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!

We had a challenge at our guild in Jan. to finish 6 UFOs by Jun. which has been extended to July. I have 4 out of the 6 finished and am almost finished with the other 2. By the increased deadline, I think I can finish them. Back problems have gotten in my way... Am excited to have totally finished the 4 projects. It has helped clear my mind and think more clearly...

Once I start piecing a top, I stick with it until I am done. If it is going out to a LA to be quilted I start on a new project until it comes back, then I stop whatever else I am doing to get the binding on and have it finished. If I am going to do the quilting myself, I will work on it off and on since I find man-handling the quilt around to be physically tiring..so I may alternate the quilting with work on a piecing top. But otherwise I try to finish each project in order of starting. If I had several unfinished projects laying around it would drive me crazy--guess I am too much of an "A" personality for that!

IF I start a new project before finishing another .. the likely hood that I will go back and finish is slim. For me, the next project always has more excitement than the finishing of the current.

I work on at least 5 projects at a time. I set guidelines for myself and usually spend a week at a time on each one. It works for me as many times I like to mull over the next step in the project. It also gives me something "new" to work on all the time. I do find that once I reach a certain point I tend to concentrate on a project and get it completed. The good thing is then I get to work on another one! All my UFO's are in acid free containers with the instructions, specialty rulers, etc. I usually leave myself a note as to what the next step should be so they are easy to pick up and work on.

Good question. I don't think i have a single process. Some quilts just seem to make themselves, start to finish, and nothing I can do will change that. Others, get off to a fast start, then something comes up and they go in a big zip lock bag with all the makings for the quilt top. They do finally get pieced, though.

Right now I have about 20 tops waiting to be quilted. They are on the top of my list of things to do this year, but I've been busy with a few minor health issues, family stuff, sort of vacations and now my grandsons are here and they tend to keep me busy!

If you're having a problem with what to do next, use one of those blocks that you don't count to make a doll quilt and donate it. Small project, short amount of time and then you'll be ready to move on to the next big project.

Good question. I usually have two in progress. I have the two BOM quilt blocks from last year finished (was finished in December 2013). I put one of them together and it is ready for sandwiching and quilting. This one will be tied as it was a learning process. I learned that I can actually make some blocks that used to scare me away. The second one is on hold because I started a special Christmas project of making 4 Christmas Tree wall hangings. I am ready to assembly these ... woohoo! When they are finished I will go back to the BOM quilts and get them finished and out of the way. I have a bucket list of quilts I want to make!

Good luck and happy quilting!

Ha! This is me too. It is good to know that I am not alone. :)

Dina

I complete what I start. I only have one UFO and that was a quilt top I made some years ago when I took a class. Someday I'll have to quilt it. I don't like having unfinished projects. It depresses me and I do this to have fun.

Make a sampler! That way every block is like a new quilt! :)

I used to do 1 quilt at a time, now i may have 2 in various stages but get them done, any ufos are pieces ppl iven to me that im hand piecing as it takes longer but i dont like ufos too obsessive! :-)

I'm struggling right now I have several projects I need to start, but I have a lap quilt and a bed runner both sandwiched and ready to quilt. I've started on the bed runner, but had a tension issue and had to unsew almost everything I had done. Got discouraged and have been avoiding my "sanctuary". I wish I could afford to send one to a LA. Not in the budget though, and now that school's out I am determined to make progress. Have to spend a couple days a week in my Library at school too this summer. Whittling down the number of items to be processed into the cataloging system. Hmm I'm playing catch up everywhere, I need to get a handle on all this!

I love making child size quilts, so I'm usually done piecing a quilt before I get bored with it and want to move on to another project. Right now I have about 10 quilts that are pieced and waiting to be quilted and 3 quilts just needing the binding hand-stitched.

The lighting in my loft where I sew is not great in the evenings, so I try to only use my Longarm on the weekends. When I quilt on my longarm I usually try to fit either 2 or 4 quilts onto one large backing fabric to make my time more productive. None of my quilt tops have been waiting for their turn on the longarm for more than a year. Once I have enough quilt tops that would all look good with the same backing fabric, I get them quilted. Most of my quilts are donated to Project Linus, so it doesn't matter if I have the same fabric used to back multiple quilts.

I'm hoping to get several of my quilts quilted and with binding attached to the front so that I have plenty of hand work on the binding to do next month after knee surgery. I also try to do a lot of my upstairs sewing while my husband is traveling so that I can sit and do my hand sewing while watching TV when he is home. I also like to take my quilts to do the hand sewing while we tailgate at football games. As long as I can donate at least 2-3 finished quilts each month, I'm fine with having several projects in process.

I have to finish whatever I start, but that doesn't stop me from planning another quilt. I might buy fabric and decide on a pattern for another project which kind of gives me incentive to finish the one I'm working on.

I HAVE to finish one before I start another one, but that's just me. That's how I started out with this wonderful hobby and I'm stickin' to it.

the only time i have UFOs is if they are block of the month projects, otherwise if i start a quilt I finish it before I start the next one.

I don't like UFO's laying around either. SOOOOOOOOOOO I put them in a box out of sight. I guess it is just part of being one of those type quilters. Actually the piecing is my favorite part. Therefore, the quilting gets put off.

I'm a hummingbird quilter. I do a little here, a little there, zip over there... That way it never gets dull and if I get frustrated I can just switch to something different without really losing my stride.

I do a lot at once, so at any given moment I might have anywhere from 2 to a dozen things in progress, but nothing sits for very long and everything gets finished eventually. Right now I probably have ....oh at least 10 quilts in progress, but the oldest (most neglected) is just now getting to be about a year old. I have a few baby things I need to make by end of summer, and also a wedding quilt due in August that I've barely started (eep), and some Christmas gifts are in that list, so that year-old project is probably going to get close to 2 years old by the time I finish it. (It's a stack & whack, those take me FOREVER.)

I will generally finish a top before I start a new one - just too much mess to deal with lots of different projects going on. However, I will sometimes leave a top while I think about how to quilt it, or if I have a deadline for something else. 3 is my magic number though - anything more than that and I feel compelled to start finishing.

Okay, I will weigh in on this one. When I started quilting (3 1/2 years ago) I stuck to one quilt then I realized that I could comfortably do 3 at a time. #1- I am doing the hand work (hand quilting or machine quilting on the current "finishing project") and the binding (usually in the car on trips on in the recliner or at the machine in where the hubby is). The #2 is in the cutting process and organization stage. And the #3- in the piecing stage at the machine. I am a retired teacher and was always use to multitasking in the classroom so I make sure there is plenty to keep me busy.

I usually finish my projects. I say " usually" because I did a pair of machine appliquéd wall hangings, one for me, one for my daughter, and decided I hated machine appliqué and it didn't turn out well. They're still in my closet because I can't bring myself to throw them out. The only other thing I have undone are some EPP six-pointed stars and a bunch of hexies I don't know what I'm going to do with yet. They're my hand projects I do when I want to hang out with my hubby and watch TV instead of my craft room alone.

I really admire this. I have lots of physical limitations and can only work on one thing so long. It really helps me to change position and vary what my hands are doing, so I have cutting, piecing, quilting, applique and basting going on all the time. The drawback with this is that I only advance a little each day on each different thing. I'm sure this would drive some people batty.

Sounds like you are hooked. I have trouble finishing my quilts, too. I usually need a deadline to really motivate me.
I have so many UFOs I'm afraid to count them. My new strategy is to post a picture every time I finish one. I enjoy looking at others, so maybe I"ll enjoy showing them off.

I have a few tops done waiting to be brought to a long armer. I have yet to machine quilt on my machine. The throat space is not that big and I have not bought the walking foot or free motion foot yet.

I only wish I was a start to finish quilter. I have so many flimsies I stopped counting. But I do like to pull them out every so often and enjoy looking at them and planning.

Then I start a new quilt.:D

I am not a planner when it comes to making quilts. if I see a pattern I would like to make I like to get it started so I don't forget about it. I may put it away for a few months while I finish other tops and will come back to it.

I do know this. I don't know who but, some one at a thrift shop is going to get a lot of quilt tops to finish any way they want, when I am gone from the world. And about 10 thousand dollars worth of fabric too!
peace

While I am in theprocess of making a quilt, my mind is racing with ideas of what the next quilt is going to be. I always have a pad of paper and a pencil on my sewing table and when an idea crosses my mind, I write it down. NO, I DO NOT PHYSICALLY START ANOTHER QUILT UNTIL I AM DONE WITH THE ONE I AM WORKING ON!!!!! This way, when I am done with my quilt I am all ready and set to start the next one. I have the colors picked out and when I am done with my quilt, I get the fabrics I need for that quilt (stash upstairs and in the basement!!!!), pick out the pattern/patterns, depending on if it is a sampler or not (The sampler is basically my trademark)!

But I always finish the quilt I am working on first. When you work on only one thing at a time, you bond with it. That is the best feeling in the world. You work your little be-hind off on it and make your mistakes and fix them, only to do it again and again (three times try to fix, fourth time throw the block out and start out fresh) and it "literally" becomes a part of you. I love that feeling and most of all giving the quilt to someone and watch them enjoy it. I love the bonding part the best. Have a good day! Edie

Your intentions are good. I had a Campfire troop (Remember to Finish What I Begin), but here's what happens while you are working on a project.....the quilt guild has a challenge or they are quilting for charity, a baby shower invitation arrives, it's time for holiday gifts, the list goes on and on.

Sometimes a project just goes on for too long and becomes tedious. A change of pace really helps.

I hope you get to work all your projects to completion, but good luck with that!!!

I "usually" finish the project I am currently working on before I start the next - but there are always new ideas floating in my head to begin another project. I agree with other's comments that if I put it away, it is hard to get it out to work on it again. I do all my own machine quilting on my Janome 6600 and really enjoy that but the hardest part for me is sandwiching and basting the top, batting and back together. Small ones are not bad but the bigger ones I have to do on the floor and at 69 that gets harder and harder. It is the best feeling of accomplishment when I can complete a quilt from start to finish by myself. I love the work of our longarmers but I also like machine quilting myself and the more I do it the better it gets. I also am working on using my stash and that isn't hard to do now a days with the price of fabric. I actually have seen my stash go down a little and that is a good feeling. If you can discipline yourself to finish one UFO before starting another - you're doing great but if not don't sweat it - you need to enjoy what you are doing at the time. You are on the road to being an awesome quilter.

I usually finish each project, quilt or something else. However, when I run into a problem with something, I put it aside and mull it over till I come up with a solution. So I have 3 such projects at this time. Hopefully the solution will come to me and I can finish them.

Usually I'm a start to finish quilter, although I may plan/design and gather/purchase fabric for my next project as I'm finishing one.