Jan, I like that thought. I was taught to complete what I started just as I was taught to eat everything on my plate. Waste not want not. etc. Those teachings sometimes cause guilt and obesity. Thank you for reminding that it's "OK" to walk away.

While I'm not exactly new to quilting, I haven't done many quilt tops that have been my idea. They're mostly BOM's from LQSs that I used to learn to machine piece. I appreciate what stitching them taught me but heck, I just don't like the fabrics! I've been feeling guilty about not turning them into a top but I think you just gave me reason to let them go to a new home and move on with my own style. What a relief!

Time is precious and quilting is a hobby, as in, I do it for fun! I totally agree some things are just learning experiences and are ok to move on from without finishing.

Yes, these people left unfinished work; a lot of times because they DIED! But no one would be able to finish it for them. Unlike quilts, which other people can finish in some fashion so that they can be used. We don't have to feel guilty about not liking them or not finishing them; we can pass them on for others to finish and use or give.

I wouldn't finish UFOs I no longer like. Not worth the time.

However, I agree with your point- if you love it now, FINISH it now, so you can use it and enjoy it before your style changes.

I like the idea of trading UFO's. Let someone else finish it if you don't want to. Also, a friend and I did a BOM about six years ago that she never finished. The blocks were done, she needed to add sashing and border then quilt. It's been hanging on her design wall since she moved into her house two years ago. Last week I took a project for myself to sew, she took her BOM off the wall and started sewing and she's almost finished with it now. We were so busy talking she didn't realize how much she was getting done!

Have you thought about donating it to a needy cause? I belong to a quilt club that's primary purpose is doing quilts for charity. You'd be amazed at the organizations that would love to have quilts for the people they serve. ie homes for battered woman, (ours gives them to the women as a gift to keep and take with when they have to start from scratch setting up a household). No excuses for living in the country either. I live in northern nevada in a small farming community. We give away about 60 quilts each year.

I eventually finish all UFOs and they are donated (no, not bragging and I'm FAR from a saint! LOL!).

When I first started quilting, I used fabric that was cheap (had no stash and not a lot of cash to spend on materials) and not my style because I knew there would be a learning curve and every quilt would give me some lessons. So having learned to quilt on quilts I never would have chosen myself makes it a little easier to finish UFOs I even halfway like. If I really truly can't stand it, I speed up the process and try to focus on the person who might receive it and how they might feel about the warmth of snuggling underneath a handmade quilt that is all theirs! They may have never had a handmade quilt before! That motivates me a lot.

Think of them as green stamps, you have to lick the nasty to get to the good reward

I wonder ... since your mind changed about it over the years, might it change back? I see a lot of threads "what was I thinking?" and "This is so ugly." and got to thinking; I hate some of the stuff I started on by the time I finish it. If I wait a year to see it I sometimes think "Hey, that's pretty!" For example I really liked the two little Christmas wall hangings I made but I sure thought they were ugly when I put them away.

I think I would still think they were ugly if I saw them a year later and they were incomplete though.