OfflineI think everyone has them.... except my mother, of course. She starts a quilt and then works on it until it's done. Once in a while, she will set it aside to make a gift like a baby quilt, but then goes right back to it and doesn't start another one till that one is done. Sigh... I wish I was more like her!! I have a BUNCH of UFOs. I'd like to find out about some of YOUR unfinished projects. Tell us about one of your UFOs, why you stopped, and what your plans are, if any, for finishing it. And post a picture or two! Maybe we can inspire each other to finish some of them!! This is a paper pieced, row by row, tropical quilt. The first picture is the blocks I have finished. The second picture is the cover of the pattern. The third is the fabrics I bought for it. I got the pattern and lots of tropical fabrics in Key West and it has really cute cabanas, palm trees, sand, waves, sky, and a sun. I don't really enjoy paper piecing that much. I was having a problem cutting the pieces of fabric too small when I thought they were big enough, and then it didn't cover the space completely. I really love the quilt though and I want to finish it so I can remember my trip to Key West every time I look at it!
The one I want to get done is the blue Kaleidescope. It fits in my Mom's room just fine. The blues are perfect. I just have not gotten back to it....not sure why. But I need to do it. Maybe by summer. I still have the cancer quilt and the block swap and then I started embroidering cars for the car quilt for Labor Day weekend Auction here in Auburn. I do this while watching TV at night. And now my buddy has me qilting one of the qilts down at RSVP. And wants me to help with the quilting on the Car Quilt.
(am I outta my mind!)?
That quilt is going to be adorable!! What a great way to have your memories of your trip!!!!!!! I just love bright colored quilts!! If I ever get around to starting the "TRIP" quilt, it will be bright an colorful also!!
I have so many I don't think I could count them all. It seems as soon as I earmark some time, something else comes up to get me away. I have to do this block exchange, have not even picked out my fabric, need to also do a post card exchange with our quilt guild, then they is also a scrap quilt exchange for quilt club. What to do first?
Isnt life exciting!! I had asked earlier back in an old thread about Post Cards and what they really were. Do you use them in the mail or what? Happy quilting...Boop
Yes Betty, you mail the postcard. You need to take them to the post office and they hand stamp them so they do not go though the machine. They are the greatest to receive. I have received some more so I will have to post them here.
really sound like fun....Thank!! Ü.............Happy quilting...Boop
I have a ton of UFOs too and I'm determined to finish all of them, I went through them a year or so ago and gave two of them to my daughter. She finished one of them and it was sooooo cute, I was sorry I gave it to her!! I made a resolution a couple years ago to finish 2 UFOs before starting every new quilt and did that for a couple of years. I got my UFOs down from 28 to 14 or so. But lately, I haven't kept that resolution and I've been making new stuff, plus I've added a couple of projects to my UFO pile. So, I figured maybe I'd get some inspiration to finish some of these if we all talked about some of them on here. And sure enough, just getting it out and taking pictures last night put me in the mood to work on my tropical quilt. This morning I un-sewed a couple of blocks where my fabric was too small for the paper piecing and re-sewed them. Then I finished another block I had started and am working on another palm tree. I think I'm going to leave it out on my sewing table and make myself finish one paper pieced block before moving on to my latest project. I still have lesson 3 to do on my 4 blocks too! Well, back to the sewing room!!!
I was going to work on my new quilt today (a scrappy green 9-patch) but when I got to my sewing room and saw the tropical quilt still out, I was actually in the mood to work on that. So, I made a couple more paper pieced blocks and I'm finally getting the hang of it! It's getting easier anyway. LOL I have a long way to go on this quilt though. When I bought the pattern and fabric, I was going to make two of these, one for me and one for my friend Linda who went to Key West with me. But now I think I'll be doing good to get one done. But then who gets it? Me or my friend????
Pam. I always give things away so I say keep it and see how your friend likes yours then make her one for Christmas!!!.......Happy quilting...Boop
I have yet to do them Betty. But Sue does a lot of them. You mail them out. It's a kinda special post card for someone special. Now I would put them in an envelope if it were me....Something so pretty, needs to be protected.... LOL.
I have heard a bunch about them but don't know how to creat them. I guess I'll have to search the web for directions and try one or two. I think they are small enough to use some of the smaller scraps left from some projects. Sue, I would love to see some of your post cards.
If you look in my profile you will see some of the postcards. I have more that I have received that I need to post. But that will have to wait until I get back. Postcards are so easy, and you do use your scraps, people love getting them in the mail. They are really fun and easy to do.
Other than lots of 'planned' quilts that haven't been started, I've always finished a quilt before I start a new one. I don't want to set it aside & leave something unfinished. Does 'uncut' fabric count as a UFO? I have at least 5 projects all figured out and just need to get to them. I sure do want to get to them but if I take a class, I've go to finish that class project before starting another quilt. I even get the quilting done by the quilt shop by setting up dates for the quilting ahead of time - by the time my quilt top's done, it's about time to take it down to the shop for quilting top/bottom + batting. I don't do handquilting or even machine quilting to speak of, I'm hoping to learn machine quilting patterns on some small projects sometime still.
Oh, I finished me second set of swap blocks today! They all turned out real nice. Now, I've got to finish 2 more quilt sleeves for our show next weekend, plus cut fabric for a class this weekend (that lone star quilt - modified into 4 smaller stars of 6 colors each). And, IF I get that job, I'll be ready to start work after the quilt show ends : ) Still waiting to hear back....
Laynak, You make me so envious!!I wish that I was that so focused......Have you hear anything about your job? Happy quilting...Boop
I called them yesterday & there was one more interview to do. I've become less optimistic as I wait....
Perhaps the HR director who was clearly encouraging found more candidates directly qualified. But, if I don't get hired, I'll just keep quilting!
I need something to motivate me to finish some of my UFO's!!!! They are piled up in different places, I don't want to put them away completely because then I will never get them back out. I do keep starting (and sometimes finishing) new projects all the time. The problem is that I have UFO's of every genre...knitted, crocheted, cross-stitched, embroidered, as well as quilted...
But great new patterns pop up all the time! I should stop subscribing to all the magazines...
Any good ideas for motivating ourselves to stick with one project till it it done?
I understand oh so well. Most of the quilts that I do are small and for gifts, I guess that has always been my motivation. But I do have UFOs Family, work and other things are distracting.......and yes pretty fabric and joy of basket weaving sucks me up every time......You do really nice quilting, just keep it up..........Happy quilting...Boop
.....if you figure that out, let us ALL know! LOL.....if I can't stay away from chocolate, how can I finish a project then start a new one?? Not going to happen in this life time....LOL...
Hint #1 - Pick one project to work on and forget the others for a while.
Hint #2 - Break down the project into doable pieces - one block a week, etc.
Hint #3 - Set a goal date to finish. (This works well if you decide to make it as a gift. If you plan on giving it to someone for a birthday or Christmas, you've got your goal date!)
Hint #4 - Leave your project near your sewing machine and make yourself do one block or one section before working on your current project.
Hint #5 - Give away projects you have completely lost interest in. But beware.... I gave a project to my daughter and she finished it and it was sooooo cool, I was sorry I gave it away!!
How about if we start a group for everyone who wants to work on their UFOs? (By the way, I call mine PIPs - projects in progress because "unfinished" makes you sound lazy or unfocused and "in progress" makes you sound industrious and energetic!!!) And then we could each post pictures of the project we want to work on, and updates on our progress and maybe set goals for finishing a project and encourage each other along the way and then post the finished pictures when done!!! Sometimes, all we need is to get it out and have someone ohh and ahh over it to inspire us to get back to work on a project!! We can also post advice if we're stopped on a project by a problem. Encouragement works wonders!
Thank you for the ideas! I am going to start your suggestions immediately. I would be interested in a PIP Group - it would give us accountability to someone besides ourselves. (I let myself off the hook way too often!)
Some of my projects right now are just a pile of fabric and a pattern...If I leave a project partially done, I forget what I was doing, the details and measurements, so it is hard to go back to them. I find it especially difficult in my knitting.
I like PIP better that UFO also. I am afraid to count all the quilt tops I have waiting to be quilted not to mention all of the tops that have been started. I also have a bunch of PIGS (projects in grocery sacks) so I guess a group that inspires me to finish the tops, quilt the tops that have been finished and at least open the PIGs would be a good thing. I think they are multipling ever time I turn the lights out in my quilt studio :-)
A few years ago, when I received a few Jo Ann's gift certificates for Christmas, I purchased a dozen plastic storage boxes for my PIPs. They are the flat, 14x15" boxes with handles on the front, so they can hold blocks flat. I put one PIP in each box with all the fabric, thread, patterns, etc and then I vowed I wouldn't have any more PIPs than what fit in those 12 project boxes. In theory, it should work perfectly! I thought I would soon have some empty boxes that I could just store fabric for future quilts instead of things I have already started. But I have not been disciplined enough to make this work. I bought a couple more boxes since I had more than 12 PIPs, and some of the boxes hold more than one PIP. And now, with the new swap blocks, the blocks I've started with the free pattern on here and two more new quilts I have started, I have more projects than will fit in boxes!! LOL I think I'm up to about 16 or 17 PIPs. So, I've decided (again) that it's really important for me to finish some of my PIPs and change my habit of starting new projects before I finish old ones before things get really out of hand!! My husband is going to build me a cutting table that will hold all my project boxes, which will work better than just stacking them up next to my sewing machine. Now, I just need to get the number of projects down to a manageable number (not sure how many that is!) LOL Ii would love to see all of those projects done and those boxes holding fabric, kits or other supplies.
I know exactly the type of boxes you are writing about. I have 3 of them, for my BOM and unfinished projects also! Of course I have more projects than boxes but they really do help with organization. When I get a coupon again, I want to buy a couple more, but not as many as you have!
I have two that have divided sections in them. I didn't realize that till I got them home. When I get the projects done and they are empty, I think they will be good for holding strips and/or scrap squares. I'm thinking that I will go through all my projects and see which ones I an finish quickly and work on those first. That will empty up some boxes and make me feel like I'm making progress. Some of my projects are very complicated and difficult and will take years to make, which is one reason I got tired of working on them. Those are the ones that I need to work on a little at a time till I get them done.
Pam, I love the tropical row-by-row idea. Your blocks are really good. The colors are wonderful. I did some paper-piecing during my early years of quilting, and I think it gave me confidence to try things were more traditionally pieced and quilted. However, I hate taking the paper from the back of the blocks, that was the worst part of the process, no matter which method you use. I haven't done any paper-piecing from several years, but I might consider doing some more in the future. Not yet, though. I have too many UFO's that need to be worked on!
Pip's I like that, I do not mind so much having Pip's as much...thanks for the help and I do try to do that same theory with other things too.....Happy quilting...Boop