I wish I could say I don't have any UFOs but that would be a lie. I have never finished my very first quilt, although I don't think that is a very big deal.I wasn't happy with the fact that my stars had no points, so I had a hard time putting any effort into finishing it. I did make a "second" first quilt using almost all of the same fabric that I did finish, using the skills that I learned from making mistakes on the other one.
I am always so excited to get started on a new project and am so focused on it, but then real life gets in the way and its hard to get back to working on it. Deadlines help a lot, but some projects don't have deadlines or, in all honesty, I choose to ignore them.
One of these projects was a gift for a past president of the guild to which I was a member. She has a thing for clowns, so I designed a quilt with that theme in mind. I finished the blocks fairly quickly, then when it wasn't finished by the time I had planned, I put it aside and quickly forgot about it.
I ran into this lady at a function last fall and since she was aware of the quilt, it came up in our conversation. I promised her it would be in the guild's next show, if accepted, and she could have it after that. Do you think I went home and started working on it again? Nope, not me. The show is in mid-April, so I have plenty of time to finish it in time if I stop fooling around!
I'm curious about how others work on their projects. Do you make yourself finish one before starting another? Do you have multiple projects going at the same time? Why does a project end up in your UFO pile?
This has been a bad habit of mine for my entire life and any advice you could give me would be much appreciated. Not sure if I will take any of it, but I am definitely willing to listen!
MESSAGE TO M:
Yes, I am aware of the terrible thing you are doing to my friend. I am also aware of how often you check my blog to see if I am going to talk about it. That is more of a question of "when" not "if". I am simply waiting to see how ugly this gets.
Cute little clown block. :-) Yes, I am a multiple projects at once gal~ I set little goals and I do eventually finish the projects. Sometimes I start something more to learn the technique than to make the project~ those are what turn into ufo's. Most of the time I'll make a quick something with those blocks and not try to finish a whole project. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI hate calling you crazy, but since its all I have, I guess I have to! Crazy, I like the way you think about learning a new technique. That way you don't have the guilt associated with an unfinished project lying around, especially if you do make SOMETHING out of it.
ReplyDeleteSuch a cute block! I, too, have multiple projects going at a time. I am getting better at finishing things (I'm trying to follow the finish two old quilts before starting something new to catch up rule that I imposed on myself). But, I do like having multiple projects to work on (to a point, anyway), because different things call me at different times. Kind of like books - I usually have 3 or 4 going at any one time o:)!
ReplyDeleteIf I have a deadline, I usually will finish it, whatever it is. If not, it goes into the pile that I'm gonna finish some day...even if the ufo becomes a part of a charity quilt. Still, I have enough ufos now to keep me busy for at least a year.
ReplyDeleteThanks Denise, I'm glad you like my block! I barely have time or the concentration to get through one book, I can't believe you can read more than one at a time!
ReplyDeleteLinda, at least you don't leave them as UFOs forever!
ReplyDeleteI used to call them UFOs, but now, they're WIPs (Works in Progress.) I made a New Year's Resolution this year to finish some of them, and I am almost done with two! Woo Hoo! I just hope I can keep the momentum going.
ReplyDeleteYvonne, I love the positive spin you put on your projects! I'm going to take a lesson from you since I need to work on being more positive.
ReplyDeleteI think this is absolutely adorable!!!
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