Close your eyes! I finished 12 quilts the year that I retired. The UFO's will give you something to do for later!
Not to worry!

Hey David,
Sounds like me too. and it gets harder to get back into blocks that are somewhat confusing or didn't turn out right the first time. I have one I tried to correct,(it's half way torn apart) then put it down, 2 yrs ago. I know it's there but lazy about getting back into it. Instead, those other 7 quilts are calling me. I am so tempted to get those started but need to get the UFO's done before I loose the pieces. I think that after I get going on a UFO I will feel better. If anything happened to me, these would probably go into the trash, so better get it done.

I'm with you...have to finish what I've started.

David, you're just a multi-tasker. Consider youself working on your PhDs.(Projects-half-Done).

Dunno! Never had that problem.

Why should you feel guilty? Enjoy the process, even if it takes years to get one done!

I don't bother to feel guilty - it is just that : a work in progress - great art takes time to peruse, ponder and think about...

I'm the opposet, I finish every quilt I start as I fear I'd lose interest if I put it aside.

For me, I have many WIPs and since I too am relatively new to quilting, I find that by letting them age with me I find answers to questions, or have ideas about improving them - well, that's what I tell myself and anyone who asks!

I totally agree. I have several tops and back (in different stages) hanging in the closet in the sewing room for just such occasions. One or two I will finish for myself when I have time but I always have some that are just for fun and when it need (or feel the need) I can pull them out at a moment’s notice. Very comforting to know they are ready to go.

I don't feel guilty about UFOs as we organise a UFO swapping/matching day and finish them up that way. A lot of fun. Or you could put them on e-bay?

If you have only been quilting 3 months, all your work is still WIP or LIW (lady in waiting) none are old enough to be UFO's just enjoy. Quilting is supposed to be enjoying not to frustrate you. So just keep quilting and having fun.

I don't feel guilty...I just have fun..

who's guilty, we get to them sooner or later.

If you really enjoy making tops and not doing the quilting part, perhaps you can team up with someone who enjoys quilting, but not piecing. I keep some tops around just in case I need a donation quilt, so they aren't really UFOs, just waiting for a need (that is my excuse and I'm sticking to it). If that fails, I suggest chocolate and/or white wine.

I have a reject basket in the corner of my sewing room. Now and then I go through it. Sometimes I'm able to see something I didn't see before, sometimes I use the pieces for another project, sometimes they just sit there a while longer. Sometimes...they never get done. Everytime it is a learning experience.

You've only been at it for 3 months? and 4 wip? Sounds about right to me! Some projects just need time to 'gel' on the design board or under the bed. Don't fret; relax and enjoy them. Start another project if you don't feel like working on these right now :D

Usually the joy of the new project makes me forget the UFO. Later when I clean up I can get back to them. That is sometimes.
I have UFO's that over 15 years old :oops:

Oh, the woes of quilting. Sew much fabric sew little time. It is nice to be needed and every unfinished project "needs" you. It's a good feeling.

If it is a quilting project, I look at it in stages, 1st stage: concept and design (or pattern/fabric selection); 2nd stage: preparing materials; 3rd stage: Construction of top; 4th stage: quilting; 5th stage: completion. It is perfectly acceptable to take a break between any and all stages. No one dictates how long that break can be. 8-) :oops: :oops: 8-)

I put them all in plastic bags on the top shelf where I can see them...then try to get a friend to come and work on their choice with me...
If it is rainy and miserable weather, I get a couple of "chiller and thriller" audio books from the library and listen to one of them, while I work on ( perhaps ) the smallest or quickest project! jp

I put them all in plastic bags on the top shelf where I can see them...then try to get a friend to come and work on their choice with me...
If it is rainy and miserable weather, I get a couple of "chiller and thriller" audio books from the library and listen to one of them, while I work on ( perhaps ) the smallest or quickest project! jp

ditto.

I subscribe to the notion that every quilt will reveal itself to me in its own time. Some quilts are in a hurry to appear and insist on being set free to their destiny right away and some quilts need to season and ponder before they are ready to fly. I'm okay with that.

Check out the amazing Sun Bonnet Sue quilt in the Picture section titled First Applique. This is an example of a quilt that I would let season and take my time to finish. As much fun as it would be to make all the little dolls I would want to break up that process with some other projects.

Skip the UFO stuff, they are works in progress. It's just that the progress has been temporarily interrupted. Come on! No guilt there. ;-)

My WIPs have gone into boxes along with their pattern or my scribbles AND all the fabric necessary to finish them. Then they go onto a shelf, sometimes for a few years but I know always can back to them. MY WIPs built up cos I took just about every workshop going when I first started and there was just not enough hours in the day to finish before the next class. Today I no longer go to workshops because income has shrunk considerably and they are dreadfully expensive now. My Wips are keeping my hobby going and my scrap bin is building up nicely. I do have alot of boxes!! I do start new things but only one or two a year now and usually with a recipient in mind. Doing a D9P for a babe due at end of the month - always leave things to the last minute!! Point of this rambling? Oh yeah - don't feel guilty all part of gaining experience and many an orphan or try out block has ended up as an arty pieced back.

Fear not! And don't let these moments off-put you into giving up this hobby, you really aren't a quilter unless you have the UFO's and lists of projects and/or kits you'd really like to get around to doing/completing.

I look at it this way: art and creativity takes time. Many of the masters of renaissance artwork took months and years to finish a project let alone the fact that some walked away from them them for extended periods of time or almost chucked them entirely because another new inspiration beconed in their heart and mind that they just had to express immediately. Bottomline, I don't sweat over UFO's, as I'll take much time as I need. Period.

Who knows... (and this has happenned to me before) if you lack inspiration on one particular project and put it aside, months later, maybe even years - you one day eventually find a perfect fabric or embellishment to finally finalize the project, or sometimes the project just needs a home (that is the perfect person to give it to). And it will always been "just in time" - as it often winds up being the perfect present for someone at the right moment in time for that creation.

I look at it this way: everything has it place in purpose in time. If I create something today with the intentions of finishing it later this week and it does not come to fruition, then it was meant to be "birthed" not "born" just yet. And when the time is right - it will be born just perfect through my own creative eyes. I openly accept the fact that as a quilter I'll always have UFO's, but I will never have UFO's that just never get used, everything has its purpose. That however, may just not be today, tommorrow or next week - no matter how much I want it to be!

As for advice on the guilt - the best advice I can give is to never feel guilty about it... it's apart of the process, the experience and both the joy and love of quilting!

Explosive blessings, abundance and inspiration to you all!
- The Creative Seamstress

Davidwent I have been quilting for MANY years and have many UFOs as they are called now a days. lol. I do not feel guilty because of them ,some I hit a snag or problem and let it lie til I can wake up one am and say ooooh so that is what I need to do.... lol and another reason for ufos is that it keeps them all fresh to me and I dont tire of them before they are finished. I do needleturn applique landscapes and old barns and houses, it takes a long time to do them this way I will finsih them some day.

yes creative seamstress that is what I was trying to say. You said it much better that I.

Here's the order of terminology for my sewing room: WIPs (works in progress); UFOs (unfinished objects); and USOs (unsewn objects).

I set them aside and eventually I feel like tackling it again. I don't like to keep on with something I'm tired of. Still a little guilt involved tho - offset by a good feeling of returning to it.

I agree with this idea.

Put it away but NEVER give up.
When my granddaughter was born, I wanted to make her an appliqued alphabet book. Got the pattern but it didn't happen. Last month this granddaughter had a little boy so I am making it for him.
What's 30 years when it's a fun project.

I have found that if I try to work on a project that I really don't want to do, not in the mood, etc. I WILL end up taking out my work later! So David, consider it 'saving' your WIP from poor work or decisions <G>
If you someday find that you no longer need the experience that the WIP provided, give it to your local quilt guild who will finish it and give it to a needy child!

I have two UFO's setting by waiting to be finished, but with everything coming at me now I have to leave them alone no matter how bad I'd like to work on them. I know they're going to be great when they're done but I want to give them my all in order to concentrate. SO for now I'll do the BOMs and other little things going on just to have something to pass the time and keep the mind busy. Guilty?? No...I leave that for something I've done that really deserves Guilt! :-)

I usually have a few things going at a time, currently 3 major projects and a BOM. I work on whatever I feel like working on but I do get them done. Don't worry about it unless you find yourself never finishing anything.

I only really feel guilty about ones that were supposed to be for a specific birthday/wedding/new baby/new house/whatever and the designated gift giving time has passed by a significant amount.

I will eventually get them done!

I was thrilled a couple months back when I finally finished one that had given me fits every time I worked on it for a couple of years. Once I gave in to taking it completely apart and doing it a different way, it came together relatively quickly. And the recipient told me she valued it even more because it took so long to finish. I had made a pillow with one of the blocks from the original plan, so she got to see what I had intended to do as well. I also used the pieces left over from the redesign to make 3 more pillows for her, so maybe her kids won't fight over who gets mom's pillow, they get one too.

Guilt is over-rated. Takes too much energy.
Just call them your practise pieces and if you want to bind them and send them off as "potholders du jour," go for it.

um...yesterday I swapped one of my UFQTs for a yard of badly needed batik, with one of my quilting friends.
Honestly, we were both delighted! J