This will be piffle and nonsense and, as such, I may not send it once I get it typed, but it is a really rainy day and I've decided to type "stuff" to y'all.

First of all, I'm wondering if your UFO's silently watch you as though they wonder when you are going to get to work on them. I was finally working a bit each day on the hated Starflower quilt when I got really sick the first Wednesday in November. For 3 days and nights I mostly slept. After that, when I couldn't sleep, I still felt crappy so I sat at my computer for hours each day and cleaned up my embroidery design files. I finally finished that yesterday. Meanwhile, the despicable Starflower quilt sat untouched since Nov. 3; it seemed to be impatient with me. This a.m., I sewed a bit more on it so I hope it's happy now! It had been so long since I did any, I almost needed to be retrained.

Second of all, are any of you like me and wonder why it takes so long to finish just ONE quilt while others are cranking them out like crazy??? I realize that, due to my low boredom threshold and therefore having several projects in the works at once, is certainly a factor. I DID start and finish the quilt for the little sick kid (the quilt with the ME patchwork animals) in record time. By the way, he loves it and takes the little pillow that matches it everywhere he goes. He is eating better and has gained some weight. He has a new bed and the new quilt (5-ft. square) is perfect size for it.

Third of all, if I do hit the "Send" button and there are those of you who think this is in the wrong QB category, please don't bother to tell me. You'll hurt my feelings. Thanks for reading and best wishes to you all for a joyous holiday season.

Ok, so I have a couple of large tubs full of UFO's dating back for years and someone wrote "HELP" in big letters on them. None of my children will admit to it but once in awhile they will say, "Whatever happened to such and such?" Like they don't know. They've seen all the ones and received some of them that I finished. Not much guess work here.

For some reason, when I saw the title of this thread, "Piffle and Nonsense," I thought it was the name of a quilt block. :-D

I love Piffle :thumbup: My UFO's whisper my name now...

If UFO's aren't quilt related I don't know what are

I have no idea how many Q-Tips, UFOs I have. I keep finding them. I am also starting somehting else new! I am really hopeless!

it's mostly Diary, hints of ChitChat, but with just enough reference to quilting to drag it into the "might possibly maybe" column.

as long as any following conversation focuses on the truly quilting-related elements and does not degenerate into an argument about what should or shouldn't go where, i am happy to leave it here.

my UFOs do not watch me. they are too busy multiplying and sneaking their relatives into the house to join the ever growing pile.

i can crank out some tops like crazy but others take weeks or months. once the top is done (no matter how fast it went together) it takes forever from that point on. i have UFOs old enough to join the Army.

will that stop me from starting new projects? HECK NO!!! i have more fun when i'm piecing than during any other stage of a quilt's life cycle.

do i feel guilty about it? HECK NO!!! i used to until i remembered that i work hard enough on other things that i deserve to decide for myself when i'm ready to put aside the fun of piecing to actually finish something. i'll bet the same is true of you. ;-)

p.s. - tell the Despicable Starflower Quilt to stop staring at you and to shut up because you know where the scissors and trash can are. AND i'll bet you can run faster than it can. ;-) :lol:

Yes, yes, yes, Patrice! To all of what you said. There is nothing more thrilling than giving in to the uncontrollable urge to start making a new quilt top, digging through pictures and fabric stash and getting on with it. No, I don't feel guilty about the half-dozen or more completed quilt tops stored away in plastic boxes, patiently awaiting their batting, backing, and quilting. I'm too much of a control freak to send them to someone else to quilt, though. I don't even feel guilty about taking years to get my hand quilted ones completed.

good for you!!! now wave those scissors around where the UFOs can see them. and double-dog dare 'em to stare again. :lol: :lol: :lol:

I'm with you Patrice. My UFOs are all busy sneaking in relatives and procreating. :?

One of my quilt groups is doing an "UFO Challenge" this year and I'm going to sign up to participate! Every month those involved have to finish 1 UFO (which makes 12 for the year) and if they don't, they have to donate 1 yard of good fabric. At the end of the year everyone who made a quilt gets one raffle ticket per quilt and then they have a drawing and the person who's name is picked gets to keep all the fabric. How cool is that!?! I've got enough UFO's that I shouldn't ever have to donate a yard of fabric and hopefully my name will get drawn at the end of next year.

i know how the year would end for me.

i'd have NO fabric left to finish my UFOs.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I'd be in the same catagory as Patrice! :lol: :lol: I've just about perfected the "look" to give DH when he says...you've completed how many quilts this year?????

My UFOs can't stare at me. I roll them into a ball and throw them into the back of the closet (with all the items of clothing I've bought and meant to return!!) These are projects I'll probably never go back to. The WIPS however are not just staring at me--they're calling my name and following me around. I keep telling them: after the holidays. I usually get around to finishing WIPS. (These are my way of designating my unfinished projects.) I'm glad I'm not the only one being "stalked".

I put a lot of UFO I really didn't like in a bin and it's in the back of my closet. Every year or so I'll get it out and find one that looks pretty good to me at the time. I've been able to whittle down the pile pretty good. If one keeps getting my scrunched up nose look then I'll put it in the white elephant table at guild.

I have both WIPs and UFOs and although they yell at me from time to time...I am still able to ignore them LOL Someday.......maybe........I will get to them:wink:

me either.

Maybe my UFOs are really WIPs??? I'm not sure which acronym is correct, but I do not have anything I've made that disgusts me (except possibly the despicable Starflower, but it is nearly finished, sort of, maybe, I hope), so nothing has been discarded (yet). My UFOs I refer to are actually finished tops, but that's as far as they've made it into quiltdom ... so far. Also, I periodically add to my stack of machine embroidered blocks; some day I'll have enough to construct several very large quilt tops.

If you ever find that you have a UFO and you decide you will NEVER work on it again, give yourself permission to give it away. A lot of guilds love to receive orphan blocks or even half finished tops. These go into the Charity bucket and other people will be more than thrilled to use what has been donated.

others may define them differently but i consider my projects to be WIPs (Works in Progress) from the first cut until the top is done. from that point until the quilt is completely finished, i call them UFOs (Unfinished Objects).

I have ufo's and they mock me. I need to finish them. I know what you mean about taking a long time to finish a quilt. I wish I could turn out wonderful quilts in record time like others here, but I guess I'm just the slow one. Oh well, the important thing is I like what I'm doing.

I like your definition. Thank you.

I agree that the important thing is to like what you're doing. I also very much like the quilt making process. I'm very slow, but very precise. That precision does not come easy for me (adding to my slowness) so my seam ripper always gets a good workout. Once in a while, I get bogged down in a project or bored with it, but I keep on plodding along until I have at least the quilt top completed. I truly believe that the majority of us quilt makers go through the same trials, tribulations, and joys. I see so many things written on this QB that look as though someone read my mind.

My UFOs actually taunt my scraps. They have a fiierce bickering war going on. UFOs argue that they are more important because they have already been transformed and the scraps are really arrogant that they are a creative masterpiece in the making. It's really bad when the threads get involved coz without them, nothing will hold together. Shoot, the other night I swear the fabric glue got in on the act.

I just turn the volume up on the TV and read a quilting magazine.

MadQuilter, you're a hoot! :lol:

why doesn't everyone list and add pictures of ufo's that they don't want to finish and see if other quilters might want finish them...kinda like a swap. one woman's trash is another woman's treasure. you could finish them and sent them back or just swap and keep them. or find the one's that like to quilt...or bind. everybody has one part of quilt making that they like to do best.

Weezie, this is a delightful thread. And -- I'm happy that you put it in this category, because I wouldn't have opened it if it had been elsewhere. All I usually have time for is the Main and the Pictures. What I stress over is whether all of these UFO/WIPs will ever become finished products. I made a promise to myself to finish all of them before I started something new, but it's driving me crazy. I want to move on already.

Mad....I'd be scared to go into your sewing room!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

GREAT IDEA! :lol: Then maybe they won't have to bury me in layers of unfinished UFOs ....

so that is why i hear voices at night. it's the UFO's...i thought i was losing my mind..lol.

This really is a great idea and is one that could birth a sideline of sending fabric that we dislike and will never use. Right now, I don't have either UFO's or fabric to get rid of. I keep a very small stash of pukey looking fabric that I keep for a "practice" supply.

It takes me forever to finish anything!

what I do is write a list of things almost done, a list of things half done, a list of things that supplies have been bought for and a list of wishs and dreams. then stick it to the door where I HAVE TO SEE IT my goal is not to finish everything, that seems daunting! but only to not let one list get to much longer than the rest.
AND then I dont forget about things that get stuffed in the back because I dont want to THINK about that one frustrating piece, and its very nice to cross something off the list :)

I agree with all that's been said.

My main concern is that "I"just seem to quilt so slowly. It seems like it takes me forever to get anything done.....


(And all the while, I'm buying more fabric for future projects. My mind is usually on overload thinking up new things I want to make. Honestly, though, I don't think I'll ever get done at this rate.........it is frustrating)

p.s.--I know the solution---I'll hire a housekeeper, dog walker, cook, and laundry lady--then I'll get more done--'ya think?

okay so how do we get started...do we have to okay this with somebody. i have never done anything like this before. anybody have any ideas ? let's not just talk about it let's do it !!!

Last year I actually counted my UFO's and found that there were 24. Yikes!! Well it is down to about 18 now, so I am making some progress. I cannot hear my UFO's calling to me as they are in a box under the bed, and the box has a tight cover. ha ha. I will go play with them when I FEEL like it. Meanwhile I have two in progress right now. One in a frame and the other in a hoop. I go back and forth with them, and since neither has a deadline I am taking my time.

I like the idea of dotski "let's not just talk about it let's do it !!!"
OK if i make a couple of suggestions?
1. post our list of UFO's Maybe a short bio on what is left to do on each.
2. let us know when you finish one and which one on your list
3. add to the list when we start something new?
4. chose someting to reward ourself with when we finish a UFO

anyone wish to add to the list?

Nothing to add, but I love number 4. I think I should put up a sign saying "If you finish one you can have some more fabric".

I finally had to move my UFO's to another room, I couldn't concentrate with all the "pick me, pick me". Plus, I don't want the future UFO's I'm currently working on to hear all the whimpering.

What a hoot! I got a tremendous chuckle out of your whining/whimpering UFOs story. I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who has pitiful UFOs.

Just wondering what section of the Forum should they be in ... swaps? classifieds? photos?

I only go in there with a bottle of Cabernet. (Gee - I just realize that's probably why I hear/see the things I hear/see. LOL!!!!!)

Maybe you should take 2 bottles in there with you, or switch to a higher proof beverage. I'm with Sandpat ... your sewing room sounds scary. Just hope the things continue to fight amonst themselves and not band together and turn on you.