The other day I was looking for something and found yet another project in progress, unfinished object, you know.. those guilt inducing piles we store away hoping that magically they will get finished for us by the quilting elves at night!
I’ve decided that I need a strong plan to get all thee partial projects either finished, or moved onto new homes.
There are a lot of them
A Lot
I’m a GREAT planner, so I don’t know why i just have not done a ‘do-able’ plan. Because being do-able is the key to all successful plans.
Would you also like to work on getting unfinished (UFO) projects under control?
I’m going to write a series of posts on this, leave me a comments if you also want to get it under control!
Action Plan 1- Figuring out what we have
- Find all your projects that are not finished, all of them, and get them out.
You will have 2 main stacks
- Stack #1 – I want to spend time on this project, and be very very honest with yourself. You should really love it to want to work on it
- Stack #2 – I do not want to spend anymore time on this project. I have gotten tired of it, it’s not my style, I”m not interested in sewing and using my precious time to work on it. I want to work on things I love from now on and this stack will find a new home.
As you pick up an item it will go into #1 to work on, or #2 that you won’t spend any more time on it.
When sorting them into these groups and be brutally honest with yourself.
Are you ready to do this? I am too!
- Almost done and I want to finish it– needs binding, needs a border then sent to be quilted.. etc
- Almost done and I do not want to spend anymore time on it – can you end it where it is for a smaller projects? If you don’t even want to do that keep it in stack #2. Sometimes a black trash bag is helpful here so you can’t see it (wink!)
- Projects that have more work to be done, but it’s pretty far along – work on it more – Stack #1, otherwise ‘the other stack’
- Projects barely started – do you want to keep start it at some point? or have you moved on from it? by now you know which stack is which…
Move FAST .. don’t spend hours deciding. You can always review stack #2 later and remove things, but lets’ be super honest with ourselves and see if we really really want to work on these.
If you have ‘Future project bags’ where it’s fabric and pattern but no cutting or sewing has happened yet, you can do the analaysis on that group or save them for another time. I’m saving that group for another time as I have an overload of ones partially done to consider.
Next article will be the plan for working on these.
Leave me your thoughts below, what is hard ab
I did a video and article about it HERE
The color differences are
- Yellow & Pink are IDENTICAL except color
- Blue is less expensive, so the 20% off is fantastic. It has these differences
- 8’6″ cord instead of 12′
- Stainless Steal soleplate instead of Chomium soleplate
- 8 min auto shut off instead of 30 min with the pink & yellow
out this, what do you hope to accomplish? have you ever gotten them all out before? Tell me!
114 Responses
This post is soooooooooooo meant for me. It is hard to admit that I don’t like a project and have no motivation to finish it. I brought a few UFO’s to the apartment when we moved into an apartment a year ago. And we are getting ready to move again in less than two months. But as I pack up I am looking at my projects with a critical eye.
Just finished a sewing room reno and was forced to go through all my projects. It becomes shameful to see it all in one pile and glutinous to have stacks and stacks of fabric. Definitely a reality check!
I have 10 quilt tops that need to be quilted!! Need to go rent the long arm…
I need to try your plan , I have so many projects to finish and I found so many layer cakes, jelly rolls and charm packs that I forgot I bought. I will try to sort them out before I start any new project!
A friend gave me a fridge magnet that says “Do more of what makes you happy”. I think that’s the essence of your current blog post, Pat
I was struggling with UFO Quilts and quilted projects several years ago. In 2014 I created a spread sheet that listed each quilt, the date it was added to the list, the finished size, if it had or needed backing, binding, a label, What step it needed next, the batting requirements, the area of the quilt if it was going to be professionally quilted, and the date it was completed. There were 32 quilts on the list at that time. There are 6 from that list that still need to be finished. Some are ones I only enjoy working on a bit at a time or are projects that use specific scraps that accumulate slowly. When I started addressing the overwhelming UFO situation and analyzed where projects went awry I found two main reasons: Mystery quilts that went awry and guild classes that gave instructions to purchase material for a Queen size quilt when you made one block (maybe two) in the class. Taking one guild class a month, or even six a year made for quite the backlog of large projects.
I swore off mystery quilts for a few years, and would only collect the instructions until I saw the reveal rather than start something I knew I wouldn’t finish. I also went to working from stash and only purchasing fabric to complete ongoing projects. I remained on that fabric and project diet until I had the UFO quilt project count down under 12.I would occasionally make a small baby quilt for charity from stash if it was something I could do in a day or two, but didn’t start any new big quilt projects until 2016. Now I have found two quilters who’s mystery quilts I am willing to begin without seeing what the finished project will look like. One of them is you Pat, and I’m loving Let’s Go Camping.
This year I’ve taken on a project where I sew every day. I’ve been keeping a journal of what I sew or cut, press, prepare, layer, quilt, bind etc. It’s been a productive year so far and it’s exciting to see how the little bits of time and little bits of work add up to finished projects and building new skills.
As I attacked my UFO mountain I did choose to pass on some projects to others who would complete them. I also choose to revise some projects. I don’t need to make a Queen size quilt to learn a new technique. I can make four blocks for a miniature quilt, or a table runner. I can practice free motion quilting on bags, placemats, potholders and microwave bowls. I am currently reworking one of the mystery quilts that would have turned into an ugly mess if I had continued to follow the directions. I will end up with a smaller quilt that I like and a pile of blocks to donate or make into something else. I liked the beginning of the quilt too much to just toss it and after several years looking for a matching fabric to make more of the original blocks I realized it was time to design an alternative solution.
Good luck with your UFO’s and commit to the 10 minutes a day sewing plan. You won’t be sorry.
Yes, I have a big problem with UFO’s. I retired in January and have started to finish one a month. So far so good.
Where I live the American Red Cross gives quilts to people that their homes have burned. Also, we have a Pasty house where children have been taken away from their parents.(child receive a quilt) We also have a pregnancy home that loves to get baby quilts. Thank Pat with all your suggestion.
Hi. I thought I was going to be moving about 18 months ago and while starting to get ready to move a found a few UFOs, some I had completely forgotten about. As I packed they I made a list of them on a word document, I included info on size, colour, pattern, if I needed anything to finish it and where I was in the process.
I now put every quilt into this word document and up date it every week. This means I can see where I am with all my projects and have found that the number of UFOs I have has gone down now I can see what I have.
I recently did an inventory of my UFO’s and came up with 25. I wrote my list out along with the steps that were needed to finish each project. I chose the one that was closest to completion to start first. Made me feel like the task was do-able when I could cross one finished project off the list. I actually finished 3 projects over the past month. As each quilt is done I cut the leftover scraps up in strips (or squares) and add it to a shelf in my sewing room. My very last project will be a quilt(s) from the scraps.
I love all of my quilts I have started. I never get bored with them
I just want to do another and a class or quilt a long too!
I also tend to pick projects with many many little pieces.
Started working on a UFO quilt top a few days ago that I started making about 4.5 years ago that was about 40 X 72. Have a plan… I just didn’t like the center section, which was about 1/3 of the quilt. Was in my not like bin… So, I actualy cut that center section out and replaced it with a different smaller section which down sized the quilt quite a bit, to about 40 X 56. Added a border print, 2 1/2″ strips, and, now close to 44 X 60, the size of the batting for a throw blanket that I can most likely handle on my standard home sewing machine. Pleased with my new top, which might get me going to complete the quilt for a grandchild that I started making just before he was born. For the backing, thinking of using a standard size print about 42 inches in width and adding the same border print around its edges to make it the same size as the top, with its newer demensions. Then using that same border print for the binding after its quilted. Hopefully, I’ll have it completed for the holidays at the pace I’ve been working on it this past week in between other sewing projects. This one is my # 1 UFO in the now like bin…
Pat, I have been trying to go through my projects and actually combined several blocks from a couple projects along with some random add-ons and made a quilt top (still needs to be quilted and bound) that I called “One and Done” from your lecture back in February. Now with that top completed, that “finished” 3 partial projects! Still have more to go!
I did this a little over a year ago when we moved from CO to FL. We downsized and I’ve been quilting for 40 years so I had way too much stuff. I happily donated UFOs, older fabric, thread, all batting that wasn’t in the original package, books, etc. There was a group that made quilts for charity and my long-arm quilter got first dibs and then the rest went to two groups making charity quilts. Felt great! Sadly, even after over a year, I’m still not done organizing all my stuff and I’ve bought more (had back surgery and couldn’t do anything and it was so easy to buy the new stuff that I was so excited to do). I’m still gradually giving away fabric and books and hope to have everything organized as soon as my back heals. I’m so happy someone can benefit from what I no longer cared about! This is a great post Pat!
Great idea!