If that little darling wants a puff quilt in pink and purple, she is still a little girl!!

Okay, I have read this and realize this is a phenomenon well known to quilters. Some of you may not be aware there is a language that goes along with this ongoing situation.

UFO= UnFinished Objects. This catagory can include any project that has been cut out, started, in need of quilting or any form inbetween.

WIP= Work In Progress. A project that has some sort of ongoing activity will fit in here.

PIGS= Project In Grocery Sack. This is my largest catagory. I include intended projects in this group. If I purchase fabric for a specific project to be done at some point, the fabric and pattern go into a plastic sack usually provided by the quilt shop. Sometimes my PIGS also include something I have cut but not begun to actually assemble.

Boo I have seen the first two and figured them out but your pigs crack me up. What a funny board, I just love it here. Get lots of info and a few laughs in between. :lol:

Rita

1. Top done; nothing else
2. All done except binding
3. Top, backing & batting pin basted
4. Had the quilting almost done but not satisfied with my work, so I'm taking out the quilting; need to square up a few blocks; then quilt it again and bind
5. Medallion for center "done" but don't like the way it turned out. Trying to force myself to accept it as is and move on to the next step
6. Queen-size Grandmother's Garden; hand-pieced, for hand quilting. Still piecing the top. (This is the fifth time I've started this quilt. Previous four are decorating a landfill somewhere. Don't ask. LOL
7. Still printing blocks for a crib-sized
8. One blocked and drying now. Needs binding then a few more repair touches here and there. Friend's grandmother hand stitched the top but didn't get to the quilting before passing along to the big quilt shop in the sky. Hand quilted; has taken since September 06; Hoping to have done before I go to bed tomorrow night.
9. I don't count the ones in my head. There are more of those than there are voices. ;-)
I know there are more, but don't even want to think beyond this list. LOL

I'm just starting out (again) after an 8-10 year quilting hiatus.

1 wall hanging (Flip Flop Summer) 3/4 done
1 wall hanging (christmas angels) class project that will be done in 3 weeks (or it suppose to)

1 have one BOM (Block of the Month) going and I'm involved in one swap right now which at the end of the month will give me enough "charms" to start another quilt.

By summer I expect to have alot more WIP ;)

I've discovered I don't like to do bindings, so I've got a cute little pile of mini-quilts that're all complete except for the edges. I suppose if I ran marathons I'd be the one quitting 15 feet from the finish line!!! :lol: I've one wallhanging that's been in the frame since November. A table runner that's basted but hasn't decided how it wants to be quilted yet. And 12 appliqued Hawaiian patterns on 18" squares that were supposed to have magically sashed themselves into a completed quilt by now, only the right batik for the sashings hasn't jumped out at me from the stash. And nobody will let me forget the 84" Hawaiian quilt that has no echo quilting on it as of yet. Otherwise, the year is young and I'm making record time!!!

PS: To Tim who started this topic... love your writing style! You should be captured and cloned. A good quilting man is hard to find! :lol:

I've got 2 WIPS and several PIGS. But like everybody said the year is still young.

We're supposed to finish these things? Is there a time limit?

Actually I can boast of finishing all my quilts. All five, over a period of 20 years or so.

Now tell me. How do you remember what you were going to do with those UFOs and PIGS? (Leave notes, as I sometimes have done?) How is the initial enthusiasm regenerated? Where in the creative process was the project suspended? Do we drop breadcrumbs along the way? Where in the world are they put while awaiting attention?

These heavy issues burn deeply into my psyche, and I'd rather finish the dang thing than deal with "issues."

In reality, I have one WIP that's in danger of becoming a UFO if I don't get out there to my workroom right now. Then there'll be six (count 'em, SIX) quilts FINISHED.

First off, you guys (ambiguous reference to quilters of unspecified sexual specieshood) are a hoot. I know there are lots of unfinished projects out there...

So why is my first quilt still unfinished? Quilting seems to be a path, an associated linked list of various tasks, each requiring a set of skills to complete before advancing to the next. Much like Black and White Photography, Alternative Process Print Making, or Woodworking, all skills I have mastered to one extent or anothr in the past. That being stated, as you finish a task, it's a big leap to take your baby and press on to the next step for the first time. I am at that point where I have to wrestle this top, back, and fill into a pinned quilt, without inducing project wrecking pleats, tucks or worse. It's still my baby! Once there, I have already spent time with the sewing machine and .04 polyester thread doing the ditch quilting on my practice quilt. I suspect the matter of scale will be the only major issues from this point on. Maybe next week. When that's finished... stenciling a quilt pattern... freehand machine quilting... and bindings... I agree, more big steps on the road to mastring this craft.

In the meantime, I have cut all the squares for making connected triangles for my next quilt. I have sewn a couple of the faces together and done the diagonal cut... both squares are square and the correct size! Something that feels familar but advances the knowledge base a bit.

Good luck on FINISHING one or two of your projects.

tim in san jose

Wow... I know how that goes. I was telling someone when I first started that I wanted to finish what I was working on before I started another quilt. The sales girl laughed at me as though I told a funny joke.

I have relatively stuck by that. I made two very pretty rail fence lap quilts 2 years ago. One needs the binding redone, one needs to be finished machine quilted. But I lost them in a big move a year ago. So now, I only have the one I'm working on. I have plans in my head for 3 more, but I work strictly one at a time. I have 3 small children, husband, and all the household things that keep me so busy that I cannot afford more than one project at a time.