Onebyone

To me quilting is a hobby, a passion, an art. It's ongoing and ever changing. My goal is not to be productive but to be part of it.

quiltingcandy

You are definitely overwhelmed. I think you need to go back, pull out all the projects and evaluate all of your unfinished projects. Determine if you even like them anymore. If you don't like them - get rid of them and don't look back. yes, this is hard to do, but necessary. The ones that you really do want to finish try to come up with an order. Start with one, and then the next. As they say each long journey starts with a single step. I think once you get that first project completed you will be ready for the next.

I am a Gemini and my mother would tell you that I live up to the description, always doing 2 - 3 things at once. Now I believe they call it ADHD, and I am good at finishing what I start, but it is rare that I only work on one project at a time. There are times that I even start a second book even though I am in the middle of another. And I went into my sewing room one day to find 5 quilts that I had started, they were all cut out and sitting in boxes - and there are numerous patterns yet to be started. It was time for a reality check. That was last year, I have just finished all 5 of the cut out quilts, starting the next one that I had promised to make and I am not going to buy any more patterns until I have used a few of the ones I have. I cannot resist the magazine the Block - so that is my indulgence right now. I just refuse to start a new project until this next one is done.

Every quilt I make, half way through there is something I don't like about it. Either the pattern, or the color choice or one of the fabrics. I don't know why, but it is every single one. It drives me nuts. That is usually when I am easily distracted and go for the new "interim" project. I have to really fight that temptation.

Good luck! You can do it!

dunster

I'm a finisher. When I start a quilt, my interest is in working on that quilt, not starting another. Occasionally (like now) I have several completed tops to be quilted, but they will all be quilted in a reasonable time. That's just my nature. The only exception is when I take a class to learn a new technique, and after the class I decide that I don't want to continue with that technique. That project may never be finished, but it wasn't started as a quilt; it was started as a learning exercise, and in that sense it is finished.

The downside of this is that I have trouble deciding what to make next, since once I start I will be committed to finishing. Starting has always been much harder for me than finishing.

I think there is a big difference between the person who has 10 projects going at once, but who finishes all 10, and the person who seldom finishes anything, but keeps starting new projects. Still, if both people are happy with their hobby then all is good.

Jane Quilter

I am a finisher, but with no schedule. I usually have 3 quilts going, and one in my head. I always have one in portable stage, one in the quilting stage (not portable), and one on the machine being pieced. The one in my head is either a challenge, new technique, or a request that excites me . Shopping is not what starts it, i shop to fill in what I dont have. If someone want some thing for a dead line, I just refuse. I quilt to relax or stimulate my creativity, not to have it done. But I never start the one in my head until one of the others is done its "stage". But if I get extra excited about a new one, THAT pushes me to hurry and get one of the others done. That's my strategy in juggling several quilts at a time, but still getting them done.

GramMER

My forced habit is to work on the quilt that belongs to whatever child or grandchild we are visiting. I can never do much at my home because I am rarely by myself long enough to think. THEREFORE, when we travel back to the US for our visas each year, I carry one whole suitcase full of UFOs to work on for the various recipients. We try to spend a week with each of four children, and it is in their homes where we do the work and make the pictures too. They like watching each project develop, and we have a camaraderie of sorts with time invested in talking and working at the same time.

zozee

MomtoBT, are you finding any of this helpful? LOL. Sure does seem to be a personality thing to be either/or, and neither approach is wrong.

However, I hear you feeling a need for change in order to free up space, literally and mentally.

While I am of the personality that you are, and so can relate to your struggle, I can say I only have things that help me "cope" with my tendency to "not dispatch the whole bird" after Thanksgiving. (I love that line!)

That's when I have to turn to my external motivators:

My personal motivators:

1. 15 minute timer

So, I say to myself, "What can I do for 15 minutes? Something need a seam ripper? Something need binding? Something need to be ironed? Quilted?" Set the timer for 15. I can stop at 15 if I'm out of oomph.

2. Pull something out to work on (UFO ,not new!!!) turn on a quilting podcast while I work. I like Pat Sloan's Creative Talk Radio.

3. Make the second-to-the-last day of the month my goal for finishing something. Like today is the 29th. My goal is to finish my Project Linus quilt today, knowing that I have a day's grace. Self-deluding, perhaps? But I know myself. I need a goal date plus one more. LOL

4. Keep bobbins wound w/ neutral thread. Nothing snuffs out my mood like winding bobbins. (First world problems.)

5. The trash can. Get rid of any project that I know , deep down, I won't finish. I just won't because I don't like something about it. Kind of like giving away clothes I won't wear again. Fabric isn't a person; it won't hate you if you give it away nor love you if you keep it. Just pass it along. In one case, the project was a twister quilt (small) and I couldn't stand how it looked but no way was I gonna rip it out. I literally trashed it. No regrets. (I cut up 1.5 inch scraps to save for someone I know who is collecting them, but that was it.)

6. Clean my sewing room. I work much better in order. Although, this takes discipline to both DO and to what I'm inclined to do NEXT in a clean sewing room: start a new project!

7. Finish the "smallest" one first--that is, that is, the one closest to completion. Like paying down debts, the advice it to pay off the smallest bill first. To see one at zero balance is very motivating to continue.

lfletcher

I use to make just one quilt at a time. To be honest, I was happier with my hobby then. I have too many UFO's and Nesy's (never even started yet) and it causes some stress. Right now I'm trying to finish some things up, but I'm stuck at what to go to next because there's too many!

Quilter 65

I started out as a finisher. Now I have moved to the UFOs list. I find as I progress that I don't have just the right shade or tone or something so until I go shopping, I start on the next. Then an unexpected baby shower pops up. Got to make that one a quilt. So far I have finished all that I have started. It may not be in the month or year I started, but I will get 'er finished, unless I meet my Maker unexpectedly. It is overwhelming to me too to have unfinished projects on hand. Doggone it, I am too easily tempted by another technique or fabric. Need to work on self-control.

tellabella

I love having multiple projects going, especially because I adore every single stage of the process and enjoy many different types of quiltmaking including machine piecing, machine and hand applique and now I just started EPP. I love it all, from selecting the fabrics to hand sewing the binding. Heck I even like prewashing and ironing if I am in the mood for it. I like having hand work, machine work, piecing, applique, embroidery and longarming so I can pick whatever I am in the mood for with my limited free time. But sometimes you do have to apply a bit of discipline to try and finish one of the many every once in a while.[/QUOTE]

My exact feelings...

Tothill

I am a multitasker.

I have five quilts underway. The oldest is 2 (my son's graduation quilt) and now that I have a design wall and mid arm, I hope to complete it by the beginning of September.

The most recent is a baby quilt for a friend, she just had her daughter 2 weeks early last night. I hade better get it finished. I just need to quilt and bind it, the top is complete.

Another project for the new mid arm is a Christmas quilt. The top is pieced and it just needs quilting and binding.

Number 4 is a jelly roll project, the squares are made, I just need to sew them together etc. It is not for a specific person, so there is no rush to complete it.

Number 5 is a project for me. A beach quilt, it is the least complete of the lot and may wind up being 2017's beach quilt.

Number 6 is in the planning stage only. My former step sister in law is due to have her first baby in October. I am hoping to make something for that babe. They are choosing to not know the gender of the baby. I have seen so many really cute owl quilts, that I think I will make one of them.

Oh I guess I do have two other 'projects' I am participating in a block club and the Row by Row. The block club is applique and I plan to work on it over the winter, between studying.

I do not feel stressed by the number of projects I have in various stages of completion. I had thought I would get more work done on a couple of the projects as I only have school 2 days a week through the summer, but I have gone back to work and now am scrambling for time to do my homework and housework. I have 3-4 weeks off in August and plan to complete several of my projects.

The baby quilt will be completed this weekend.