soak in the soapy mixture for three hours. I was a tad stressed as I saw the water turn a lovely shade of pink. Apparently, there is something about the Dawn detergent that makes the colour suspend in the water and not in the fabric. I followed the recommendations for draining and rinsing. It came out perfectly with no bleeding visible. Just to be on the safe side, I repeated the whole procedure, but I did not need to do so. No more dye came out. I’m glad to know this trick. It will come in handy again, I am sure!
With that ordeal over, I quilted it with a lush feather edge to edge design that sets it off nicely. The binding is a tonal red fabric that visually contains those polka dots! I’m pleased with the final outcome of this quilt.
This quilt won Grand Champion, Machine Quilting at the 2016 Wellesley Fall Fair. It now goes into my stash of wedding gift quilts for some future bride and groom to select.
I have a plan underway for what to do with the leftover yellow and red nine patch blocks. It involves a bottle of brown dye! I am certain that most people with not recognize them as having been part of the original UFO.
ufocoach 
Wow!! What a story and what a wonderful outcome — an award winning quilt. I love this quilt, and wish I was getting married again so I could choose it! So glad you were able to do something with that “amazing” fabric!!
amy
Amy, I’m especially glad you like it. Thank you for the tempting offer of this bag of fabric and quilt. It was a wonderful challenge and I am delighted with how it came out. I will be excited to show both you and Judy the next quilt made with the leftover blocks sometime in 2017! Thanks for thinking of me. I love quilt rescue!