Great topic! I have way more quilt projects than are storable or mentally comfortable for me to keep track of at the present time. (I stopped counting after twenty!) It was interesting to read other's comments about needing standing time, or sitting time, or cutting or piecing or hand-work time as reasons to have multiple projects going on simultaneously. They all contribute to the reasons we have UFO/WIP/PHD or whatever you choose to call them. (I think we need to come up with a new acronym incorporating ALL of these letters!)
These comments got me to thinking: in an IDEAL WORLD, what would I want my quilting "to do" list to look like and this is what I came up with:
1 applique project; in progress
1 quilt sandwich; ready to be quilted
1 top; ready to pin
1 BOM; in progress
1 kit; ready to work on
1 pattern; ready to find fabrics
1 piecing project; in progress
After compiling my list, what surprised me, is that even adhering to a preset plan, it is lengthy and I could have easily added others without much effort. This made me realize that, at least for me, "it is what it is" and I need/want to just keep plugging along as best I can, because the reason I took up quilting in the first place is for enjoyment of the process. Creativity doesn't always fit into a nice neat little box (although if it did, I think an Altoids tin to store ALL my projects would be the perfect size!)