UFO - Should I dig it out?
 

OK, this seems really silly, but I have a UFO that I'm not sure I want to pull out to try to finish. A bit of history....I started quilting probably 25 years ago and quilted for about 10 years or so. The last project I worked on was a kaleidoscope quilt using fabric from my young son's curtains in our old house. I had to buy more fabric and the fabric runs weren't exactly the same so the sets of pieces for the kaleidoscope blocks weren't perfect. And I'm a perfectionist. It was a very frustrating for me, especially since I had cut up curtains that I had made for him. If I remember correctly, I have the top mostly together except for the borders, which again were requiring matching of fabric from 2 different runs. This was the last quilt I worked on before I took a 10 year break. The quilt wasn't the whole reason. I discovered scrapbooking and took a detour for a while, but have found my way back to quilting because I missed it. I've been "back" for about 4 years. This top that isn't finished keeps haunting me, but I'm half afraid to find it to work on and get totally frustrated again and stop quilting. My son is now 19, so the juvenile animal print isn't something I could really even use for anyone I know. Am I just being silly? Should I find it and finish it?

I think we all have a few of those type of UFO's. My first thought was get it out, look at it, see if you want to finish it and if so, just do it. If you look at it and still just totally frustrated by the whole thing, pack it up and give it to a thrift store for someone else to find and maybe finish. No reason to beat yourself up over it. Or after looking at it and still like it, but it is better to save it for a future grandchild and don't want to finish it now, no big deal. I am better when I have a purpose for a quilt to get it done. If it is for me, then it may take years.

Yes, I think you should finish and save for his children. You can put a little story with it so his family will know how much you put in this and about the fabric. Show us a picture please. You will be glad you finished this special UFO.

Life is too short to work on projects that don't bring you joy.

I wouldn't mess with it unless you really wanted to. It's okay not to finish everything.

Dina

Amen to that!! If you didn't like it then, you probably won't like it now. Give yourself a break and pass it along. or, heck, even take it apart and reuse SOME of it.

Jan in VA

Get the monkey off your back and donate it! Don't count on using it for grandchildren. Styles change. What we liked is thought of as "old fashioned" by new moms.

You need to do something with it. Take it out look, buttons cover multitude of imperfections. He may like it and keep for grand babies. If it stays where it is it will fester in your mind.

Have a look at it, if you are not going to enjoy it, then I'm with the others donate it, bin it, get rid and move on. If you have another look and think hey it's not that bad then finish it. Quilting is a hobby and something to enjoy not endure. We have enough in our life we need to endure and sometimes not enough to enjoy.

Don't beat yourself over this. Count it as a learning experience. We all have things we look back on and think what was I thinking. As my granddaughter reminded me when she was stuck in the mud "we're making memories".