Project Process?
 

As I'm working on my first "real" quilt, it got me thinking. I'm a start to finish crafter (usually). I think I'm going to want to finish this quilt 100% before starting another one. I just hate the idea of creating UFOs... Not knowing if/when I would finish it. However, the desire to start another one is huge, and I'm barely done with finishing the first one.


What is your usual "process"? Do you do a bunch of tops and then do a bunch of finishing, or are you a start to finish quilter??

I have at least a dozen tops waiting to be quilting...one or two of them date to the late 70's...and others to the 80's. But since I got my Juki 98Q, I do quilt a lot of the tops I make. Partially, because a lot of them have been baby quilts and had to be finished.

I also think that because I am getting older, I want things finished. I am 58 and have enough fabric to last my lifetime! This last time I did fold the top I had just finished and put it away...I then went back and picked up a top made around 2007-8 and sandwiched it and got it quilted.

I don't like having UFOs hanging around either although I have several. I understand that extreme urge to start another project. Either the pattern or the fabric or something just screams out your name. I think it is OK to give in to that urge if you can teach yourself to limit your current projects to something "manageable". Whatever that means to you. Good luck with your projects, I cannot wait to see pictures.

I finish one thing before starting another. I have no UFO's, unless you count blocks made during a class to learn a specific technique. (And I don't count those.) Sounds good, right? Not necessarily. I have a huge problem deciding what to start next, despite having a mountain of fabric and patterns.

I have too many thingsstarted but have been working to finish things. I just turned 59 the other day and losing my dad in April makes me want to finish things not that it has stopped me from buying things.

No UFOs. I complete a project before moving on. I have to keep myself on this regimen or I will bail on each project when it gets tough and then never get back to them. I think it is a personal thing. You know your own personality/disposition.

At the beginning of the year I had 20 tops waiting to be quilted and 3 more in progress. I decided I needed a new strategy. I have given myself permission to work on blocks, but not to put them together into a top until all my other tops are quilted. Its working! I get the satisfaction of piecing but am not adding to the pile of tops. Since Jan, I have quilted 10 of those tops as well as completing and quilting the 3 tops in progress. I have 3 sets of blocks waiting to go together and will quilt each one when its completed. Oddly, since I gave had such success, I really am motivated to knock the rest of those tops out. I quilt on my DSM, which is why I keep putting the quilting part off.

I have a hard time getting back to a project once I've moved on. I have had several at once and I didn't like it. Now I try to finish up before getting another one going. I have one or two tops still lying around and I have lost interest in both of them. They weren't my favorites when finished and it seems a waste of time and resources to finish them right now. Maybe someday!

What a question! :D I don't finish many of the projects I start unless it's for a gift. However, that's all improving with age!! I've finished 4 UFOs this year, 2 sets of placemats, a sweatshirt jacket and a tote bag with many pockets. I do wish finishes were more important to me. But I've decided to send some of the quilts out for quilting so that they will get done. Life does get in the way, but I'm trying to schedule time for sewing.

My process used to be like yours, complete one at a time, then it went to 2 so I didn't get bored! It went on from there to ....!! Now I have tried for the last year to get back to 2 or 3 at a time, so I don't get overwhelmed(happens easily for me, moneywise and feeling like I never accomplish anything, which, with my personality,,is a problem). So, its that "different strokes for different folks" but ! For me, I definitely feeling better about my hobby since I did go back to what I started with!