Unless it's for something like a wedding or birthday gift I like to have 2-3 ahead as I do most of my own FMQ on my Sweetsixteen. I like to do them one after another to keep up the practice rather than one here or there with lots of time In Between.

When I first started quilting 8 years ago, I finished everything I started. I did not have much of a stash and was perfectly fine with that. Somewhere in my 5th year of quilting, I realized that I have a very large stash and that I had about 3 quilts I was working on at one time. Because I love to buy vintage quilt tops and fix them before having them quilted, and I also buy vintage blocks, I now have about 10 quilt tops ready to be quilted and about 25 quilt tops and vintage blocks that need to be finished. I am very happy with this, my creative juices are always flowing.

No!
I have to finish stuff or it drives me crazy!
MaryKatherine

I work on several projects at a time. I have a quilted diaper bag half finished, a baby quilt waiting for binding, several blocks, dozens of hexagons and dozens of yo-yos I'm not sure what I will do with.

I'm also making three lap size memory quilts for grandsons. I have one half done and two planned. I am including pieces of their mom's (my dd) clothes (only in the quilt center) but I can't open her box of clothing. She passed in January, I got the box in March. Every time I go to do open it I freeze. I have to do it soon because I want the quilts by Christmas.

It's my personality to jump around. I don't get upset for having UFOs. I'm an author and some books take years to write. I design scrapbook kits and they take a few days so I have a few half finished. I write when I feel like writing, design when I feel like designing and sew when I feel like quilting.

I also read several books at a time, I'm currently writing two books, and have a half dozen unfinished blog posts, and several half finished scrapbook designs. So UFO are a way of life for me.

Very interesting thread. Fun to see how different we are.

I usually have several projects going at once. At the moment I have one sandwiched ready to quilt, 2 that need binding machine sewn and one that needs the hand sewing of the binding.
This does not include a couple of several years old UFO that became UFO's because I could not decide how to quilt them. I will eventually finish those. I finish almost everything I start.

I have a mountain of UFO's that really need to be finished up. One has a strip turned wrong right in the center, but for the pattern it needs ripped out, One is for a little grandson and I put it on the frame crooked, so it ALL has to be unsewed and its flannel. One I am working on now I love and will finish it up right away. One is a Noah's Ark for another grandson and I have 3 to quilt for others. Sure, I'll get em done lol

This is me too, and if I am inspired by pictures, I enjoy the hunt for fabrics, but I don't CUT into anything until the last one is done...this works for me...just enjoy the process that works for you.

I have projects from classes or BOMs that I started when I was working and just started quilting. Now I'm retired and trying to reduce my UFOs and start fewer projects. However, that being said, some of these new BOMs and classes are sure hard to resist.