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Let’s chat Unfinished projects, that would be a UFO in ‘Quilt-Talk’ .. I have thoughts… many thoughts! Read on!
I’ve had lots of discussions over the years about how to handle UFOs. Sometimes several things happen and I then feel the frantic need to get them under control
This week when I chatted with Lindsay on my talk show she mentioned ‘Did she have the passion to work on that quilt’. I have not been able to stop thinking about that. And then because I’m getting ready for new things, finishing up things, my own work area became crazy and I needed to address it.
So first.. I want to say if you do not have an unfinished project … most quilters may want to take your pulse…. wink! Most of us have many that have not been worked on for.. cough.. awhile..
When I got my projects out to reorganize the storage of them yesterday I found the two above.
How did I decide if they are worth working on?
- When I found the top group of Cozy Christmas blocks, I got SO excited! I’d TOTALLY forgotten about that project. I love the big scale blocks, the darling fabric and that a TON Of blocks are DONE already. Enough i could set them without making many more .. STATUS? KEEP
- Then the second group of coney island. Again I got VERY excited to see the coney island fabric and I’d TOTALLY .. again.. forgotten about that project. BUT.. not many blocks done. And I started to think about it and realized that I was not feeling the love to make more of those blocks. They are to be stars. But I just was not excited when making them. BUT I love the fabric… STATUS? DO NOT CONTINUE with this pattern. BUT since I like the fabric, I’ll find a new project for it. And the pieces already done? I have a box of orphan blocks They eventually will be use for .. something.. but it’s better to have them in there than a whole project not being worked on.
Leave me a comment telling me
What is your BIGGEST Issue when dealing with a UFO
and would you like me to do a series on UFO Busting?
- Find the Cozy Christmas Fabric HERE & you can still get some Coney Island
- Read my newsletter HERE.
- Listen to my chat with Lindsay
- ENTER my Fabulous Friday Giveaway & Download my free Button club patterns
- FIND all my UFO Posts from this year and many prior years
168 Responses
I had a friend tell me to make a list of each of my UFOs and what needed to be done. I asked what I would do next year. LOL
Do you eat every morsel of food that comes in the house? Do you wear every piece of clothing you bought? Do you read every book? You enjoyed the fabrics/project at the time. Gift it and move on.
I enjoyed the UFO program I joined and did get some finished. I am going to look at the ones I have now and see if I can find a home for them. I’ll follow your lead and decide which ones excite me when I think of finishing them.
Most of my UGOs are UFOs because I have run out of a fabric
that I felt I needed to complete the project and I’m at a loss for
how to proceed. Would love a class on where to go when that happens!
Would also like to know how to make repairs on an old quilt!
Lol, my problem is that I love and want to finish all of my UFOs. Selling the quilt tops is a good idea, as someone suggested. Seeing a new project that I adore usually does not stop me from starting it, regardless of how many UFOs I already have, lol. 2018 will likely be the year that I attempt to tackle all of my UFOs.
I really need some help and tips on how to cut accurate pieces. Thanks!
I think the first question would be “What made me stop making this quilt?” And the second question “Do I want to continue making it?”. The answer to the first for me us always that I came to a bump in the road and needed to figure out what I could do to alleviate the problem or I didn’t want to part with a good friend (said quilt). The answer to the second is either “Yes, I do want to finish it.” or “Nope!”.
My UFO list is long…I’ve been working on it for about 4 years now. I’ve definitely learned a lot about myself during this time, how to allocate the projects, what to do with those I don’t want to finish or how will I quilt it now that it’s finished. I rarely quilt by cheque, preferring to quilt my own. Gee, but I seem to need more hours in a day! Sigh.
Well if no one wants to finish them, send them to me, i will there are so many nursing home residents and children cancer paients, and adults, i could have a field day with donations , lol just saying, meassage me if there are any you just cant finish,if this offense anyone sorry, just wanted to put it out there
Since I have been quilting for about 40 years, I have lot’s and lot’s of UFO’s……but since I am older, I am trying to do things I have vs. buying new things………I can make a design or pattern, just use stuff I have……we moved in December 2016 and I had 20 plastic tubs of fabric, kits etc……..I am really trying to use what I have and so some projects. I have about 100 quilt tops with bindings prepared to quilt……will I get them done in my lifetime, probably not……but that’s how I work on UFO’s……
Have fun, happy in quilting, gloria g. Wellborn, FL
That is a wonderful idea!
Thanks! It’s taken me over 25 years of quiltmaking (and living) to come to the realization that I have to do “ME” and no one else. 🙂
Busting UFO’S will be a great topic. I have sooooo many. I finally decided this year that I just love to make quilt tops. This year a few quilting friends and I decided to BUsT UFO’S using the pick a number system from ALL PEOPLE’S QUILTS. You list 12 UFO’S on your sheet and pick a number every month. You have one month to complete the item. You cannot work on any new projects, but if you do they must be completed by Dec. 2017. So far I have been very GOOD. No new projects (and its been hard), but I have finished 8 UFO’S, 2 of those have been quilted and given away. The other 6 are waiting to be quilted, which I plan to do the whole month of November. I caution anyone who tries this to make sure the projects does not have a lot to do on them. Instead of listing my quick UFO’s, I listed the ones that had the most work to be completed. But I am moving them out.
I periodically collect orphan blocks or projects from my guild and then make them into hospice quilts.
What a fantastic idea! Just love it!
I was making a quilt for my bedroom when I first started quilting. I didn’t know what I was doing because I was new to quilting and hadn’t had any lessons in what was the correct way of doing things so when I got to the first pieced border, nothing fit! I tried altering it and eventually got frustrated and put it in a drawer, saying, “I’ll finish that when I have more time.” Recently I got it out because I wanted to finish my largest UFO. When I got to looking at it (12 years later!) I knew I wouldn’t be happy if I finished it. It was a train wreck. So what did I do with it? The center section is going to be a twin sized quilt for charity. The outer blocks will make a “kid sized” quilt with enough left for a wheel chair throw. All that time (and money) won’t go to waste. There will be three individuals who will get to enjoy it, even if it isn’t perfect piecing!
My guild has a UFO club. At the beginning of the year (or you can jump in anytime) we pay $10 and list 10 UFO’s on our list, for $1 you can add more to your list. Every month we have show and tell of our finished UFO’s and one of the people showing that month gets a nice prize. At the end of the year all the people who showed a completed UFO, for each one they completed, their name is put into a drawing for the money collected for joining the club – this amounts to hundreds of $$$$
IMHO, just because I put fabric and pattern in a bag doesn’t make it a UFO! Until the fabric is cut and the piecing is started, that fabric is fair game for any project that comes up! The fabric I “liberate” goes into another project, the rest of the fabric sorted into appropriate stash bins, and the pattern either put into a “maybe” group or if I no longer like it, I close the book or magazine and forget it.
paint a barn quilt on that old ugly tin shed, give yourself something grand to look at
A lightbulb really went off in my head when someone suggested downsizing a “work in progress.” If I had some blocks done, could it be a baby quilt or wall hanging instead of a full size quilt? Could I un-sew or cut up a pieced top, still unquilted, into place mats and/or table runner set with maybe a small, coordinating wall hanging?
It always baffles me that someone will not finish a quilt when all that is left is binding! I do mine by hand because I love the process. When I quilt by machine instead of by hand, it is really the only time I can sit quietly with my quilt and spend hands-on time with it. I really enjoy binding. But, if anyone doesn’t take a class or a tutorial or ask another quilter; but, learn how to machine bind. Maybe your guild could hold a one-on-one workshop to teach both methods. Everyone who wants to learn brings a machine and quilt and everyone who can teach volunteers. If it’s a really big guild hold two different ones – one for hand, one for machine.
I won’t say my UFO “problem” has gone away; but, it HAS diminished with a couple of UFO “rules” I’ve given myself. First, in order to start a new project, I have to complete a UFO. It doesn’t matter what is left undone . . . piecing, quilting, whatever and it doesn’t matter what the size is . . . one doesn’t have to equal the other. I have refined this rule simply by accident. After Christmas one year, I had nothing better to do (ahem . . . I couldn’t find my sewing machines for the mess!)I decided to thoroughly clean and organize my entire sewing area, going through every stack, drawer, box, and bag. As I went, I separated all my UFO out and put them in a HUGE bin (yes, I had a few). There were so many that my one-for-one wasn’t up to the challenge, so I added the rule of one UFO per month. For some reason I no longer remember, I also designated August UFO-only month. These tactics have really reduced the UFO’s. I still had a BIG pile of tops that needed to be quilted. I get bored with walking foot quilting everything and I wasn’t all that interested in FMQ, but I can’t afford to quilt by check. I invested in online FMQ classes and now, a year later, I have practiced on all the smallest ones and my bigger ones look much, much better. Am awaiting the return of my best quilting buddy (BQB)and her long arm when her husband retires. Something new to learn and an opportunity to complete the bed-size UFO’s!
If you belong to a guild, you might want to suggest a UFO Challenge. That was what I did one year when I was given the guild challenge project. In February and March anyone who wanted to enter the challenge had to bring in as many UFO’s as they wanted to enter (one entry per category) and show them to the group. Our challenge was completed in November, I brought in a teacher/judge to lead a couple of workshops and judge the entries and gathered up prizes for winning entries. It was fun, fairly painless, and no one had to buy fabric they hated!
I use sheets for the majority of my quilts. As you said, they quilt easily, they’re soft and no piecing.
Some years ago my quilt guild decided that the year’s challenge would be a UFO challenge. You would ‘finish’ something every month to Show ‘N Tell at meetings. It motivated a lot of members. Perhaps you could suggest this at your various guilds.
And another thing – I do my bindings totally by machine. I get a binding done in a couple of hours. That’s never the reason my quilts don’t get finished. Just saying, there’s no reason you can’t do your bindings by machine.
I must confess I have a number of unfinished blocks & a few pinned quilts.
Need to get motivated to finish. I now think of myself as a starter quilter!!!!!
Then I don’t feel guilty!!!!
Thank you to Pat for asking the questions about UFOs and from the bottom of my heart a huge thank you to the ladies who read my comments and provided me with easy, doable solutions. I am feeling truly blessed now. Love, Andrea
Hi Lisa, thank you for your idea also – I will have to get an inspirational saying to hang on the wall, that I can see each time I walk into the room. Hugs, Andrea
Debbie, thank you for your excellent idea. I can do this with an Australian native called Happy Wanderer – it has glorious purple flowers and will attract birds while coping with our dry heat. Hugs, Andrea
Jilly, thank you for the great idea – I will definitely burn the candles and ring the bells. hugs, Andrea
Maybe hire someone to paint a mural or an inspirational saying like “Finished is better than perfect!” on your shed. Every once in a while I declare a “year of finishing” and work on projects that I have started. It makes a dent in the UFO pile.
Oh boy, UFOs are obviously a rich topic for discussion. How do you decide to part with a UFO? Why do we feel guilty when our enthusiasm for a project disappears, and can we give ourselves permission to move on?
I like that idea Joyce. Yes, I often forget I quilt for FUN! It is not a job, it is supposed to be my hobby. I could be putting the same amount of money down a slot machine! Sometimes I feel so weighed down with sewing commitments but your comment really struck home. So it’s out with the old and in with the new! Thanks Joyce.
I would be interested in a UFO talk.
I personally don’t let UFOs bother me I believe for most of us UFOs is just part of being a quilter (painter, gardener, scrap booker, pick your hobby) I occasionally go through my UFOs and if I’m in the mood I’ll pick one to finish. No guilt.
Sometimes if your not feeling it with one? it just needs to sit for a while so when you do look at it again (for the 9th time) weeks, months or years down the road it’s through “new eyes”. And sometimes you just fall out of love with it. No big deal. So that’s when you decide to give it unfinished to a guild, turn it into something else (bag, placemat, table quilt) and love it again or give it away.
Andrea,
I totally understand the part about your view. I stare at a shed too but it’s not mine it’s the neighbors. I put up a trellis with a honeysuckle vine. Are you able to do that on your shed? Something that attracts birds, butterflies and hummers? How about having a scene painted on the shed or better yet your favorite quilt block?
I have many reasons for UFO’s. Had a problem with something so it went into “time out” and then got buried. Lost (insert pattern, fabric, parts, interest). I am easily distracted by another project or idea and off I go. Or there’s always the project awaiting that has a time limit. And when done with the timed project, have lost interest or forgot what I was doing. Yes I would love to concentrate on ufo busting again this year. I have been trying to work on it the last two years by trying to finish two UFO’s for every new project I start. I need the new stuff to keep me from getting too bored with what I have already started, but the timed projects keep getting inthe way. Those are the new projects, because the UFO’s just don’t fit the bill.
I have a BOM that I am behind on and am working on a wedding quilt. I have it quilted. The wedding is in eight days than there will be pieces that wedding guest have written on to applique on. I might do that before trimming and binding. I have been finishing most quilts before starting a new one.
HI Michelle (and others)
You might also think about turning orphan blocks into place mats and donating them to resthomes/retirement homes. One of our local guilds does this and the placemats are very much appreciated by the residents.
Try moving the sewingmachine around for a different view. I periodically flip my room so I don’t get boored with things.
One of my problems is that I don’t use patterns and just design as I go. This gives me a lot of freedom to be creative and original. But on the other hand, sometimes I run out of fabric that I need to finish the quilt or I get stuck because it’s not coming out as well as expected and I must decide to either rip it apart and make a major change or keep on going and try to force myself to finish it as is. Sometimes I get really bored with a project and am anxious to start something interesting and new with more potential. Another problem is that I enjoy making the blocks or units, but I hate it when the quilt gets really big and unwieldy. Also, I can’t really afford to have someone else do the quilting and the thought of tackling something that big on a DSM is daunting. As a result, I have numerous flimsies and boxes of blocks waiting to be quilted. Yes, I would love some help with UFOs.
Some UFO’s have mistakes, the quilting went badly, or I just don’t like the pattern or fabric anymore! I finish some and they look ok, then I give them to charity! Busting UFO’s for next year would be great, I may just need to have someone pushing me to get on with them!! Thanks Pat,
My problem! Attention span issue. I see a new pattern or technique that I just have to start. My started tops/ finished tops get put aside not to be seen for years. I am a hand not machine piecer. EPP is my new obsession. I am not a fan of the quilting process so when I get a top finidpshed. It sits in a bin. Really need to learn how to use my sewing machine. UFOs busting might be a big help to get me to finish something.
Hi Jillian, what a great idea. I have my own quilt room, small that it may be, but sometimes, I am reluctant to go in, not sure why. I am a big proponent of energy in a room. I am going to try your ideas… thanks. Glend
Wow-I think you’ve said it best of all, LoriM!
I refuse to call them UFO’s-mine are WIP’s (works in progress)! I have used many of your stash busting patterns over the years-I am still working on the Solstice as well. I think the best way to keep track of WIP’s is to keep a log-I get so inspired just looking at what I’ve completed, what I’m working on, and new ideas coming up. I actually use a spreadsheet program to keep track. That way, I can see at a glance what just needs binding,or piecing, or whatever, and can knock just one operation off at a time. So maybe if I’m not inspired by one thing, I can let it ‘percolate’ and do something else. Sometimes breaking up the operations on a UFO can make it more bearable to finish, just in small bites between other things.
I am very methodical and strict. I allow myself a maximum of 5 UFOS (either tops in the making or projects in the quilting stage). Normally, I go through cycles/seasons like this is my cycle to make tops, and I am working on three projects at the same time (two of them is the Grandma’s Kitchen throws that I am making for me and my husband). Once I finish the Grandma’s Kitchens ones, I will switch to my quilting phase mode and will take care of those two plus two additional quilts that I have finished quite some time ago.
I also go through my buying-fabric phase, and normally do not buy one fabric because I like it but instead I use the fabric that I like as an inspiration for a whole project and end up buying all the coordinating fabrics too!
Pat,
You are a great teacher. I’ve learn so much since following Solstice and BOM 2017. I’m still working on them.
The problem I have with your great idea to help everyone finish UFO’s is my extremely slow internet. We’re in the country it’s impossible to get a fast enough internet out here. So for me not good but for others I think it’s a super idea.
I will continue to follow you and your blocks. And keep working on the 2017 projects.
Thanks for all you’ve done for me.
My biggest issue is getting them quilted. I can free motion quilt on my Janome, but it takes a lot of time. I wish quilt shops would rent out time on a long arm so that we could quilt them ourselves. At least until I can afford to purchase one. That would be a lot of fun.
Gladys, you are the most creative quilt rescuer there is!
Nann (from Stashbusters)
I attach bindings by machine. A workshop with Pat helped me improve the technique. The only handsewing in my quilts is the label.
I was a member of an online swap group for several years. One of the annual swaps was the BOB — Bag of Blocks. You’d send blocks you hadn’t set yet (for any reason!) to one person and get blocks from another person. You could add notes about what you had in mind (though usually the directions were, “Have at it!”). Your job was to create a top and send it back by the due date (you didn’t have to quilt it). Someone else’s blocks + deadline = great creative stimulus! (Here is an example: https://withstringsattached.blogspot.com/2011/01/bob-v-2011.html)
What is the name of the block in the first group? I love that pattern but I don’t need the Christmas fabrics.