Dead Woman Walking! LOL
 

Last night I got on a kick to find my crochet hooks.....going through all the usual places and my husband ask me what I was doing, so I told him that I was looking for my crochet hook because I found this really easy looking pattern for a shrug and wanted to start that. He made me sit down with a pencil and paper and list everything I have started and not finished.......
So, with that being said.....I have 6 quilts started in various stages, 11 Christmas ornaments started in various stages, 4 cross stitch projects in various stages, 11 safety pin beaded watches (got all the stuff haven't started yet), a quilted table runner and 4 matching placemats kit, and now I want to start a crochet project. (In my defense I have the yarn already)!
Is this a sickness? Do I need intervention? He was being cute, but it did make me stop and think that maybe I need to focus on finishing things!
Anyone else have this problem?

It's not a sickness, but you are in a very large club!

One of my daughters says the reason I don't finish hardly anything is what she calls my ADD. Now, I have never been diagnosed with ADD by a doctor, but 4 out of my 6 grandbabies and 1 daughter out of 3 have. Perhaps you and I both have an undiagnosed underlying condition, or we just get bored and want to move on..... lol

FYI.... I sat down and made myself a list. I have 33 unfinished quilting projects (my WIP's - Works in Progress) and over 100 kits of material with the pattern that are now on my UFO list because everything is there to make the project, except me. I have sworn that I will not go nuts at the International quilt festival in Houston again this year! Oh, did I mention that I also crochet and have a few of those UFO's too and several big boxes of various threads and yards?

Although you seem to have more UFOs than I do, I also have various projects started. These various projects keep our lives interesting and exciting! :thumbup: :D

oh YES! I have 3 knitting projects...and I cannot tell you how many quilting projects. On Jan 1st I go thru my UFOs and usually stop COUNTING at 30. I was thinking my empty nest would give me more time to sew/finish, but so far NOPE! Small house update and more trips that I care to take have kept me from my sewing room so far. I too am a 'starter' and proud of it! (oh, and I have finished quite a bit this yr as well...)

pyffer3, I hope you found your crochet hooks. There's nothing like starting a new yarny project for fun.

I have about 5 projects ready to start (materials bought) but I don't think they should be considered unfinished until they are started.

I was programmed from a young age not to finish things. Whatever I was working on, I was asked WHY I was doing it, WHY did I start with that aspect of the project, WHY wasn't I doing something else. Both parents, and then my (now ex) husband. If it wasn't verbal, then it was physical.

The time I bought my first house. The garage was detached from the house, but the large dog run was around the access door., the prior owners had used it as a dog house.

I cleaned it out, swept it. Was going to start bringing over boxes... My father put his table saw in there & started whizzin' away.

Sawdust, really? Well, I couldn't put boxes in there.

If that's what he was going to do, why wasn't he doing it until I cleaned it out???

Okay, off rant, now.

So (up until) now, I started a quilt. It might even get to flimsy stage. I'm programmed to NOT finish. (someone will ridicule me or switch me to another task). These things won't actually happen, but it's what I mentally/emotionally expect to happen.

This year, 2014, I am consciously working toward finishing things/quilts/tasks/house projects.

...related to ADD/ADHD...but not bio/physical - more toward emotional/mental.

This is a very funny thread. Thanks for the laughs, ladies!

I agree, having various projects in the works is fun and exciting, and keeps us moving forward!

Did you ask your hubby to list all the things he started and never finished, or all the things that are waiting to get done but never seem to...??? Most men I know have quite a list themselves...

I am afraid to count my UFOs. Crochet, knitting and especially quilting. Sometimes it bothers me and sometimes I just shrug and start something new. I work best with a deadline, which is probably why the things for me don't get done.

That's why my DH never says a thing to me! I live in a kitchen with temporary island, temporary counters, 2nd generation temporary cabinets (he replaced the first ones!), temporary sink, a huge block of soapstone is in Vermont waiting for him...half the olding trim around the new walls has not been installed, and we have only been living there since 1996.

HAHAHA
That said, I REFUSE to feel guilty about starting something I don't finish right away. Beats feeling miserable just doing one thing at a time. :)

I was recently at a quilt retreat where one of the gals introduced herself as a beginner - she said, "I begin lots of things." I like that attitude :)

I think part of our problem is we see something we think we would like to make, start it and then again see something else we would like to make and start it....it is always about that new project rather than finishing old ones. I do try and get caught up now and then but always tempted by a new pattern. I am thinking I should give some of my UFo's away to people who like finishing projects. Far too many patterns saved and far too much stash to use.

My quiltng journey is about the process. Continued projects keep me happy and my mind engaged.

I love starting new projects like the first pristine page of an exercise book, just waiting for inspiration. I quilt, knit, crochet etc etc. why ami always asked "who is that for" when you have no family nobody but I will enjoy making it.
Yes I will.

For me,it's more about the process than the outcome. Every ow and then,I'll have a finish- it mood and actually get something completed.

Yes, you are in a VERY LARGE club. I don't have a husband or boyfriend any more that points out I have to finish up my UFOs.

The only thing keeping me from starting another crazy quilt is because I haven't finished the 1st, 2nd or 3rd ones and that is because what I need is in a huge box behind a couple other huge boxes that I would have to get to and probably is down at the bottom of the box. This box is 30x30x30 and heavy. With those 3 and 1 needing repair and 1 a binding plus for my 2 sons and 4 DGDs. By Christmas!

I thought what you described was normal. ;) My hubby will notice a new fabric and ask when I got it. I tell him I've had it for awhile now and he just smiles at me because he knows I'm an addict. If I quilted every day for the rest of my life I'd never get to everything I want to make. With that said I did finish a quilt I'd had pieced for about a year and it felt really good when I put in that last stitch.

I still can't believe you actually sit down and listed them. I can't see how it is anyone's business how many unfinished projects I have. My DH would never want to say anything to me to make me feel bad over something so trivial.

At least you have a life, and an interesting one! Starting things, even if you don't finish them is still a lot better than being glued to the TV. Or not doing anything at all. Not that I don't TV...but I often wonder how people just sit and stare at it...there are a few mysteries that I do have to watch a bit more closely, but a lot of stuff I 'watch', I am more listening to and doing something else at the same time.

WHAT problem? :p

My hubby would have been sent to the barn, without supper!

My Hubby would never DARE say anything to me! One word out of his mouth and I will walk outside and open the garage door, then take him downstairs and show him the downstairs bathroom then..... 'nuff said.

I am so not going there. NO listing ever again. I get even LESS accomplished. For me, the enjoyment comes from picking the pattern, finding the fabrics and piecing the quilt top. The whole ending is up for debate. I usually get tired of the whole thing by the time the top is finished. So, when I'm bored with what is on my bed or I need a gift, that's usually when I'll pull a top out and quilt it. Truly, I really would love to see more finished tops. I guess I should probably do something about that. But, then, I see another pattern I want to try. (Do you see where this is going. :D lol)

Other then work, spend time with the furr kids, visits to my grandson, read, (A very beginner knitter.) I do enjoy getting lost in the rhythm. I really don't have a ton of other hobbies. Which is probably a good thing. (I'm not sure I have the time or money.)

Long story short, Do what makes you happy! :) Enjoy, now, where are those crochet hooks.

Thanks for sharing ladies. I so enjoy your stories.

i haven't even finished my list of wips let alone my wips..lol

tell him you are very normal i probably have more then that and went to fabric store brought more fabric and yarn !!

Standing up, my name is Lisa and I have a fabric addiction and I like to sometimes (ok more than sometimes) start projects and not finish them. Sitting back down.


i would like to add that after cleaning up my sewing area and organizing just about everything that is in it (lol disclaimer I did not organize the stuff that's in bins in our storage area). I decided that I really needed to add binding and/or finish the bindings on the ufos that I was storing. I brought those up to do at night while watching tv w hubby and oh my they got done! Yippee!

Oh, my...where to begin.....I have so many projects started....Crochet that I started so long ago that I should donate so it can be finished. My daughter got me into making beautiful jewelry and now I have tons of goodies that just sit in boxes. I enjoy the quilting most of all, but I get bored with the one that I am working on and start another. I have so much fabric that I don't think I will ever use it all. I have tried to get my daughter interested in quilting so I can give some to her, but she's just not interested. I have even offered to buy her a new machine. Sounds like we are all in the same boat. But isn't it fun! :D

Perfect answer, Jan!!! :thumbup:

I do the same thing. They are on my bucket list, though. I'm trying not to buy anything more unless it knocks my socks off.
I think it has something to do with all of that right brain left brain stuff. All of these ideas are in our heads waiting to come out. It's that whole creativity thing. We get bored easily, too. Do you think that it's ADD? I don't know. What I do know is that I love to quilt.

Is that ever true! Now, yes, my sewing room is a mess. Yes, it does contain unfinished projects. BUT my husband's office area has stacks and stacks of "stuff," and his garage does, too. He knows not to bug me about my one sewing space. Smart man!

I don't see the problem!

I am not going to count mine. lol I bring out one to work on and then it is put away when I get tired of it. Then I start another one. I thought that was the normal, at least it is for me.

A very VERY large club! I often have to remind myself not to get distracted and to finish what I'm working on before I start something else. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't.

I've learned to avoid large projects that quickly become boring, like King-size blankets. And I've given up on anything crochet that needs piecing - that's pretty much a guaranty that it will never be finished.

So I have to be different .I finish each thing I start --not that I haven't had to leave a few. I am the person that is given the unfinished from others to finish. At my charity this summer I did about 10 small tops that others started almost finished.
So if you don't want the finished "whatever" give it away unless you need to fill space with these boxes.
I will admit after a while this summer it got crazy because I was sewing things in colors and patterns I didn't like.
Oh well I just had to add from another perspective.

Unfortunately, I am in that boat also. I have only 3 large quilts to finish, and I bought fabric sash one of those yesterday. Hopefully, I'll get there in 2015, With my now-crippled hand. sewing and cutting are much more difficult for me.

Funny! I too have started several projects and not completed, but finally came to this conclusion that it's due to "separation anxiety". Now I start one, almost finish and start my next one. This encourages me to complete the first one before moving forward with the second project.

I have to confess, I have the same issue. I'm a starter. The last two years I have been working on finishing my many UFOs. I finished 14 quilts last year, both UFOs and new projects. I have done 7 so far this year. I have 4 more that I know I will get done before the end of the year. I'm hoping to get at least 3 more UFOs done too. I think by next year I will finish all my UFOs. Now, I won't even mention the many kits I have that I haven't even started. My little granddaughters are learning to quilt. Maybe they can help me finish all these projects. I have 2 gift certificates for fabric stores that I love! I'll never live to get it all done!!!