Quilting UFO?
A Quilting UFO is a quilty Un-Finished Object (Project). For me, I think of them as UFPs – Un-Finished Projects. You may also hear quilters talk about WIP – Work in Progress. Lately, most of mine have been UFPs – Unfinished Projects.
Quilting UFO or UFPs – So many projects
During the organization process of the Creative Chaos Room (oxymoron?), I found that I had way too many unfinished projects. I know I am not alone in this – and isn’t it great to know others have numerous projects too? I get so excited about starting a new project that I often abandon the one I was working on….at least that was how it was in the past.
Projects with a Purpose
I am much more successful with completing projects when they have a purpose. The gifts for my children and grandchildren are much easier to finish than a project with no specific purpose.
My next hand quilting project will be for my hubby and me. The mystery quilt I created for the Facebook page in 2020 or 2021 is a quilt for our bed. I spent hours layering and securing those layers – getting ready for quilting. This hand quilting project won’t be as intensive as the whole cloth quilt, so it shouldn’t take two years to complete.
Quilting UFO Checklist
With the rest of my projects, I will organize them from the quickest project for completion first. I find that I have stages of quilting.
- Stage 6: Quilt Projects that need binding and labels – so close to being finished!
- I have
46 projects at this stage, most a small projects that I can finish in a weekend. I need to get them on the calendar! I’m a planner – so it helps to write down what I am going to work on.- I finished the original 4 projects. Now to finish the bindings on the next 6.
- I have
- Stage 5: Projects that need the quilting finished – I’ve started the quilting, but for whatever reason, I set it aside
- I have 3 projects at this stage.
- Stage 4: Projects that are layered and ready to quilt – I get so excited when the layering is done – it is so hard on this person’s back and neck. Usually, I set it down while waiting for quilting supplies to come in. If it sits too long, I get side-tracked
- 3 projects – I just added a project to this stage. I am waiting for stencils and threads to arrive to start hand quilting a king-size quilt for our bed.
- Stage 3: Projects that the tops are finished but not layered. Oh, I need to find the time and energy to layer these quilts. I love seeing the results of the piecing but kind of dread the layering stage.
98 small projects – I finished machine quilting 3 of them over the summer, but I added 2 more to this pile1210 large projects
- Stage 2: Projects that the top need to be finished. These projects tend to be the ones that I lose interest in, they aren’t turning out the way I thought. They can also be the ones I created for a class but didn’t have time to quilt. They do look pretty folded nicely and stacked.
820 projects – I found a tote with more projects. Two of them I will abandon – I am not happy with the way the fabrics look together, so those fabrics will go back into my stash.
- Stage 1: New projects that I want to start. New projects feed my creativity; they also get me in trouble. It is the reason I have so many UFPs.
42 projects
- Stage 0: Yes, I have a Stage 0. It is those moments when my creative side is restless and needs something to feed it.
Storing your Quilting UFOs
How do you store your unfinished projects? Ziplock bags? Plastic totes? Baskets? How about all the above?! For most of the projects, I even remembered to add the pattern, the book, and the leftover fabrics. These projects have survived three moves as well as storage. I only found one or two projects were open and pieces and parts all over the place. We will see what happens to those.
Forever UnFinished Projects?
Are there projects that you don’t ever finish? Do you gift them to someone else who likes to quilt, donate to a charity or church group for completing, toss them out, pack them away for someone to discover when you are gone? I can’t even imagine my boys going through all my stuff and wanting any of it. They love the completed quilts, though. I can see my niece enjoying some of the things.
So in between the Block of the Month, I will continue organizing projects I need to finish. It will give me more space in my room. I will be able to do some demonstrations at the same time.
Please share what you have found helpful for organizing your projects or some charity groups that would love to have some projects.
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Until next time.
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