Painbox Quilt Top – Completed after a LONG time

Well I guess I’ve been on a mission to finish off my UFOs. When I started working on them I didn’t think that I was going to focus on them so much…I just wanted to motivate myself to get a couple off of my plate. But now that I’ve started, I can’t stop!

I keep procrastinating on making my last swoon block (I did actually make a ton of progress on it the other day but it got put on the back burner again) and so I pulled out a totally random UFO from 2.5 years ago I think! In fact when I posted pictures, one of my friends laughed and said she thought I had finished it over a year ago. Nope. It’s been nearly done since then…but not.

What project you ask? Why, my paintbox quilt. Talk about a blast from the past. A couple of years ago when Quilt alongs were few and far between, Elizabeth Hartman was the driving force behind most of them and this was one of hers. But I of course being me couldn’t do things the way everyone else was doing it. What’s the fun in that? 😉

Paintbox Quilt Top

So I made these blocks eventually and settled on a sashing (yellow grunge!) and sewed my blocks into rows to prevent more of THIS happening. This was the cat, not the baby. lol

Paintbox Quilt Top

And labeled and partially constructed, this quilt top sat, whispering at me from the bottom of the box it was in. I successfully ignored the quilt for another year or so… but then this past week I pulled it out and decided that it must be finished!

Paintbox Quilt Top

You might have to look a little more closely to see my rainbow, but it is there running diagonally across the quilt. One jelly roll and some yardage of the print I used created a heck of a lot of piecing!

It was a picture like this that Elizabeth posted originally of her top that inspired me to start this quilt along to begin with. So I was determined to get this shot. You can see the insane amount of small squares and strips there are. I don’t quite remember but I know that a lot of those were about an 1 1/2″ wide.

Paintbox Quilt Top

Paintbox Quilt Top

Paintbox Quilt Top

I never get tired of the stain glass look of a quilt top against the light. So pretty.

So I’m officially finished with this project as far as I’m concerned. I told my friend Kelly that I was channeling her and trying to just finish it. You see she has amazing powers of speedy quilting and would have finished this years ago! Plus it’s a rainbow and squares…all things that make me think of her. Long story short, I’m giving the top to Kelly and letting her complete and keep it. I told her if I had to quilt it then I would keep it…but she was welcome to the top. And she wanted it! So I’m thrilled to send it off to her and can’t wait to see her finish it in a day or so. 😉 It will soon be basking in sun with her in Florida!

Paintbox Quilt Top

I’m proud of myself for finishing it. Honestly I wasn’t sure I would. But my motivation held through and I have one more long term outstanding project finished.

And after all that work to get the window shot, it turns out that this is really my favorite picture of the quilt top.

Paintbox Quilt Top

Anyone else have an unfinished paintbox quilt and can feel my pain? lol This was a more involved project than I anticipated when I started. Again, Project UFO has been great and supportive and I can’t wait to share some of their finishes with you all. Everyone seems a little embarrassed by the number of UFOs that they have. But all I can say is that you are in good company…I have MANY more to go…and they just get bigger and more unfinished. lol

34 thoughts on “Painbox Quilt Top – Completed after a LONG time”

  1. The quilt looks lovely. and I laughed out loud at the mess the cat made. I know all too weel how that goes. Seems like when I lay anything down on the floor it is an animal magnet. 🙂

  2. That is a massive quilt with tons of piecing. Must feel great!!! Keep going, I'm looking forward to seeing what other treasures you have folded in the bottom of boxes!

  3. I have a half-finished (quarter finished?) paintbox quilt too, though mine is all done in prints from Basic Grey's Eva line. I don't think I've even finished cutting out all the blocks yet, though I know I've got a bunch cut but not pieced. I'm sure it'll be gorgeous whenever I get it finished, but it's hard to come back to, knowing much more work is left to go. (I better hope I have enough yardage for finishing the back because I'm sure I won't be finding more of those fabrics now.)

  4. The quilt top is lovely. When I saw your blog post title I was intrigued…you see the title left out the T in Paintbox and I wasn't smart enough to think Paintbox, I thought Painbox and wondered is this some sort of therapeutic quilt? A place to box up all your pain and get rid of it? Or what? I feel a little silly, but got a good laugh from my "duh" moment. And then at the end of the post you asked if we could feel your pain. So maybe the title was a Freudian slip?

  5. LOL – I HAD thought you'd finished that quilt top! 🙂 It's gorgeous done, and I still love that you used one print throughout. Kelly is very very lucky. xoxo

  6. Well–I am glad I am not the only one—I just finished MY Paintbox quilt (see it on my blog—patricia-myquiltingadventure.blogspot.com). I am quilting it now and feeling good. Love your colors–the soft yellow is perfect with your prints.

  7. That's a fabulous way-old finish! And it will have such a nice home when done.

    I don't have a paintbox, but I have a bento box that has been sitting for a few years now! Perhaps I should pull that out.

  8. Ohhh the cat thing… when I saw that it reminded me of my crossword puzzle quilt. All those squares, figured out and then instant scramble! Blah!

    Love the finished look 🙂

  9. Can you tell I'm stalking your blog today??

    Anyway have you ever counted up all your ufo's?? I wonder how many you have!

    I have a bunch of ufo's too, that I'm trying to finish. This seems to be the UFO year!

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