Dead Woman Walking! LOL
10-09-2014, 05:32 AM
#42
Super Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Central Wisconsin
Posts: 4,391
The thing that gets me to finish stuff is quilt shows. We have small quilt clubs near here that have a show once a year, and when the small communities have their "Days" in the summer, many times they ask for quilts to hang. I can take the same quilt to several of these, but they are a good incentive to finish something. I also think I have to finish something that I want to donate. I don't like it that the quilt is sitting in my sewing room and not keeping someone warm.
That said, I have plenty that are started. Whenever I see a block that catches my eye, I have to make one. Especially if it is something challenging. Someday, all these orphans will go into an orphan quilt. SOMEDAY!
That said, I have plenty that are started. Whenever I see a block that catches my eye, I have to make one. Especially if it is something challenging. Someday, all these orphans will go into an orphan quilt. SOMEDAY!
10-09-2014, 05:33 AM
#43
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Sonoma County, CA
Posts: 4,299
I'm a 'starter' but I'm also a 'finisher'....just not necessarily the same project!
Right now I mentally counted up at least 15 quilts that are in my "UFO cabinet", but by Christmas I'll have all but maybe 2 or 3 of those finished. (And I will probably have started 5 or 6 more!)
I like starting new projects, I like finishing old projects...I do get bored working on the same thing though, so for me it's best to have several things in motion at once, so no matter what mood I'm in there's something to be worked on that suits my current mindset. Sometimes I'm good at working on really fussy things, sometimes I want something simple where I can put the pedal to the metal and zoom along recklessly. So I have a couple projects of each type and all sorts of things in between, ready to be worked on.
I store my UFO's in a cabinet with glass shelves so I can see everything. Each project is put together into a kit and sits on a tray, so it's easy for me to pull a project out, work on it, then put it back into its spot when I stop again. This works up until the quilt is sandwiched, then it's too big to fit and ends up living loose in my sewing room, getting shuffled from place to place. For that reason, once a quilt is sandwiched it tends to get finished quickly, because it's in the way!
Right now I mentally counted up at least 15 quilts that are in my "UFO cabinet", but by Christmas I'll have all but maybe 2 or 3 of those finished. (And I will probably have started 5 or 6 more!)
I like starting new projects, I like finishing old projects...I do get bored working on the same thing though, so for me it's best to have several things in motion at once, so no matter what mood I'm in there's something to be worked on that suits my current mindset. Sometimes I'm good at working on really fussy things, sometimes I want something simple where I can put the pedal to the metal and zoom along recklessly. So I have a couple projects of each type and all sorts of things in between, ready to be worked on.
I store my UFO's in a cabinet with glass shelves so I can see everything. Each project is put together into a kit and sits on a tray, so it's easy for me to pull a project out, work on it, then put it back into its spot when I stop again. This works up until the quilt is sandwiched, then it's too big to fit and ends up living loose in my sewing room, getting shuffled from place to place. For that reason, once a quilt is sandwiched it tends to get finished quickly, because it's in the way!
10-09-2014, 06:10 AM
#44
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Monroe, IN
Posts: 2,283
Hi! My name is Rose and I am a starter!.....LOL I almost always have 3 to 4 different projects going at the same time and almost always have a good reason. The biggest reason things don't get finished is my children and grandchildren. They always need something from my sewing machine! It could be a last minute Halloween costume....or new curtains for the bedroom (10 yards of fabric just yesterday for DD curtains) or "mom, will you make this fancy christening dress and make it look like the picture?" Or the people who think that just because I have a sewing machine that I will do all her repairs and alterations for free (have stopped the freebies...I started charging). So when I am in the middle of trying to finish the quilt my mother started and oldest granddaughter asks for a bathmat type rug like I just made for me, it seems that the word "NO" is not in my vocabulary.....hence unfinished projects.
10-09-2014, 06:44 AM
#45
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Illinois
Posts: 5,298
I am in the process of cleaning my sewing room and re-organizing it. Reason: bought a Tiara II one month ago and needed to find room in my 10' x 11' sewing area. Tiara table is up, but everything else is a mess. Going through the closet now and sorting out my UFO's, and FINALLY labeling the boxes. It is like Christmas! Surprise! I forgot I even bought that.......how many years ago? Like many here, I may not live long enough to finish half of them, but boy, oh boy, I'm going to have fun trying. Luckily my husband is very handy and is downstairs right now building me a new 2' x 4' cutting/ironing station that is 1 ft. narrower and 1 ft. shorter than my previous make-shift table. Now it will store my machines, interfacings, rulers, ironing accessories, and several projects. Just said to my neighbor this morning, that my New Years resolution is to finally finish "some" of the projects I had started for me, but got put aside for gift quilts. It is about time.
10-09-2014, 07:32 AM
#48
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Grants Pass, OR
Posts: 2,071
I had a bunch of quilts that had not been bound and therefore on my UFO list. When I started to think about it I figured out that the reason they were not finished is that I did not know how to make a good ending to my binding. I got on the computer and for 6 and a half hours watched videos on binding a quilt. Finally found one that was good for me. In the last two weeks, I have finished 4 quilts. Only about 10 to go.
10-09-2014, 07:49 AM
#49
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 51
You people make me feel soo much better about everything. I am close to finishing my grandsons memory quilt--he only graduated 4 years ago 
I have "stuff" and books and notions to do machine embroidery, quilting, etc. but it seems like I know that at some point I will get interrupted when I start so I just read the Quilting Board to see everyone elses progress. My greatest quick satisfaction these days is to crochet around fleece for the Linus Project--that is something I can do in one or two evenings and feel good about. (For some reason when my husband looks at my fabric he thinks I am a horder--the nerve of him!!)
I have "stuff" and books and notions to do machine embroidery, quilting, etc. but it seems like I know that at some point I will get interrupted when I start so I just read the Quilting Board to see everyone elses progress. My greatest quick satisfaction these days is to crochet around fleece for the Linus Project--that is something I can do in one or two evenings and feel good about. (For some reason when my husband looks at my fabric he thinks I am a horder--the nerve of him!!)
Last edited by misskitty5; 10-09-2014 at 07:52 AM.
10-09-2014, 08:07 AM
#50
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: PA
Posts: 300
I guess I'm sort of the odd one out. Not unusual for me 
I tend to have about 3 projects going at a time. That way if I need a break from quilting, I can do some piecing, or cutting or whatnot. But, I always finish the one closest to being done before starting another one. Like I usually only have one that is in cutting stage, one that is in piecing stage, and one in quilting/binding stage.
I do have various other project in the line up, and they have fabric purchased/set aside for them, but not started yet.
This winter I am going to do the SnowAlong on canuckquilter.com - patterns are free right now!!! So I am downloading them and saving them to work on over winter. It's a lot of paper piecing very small pieces so I will probably set up a "project box" for that and work on one or two snowflakes here and there between other projects. I plan to make all versions of all the snowflakes and then put them together in one big quilt. Since I imagine I'll get tired of all the itsy bitsy paper piecing I'm just going to take my time on this one and make a block or two here and there when the mood strikes.
I tend to have about 3 projects going at a time. That way if I need a break from quilting, I can do some piecing, or cutting or whatnot. But, I always finish the one closest to being done before starting another one. Like I usually only have one that is in cutting stage, one that is in piecing stage, and one in quilting/binding stage.
I do have various other project in the line up, and they have fabric purchased/set aside for them, but not started yet.
This winter I am going to do the SnowAlong on canuckquilter.com - patterns are free right now!!! So I am downloading them and saving them to work on over winter. It's a lot of paper piecing very small pieces so I will probably set up a "project box" for that and work on one or two snowflakes here and there between other projects. I plan to make all versions of all the snowflakes and then put them together in one big quilt. Since I imagine I'll get tired of all the itsy bitsy paper piecing I'm just going to take my time on this one and make a block or two here and there when the mood strikes.
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