Giving UFO New Meaning – The “Unfinished Finally Over”!

We all have them … in bags in the bottom of the cupboard, or neatly packed into clear boxes on our shelves (guilty as charged), silently calling to us … “finish me, finish me!”   Taking up not only physical space in our homes but mental space in our minds.  The dreaded “UFO’s” or “Unfinished Objects”.

 

 

A number of years ago, at my local quilt guild meeting, the speaker that month talked about a woman who brought a quilt for show and tell to a guild meeting she was speaking at.  The woman told the story about how her daughter had wanted to redecorate her bedroom.  As a single mom on a very tight budget, they went off to Goodwill.  What they found there was a large bag that contained everything necessary to complete a quilt: fabric, pattern, batting and backing.   She expressed her gratitude to the silent angel who had donated it and proudly showed the finished quilt she and her daughter had made.

 

The speaker at our meeting went on to talk about how quilters love to take classes and with great enthusiasm buy everything to complete the class project, however sometimes these projects become UFO’s for good reason … because we have learned the technique or method, which is the whole point of the class and there is no longer a need for the project!  It is okay to let go of “the project” concept.  The person who had donated all of those supplies had done just that and blessed someone else in the process.

 

Over the weeks following that meeting I went through my UFO’s.  If I had fallen out of love with the project fabric it went in the donation pile with the pattern and necessary pieces.  If I still loved the fabric, I refiled it in my stash.  I took all of the blocks from all of the classes where I had learned what I needed to learn and put them in one container … I have a plan for them.

 

 

What a relief!  I have never looked back and thought “Gee, wish I had followed through on making x, y or z.”   As Martha Stewart would say … it is a good thing!

 

Now my UFO pile has three quilts and the crazy part is that they are soooooo close to being done. My WIP (works in progress) pile has about 8 projects all poking along at their own rate.  Now you might ask how is a WIP different from a UFO? A WIP remains top of mind and progress is being made on it regularly.  My biggest pile is my WFQ (waiting for quilting) …

 

 

I think it is time to call my machine quilting friends!

 

My plan for completing my UFO’s … basic personal organizing 101 tip 1 … make a date with myself in my calendar.  I am blocking off 2 hours in my calendar this week and next specifically for UFO’s.  This lovely red and white is first up.

 

 

Where do you stash your UFO’s and how many do you have?

 

Have a great week

&

Happy Stitching!