I don't count unquilted tops as UFOs, they are a finished project -- just not a finished quilt. I have way too many unquilted quilts :( but I have very few UFOs (mostly because I got rid of most of them either by doing or finishing). I do have a couple "works in progress". Some times that work is rather far apart.

I mostly work with scrap/charm projects, typically using no more than 1-4 pieces of any given fabric and it can take me years to collect the fabric, at a certain point I will make a "project" box even if the only project is collecting the fabric.

I write myself notes on where I am in the project, typically with an EQ pattern enclosed. It might not say much, like I finished making Postcard blocks, just a simple postcard sized piece of fabric with a narrow attic window setting. Then I'll put it together with black sashing (fabric just came Saturday, is washed and ironed and ready for cutting). The note isn't much, it just is a printout of the top with simple hand-written notes like: Need 68 blocks. Attic Window & Sashing finishes 1.5, cut 2", but that's enough to keep me going.

The way some of you consider UFOs then every magazine or fat quarter collection someone gave me might as well be an UFO!

I quit counting UFOs and started counting projects. Projects have stages—pick pattern, pick fabric, cut, etc., etc. Projects are all in some stage of completion. And all projects are UFOs to me, unless they fall off the list. I think this started when I first joined the fabric moratorium, some years ago. Because no fabric is purchased just “for stash”, all fabric has a purpose. It’s part of a project. For example, Bali Wedding Star is on my list. Have Bali Pops and pattern, but not really anything else.

I noticed no time limits, i.e. 1 year from start date. My definition has been very loose: January 1 and lanquishing.

I like Rob's: "I count it as a UFO if I’ve actually cut the fabric, however, most of my UFOs have varying degrees of sewing completed. I love quilting, but am not as fond of piecing, so my UFOs are mostly partially pieced tops rather than flimsys waiting to be quilted. I find that once the piecing is done I am motivated to go ahead and get it sandwiched and quilted.

As far as timeline goes, most of my UFOs have been sitting unworked on for at least a year, including a couple that are nearing the decade mark and one that is (ahem) 30+ years old. But I have had projects that became UFOs in my mind after just a few months of not being worked on. Unworked on and not thought about are the keys for me deciding something’s a UFO."

UFO to me = cut and began sewing project but it's unfinished
Bought the fabric and pattern = back stock lol!

I agree that every one of us has to decide our own definition of a UFO. I chose two projects each week to work on, which are my WIPs. Almost anything I am not working on this week is a UFO, even if I just worked on it last week Finished to me means quilted and bound.

Once I have a pattern and all the fabrics bagged up, if am not currently working on it, it is a UFO, even if I haven't made a single cut or stitch.

The only exceptions are if I have a quilt in mind, but do not yet have all the materials I need, and my L/E crumbs and 4Ps. As soon as I decide on a design for the L/Es, if it is one of this week's WIPs, it is a UFO.

With my machine in the shop this week, the only project I have that isn't a UFO is the DJ I am hand piecing. :(

Hey! This is an interesting thought! I've always felt my finished tops were UFOs-- but I like this thought, it's new to me. I tend to think of anything that I have a plan for but I'm not actively sewing on as a UFO. Some are plans, bits and pieces of fabric, notes, ideas, yeah, they will not have the same value to descendants as the finished tops. Interesting thought, KQ.

I count anything that has been started and not completed as a UFO. They are not WIPs if they just sit in a plastic box. I have some and they bother me more and more as time goes along. This year (last week) I arranged them on my shelf in order of how much work they need to be finished. I will start with those that need the least work. I also plan to work on one for an hour each day. So far, so good. I plan to give most of them to my guild for the charity work that is done for various concerns. UFOs have become a burden for me-money is tied up in them and it seems to be such a waste of resources.

Last week I had 15 UFO's,( tops made and were waiting to be sandwiched). Today I have none. I took them all to the local Linus Project house. They were happy to get them and I was even happier to give them, as I was really beginning get the "haunted by the waiting UFO's" feeling.:)

Love all of our different definitions of UFO! What fun for us all. We are all unique. For me a UFO is any thing started, cut, pieced or in any stage where I could not give it away as a UFO. I give myself about 6 months before a WIP moves to the UFO category. Just my way of keeping myself organized.....in my mind any way.

OOOOOOOh that was a very creative way of "finishing" your UFO's!