guilty what is that lol

Think of it as waiting for your dkill set to catch up with the project. I find I'm getting to a similar stage on my projects and not wanting to go further as I'm not confident with the next steps.

Look at it this way, you are enjoying the journey so much you don't want it to end, so you start another journey. Happy trails to you!

When you start to feel guilty about your UFO's, just eat chocolate. ...............but make sure it is really fine chocolate :)

I know what u mean. I just started a project but keep wanting to do this easy scrappy on the side, althoughh I haven't even started the scrappy I feel like I am cheating on my first project..lol

I try to do the same thing, but it sure is tough sometimes. If I buy fabric for the next project, my fingers just itch to cast aside the wip and dig into the fun that awaits!

I don't feel anxious about mine, although I only have 3 or 4 at a time. I potter around doing small projects and suddenly will get the bug and want to finish off one of the big ones. I am also stern with myself and will not start big project #5 until one of the UFO's have been done.

When I first started I would begin projects that were a little too difficult for me. The frustration wasn't worth it so I walked away. Later as I improved I would revisit them and finish if I still wanted to. Some I've started are too boring and those go into the scrap pile, we all need scraps right? For whatever reason try not to feel guilt, this is supposed to be fun, something we do for ourselves and our creativity. Put them aside and revisit in a few months. Relax and enjoy.

Try finishing one per month. 12 month, 12 cleared out.

Guilt is a waste of time. As you are thinking how guilty you feel you could set your mind on making something small and finishing that. It will all come together someday. Just enjoy yourself!!

David, why do you need to feel guilt?

I am a "process" person. That is, I prefer to explore the process of making something, but don't really care if it ever gets finished. I have learned or at least, tried just about all the techniques. A "project" person is more about making and completing a project - quilt for the bed, table runner for dining room, etc.

I believe that by trying out all the techniques is how we develop into the style that defines us. Some of us never find that style, but sure have a boatload of fun exploring! Not to mention building our stashes!

This is not to say that I don't ever finish anything. I have a gallery of quilts on the walls of our hallways & in most rooms (even the guest bathroom!) There are quilts draped over the furniture in the living room. I have beaucoup sets of placemats.

Right now, I have turned into a project person as I am madly working on finishing a Dear Jane style quilt with another group here on the Board. I started her in 1997, and joined this Board when I discovered this group. I am even going to host a Cyber-Sew-A-Long in a couple of months. This Board would probably throw me off if I were to list all that I have in the works. Would take too many megabytes. :)

Do I feel guilty? Not one little bit! And you shouldn't, either. You are exploring and along the way, will be quite a few discoveries. Some might get finished & others, well, maybe not. But there is nothing wrong with anything "quilty" that we do (or don't do.)

Good luck with your passion!

Kathy

This is it! A work in progress indicates that it is not unfinished, as implied by UFO. Even UFO's can stack up without guilt though. Go back to it after you've mastered a new technique, or have a refreshed brain, new hoop, or a buddy who wants to join you in the quilting and binding process. Sometimes I "visit" my WIP's and UFO's and talk to them. Occasionally one will "talk" back to me. Oh, I hear one calling now - Sunday is the birthday, I need to piece a king backing, then quilt it, all without her knowing. She just left for a long day at the local U. I'll make good progress today.

I have way too many UFOs and I am in the process of trying to get them all done. It might be because I am 64 and afraid I will leave them all unfinished. I talked to a lady that makes a lot of quilts and she said she finished up a lot of her mothers after her mother had passed away. I don't mind leaving the stacks of fabric but I don't think anyone would finish the quilts I have started.

Well, the first thing is - you don't HAVE to finish everything. If you learned something from the process - even if you learned you hated it - that's something. I think of it as the "going out to dinner" theory. If you go out to a nice dinner, you can drop $100, and it's gone the next day.. So even if you entertained yourself for several days, or weeks with the same $100, you're way ahead of the game. Plus, it's never really unfinished, unless it ends up in the trash. I expect there would be lots of quilters on this board who would be really happy with a project that's already started. Anyway, what I'm saying is NO GUILT!

It's not in my nature to enjoy my projects if I have too many going at once so I stick to only a few projects at a time and always finish one before starting any more. It may not be typical, but it works for me - Laura

Works for me, too !!!

No guilt allowed! Just do your thing and if you don't like it, give it away. Your posts always make me smile and I wonder how you do what you do.

For myself, I march to a different beat. I like to think I am organized and have several WIP while waiting for fabric or machine quilting or something, but I always finish what I start. It is an obsession with me. Even if I make a practice block, I find a way to use it.

I've found that I don't enjoy one project unless the last is finished (good or bad!). Guess everyone has their own system, huh? I DO have to put some of my projects away for a day or so sometimes. Don't start any thing new during that time however. Sometimes I need to do a day or so of cooking or baking instead. Maybe go visit my friend a couple of hours away. Those things generally get me over my stagnation with a quilt.

Maybe this helps? Guilt is not a feeling - it is a judgment. So who has judged you and what are you guilty of, other than enjoying the variety and joy of the quest of trying new techniques? The "journey is the point" not the result.

Let your creative juices flow and explore this new world. A "WIP" and a "UFO" are fruits that are in a state of maturation, not failures.

Go for it! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Can't help you with not feeling guilty. I feel guilty every time I enter my sewing room. That's why I'm not starting a new quilt until I get the majority of my UFOs done. And I'm just itching to start a new one!

isn't it interesting that QUILT and GUILT rhyme. They must be connected in some way

You might not 'get over' feeling guilty; it might be part of your personality. I, however, never feel guilty and I have several tops stored away (temporarily) and am working on 5 other different kinds of quilt projects. If I get bored, I like to be able to switch from one type of project to another. I know I always finish what I start, so the amount of WIPs doesn't bother me.

Quilting is lot like eating, you finish a meal and then look forward to the next one. You always have something to do if you don't finish everything right away. I look at UFO's as old friends, I pick them up, work on them awhile and look for the next one, never get bored that way.
UFO could mean Unseen Friends On the horizon.

Carol J.

This is what happened to me with placemats. I completed 4, had fabricl for 6! Put it aside and finally returned and completed 1 more and was very unhappy with that one. Probably will save the other fabric for stash!

don't start another one until you finish the one you started lol

This is a low number for projects I'm working on. If you have a problem with the project, set it aside and think about later. When you do get to feeling really really guilty use this as a motivator, set a goal that you can't buy more fabric (ooo) until you finish x number of unfinished projects or find a way to get it off your mind and out of your house.

Great idea.

amen

Take a deep breath and relax! This is supposed to be fun. Work on something fun for a bit then maybe a little on the UFO's. They'll get done sometime. My OFO's go in clear plastic tubs with the fab and the pattern that way I can work on the project a little or a lot depending on how I feel that day.

David: In the morning when you get organized to quilt....just say "eeny, meeny, mighty, mo" pick up a UFO and go sew.

Easy I buy more fabric and start another project.

I feel that I have to finish one project at a time; however, I find that if I stick another one in the middle I have more fun and when I return to the original I'm renewed. Don't think we are suppose to feel guilty about it, just do what feels right for you.

LOVE IT!!
David

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

You guys crack me up!!!
Thanks so much for all the comments!
David

I also finish them all, I spent a whole winter finishing my UFO's and swore I never would let that happen again. I always have one i am quilting and one I am working on . I hand quilt . This way I have some thing to do when my finger gets too may pricks and has to heal.

I don't feel guilty about ufos because I enjoy them while I am creating them and since I am retired I can always finish them later. If I have promised them to someone, I finish them. Besides there are so many creative ideas here that I just have to try them as I find them even if only one block of each.

I don't think of them as UFO's. They are all WIP's. I'm serious about that. I have only done one project that I quit with no intention of finishing it, and I got rid of it! Nothing says I have to finish reading a book I don't like, and nothing says I have to finish a project I don't like. In my sewing room, I make the rules. And here's another rule: I don't have to finish one project before I start on a new one.

Believe me, it gets easier!

Those projects are just unfinished for now. I am finishing up a yo-yo project that was started 15 years ago. My husband told me last night 'A lot of people would have gotten rid of them by now. That's one thing I love about you. You see the worth of things, and people, and you don't give up.' Keep your WIP's close and they will become treasured things one day.

Finish them! Then the guilt disappears and you have the finished project to admire.