UFO Management

My UFO pile in 2010 - 10 quilts were completed!

I tried many interventions over the years to get a grip on my UFO problem situation. Some ideas have been more successful than others, and I have come to accept that this is a normal state of being for most quilters. 

In 2010 I went through this UFO pile and did a trunk show at my quilt guild, showing the UFO's, and identifying the issues that caused them to become a UFO. You can read more about that night here. That process was very helpful! I put 3 UFO's up for adoption that night, and drew the name of the winning quilter from the brave souls who volunteered to adopt the project. It felt great to pass on projects that I did not like and had no interest in finishing. I also welcomed ideas from guild members on how to fix some of my UFO technical challenges, which helped me to become interested in the projects again and motivated me to turn the tops into finished quilts. 

My UFO closet on Jan. 1st, 2014

In 2013 I started to participate in A Lovely Year of Finishes and benefitted from the regular goal setting and end of month celebration of success (or confession of nonsuccess). I finished 6 quilts from that list, which was better than having them still sitting in a pile or hanging in a closet! 

My UFO list for 2014 resulted in 6 more completed quilts and several that enjoyed some progress but were not completed.

UFO closet January 2015

Here is the UFO closet at the beginning of 2015. There are lots of treasures in there that would be fantastic finished quilts! Some of the hangers have the quilt top and the fabric for part, or all of, the backing... which is shockingly organized (for me!) I decided to pick 12 projects to concentrate on for the year and it was hard to narrow it down. Some quilt tops that didn't make the list were crying in the closet. 
Not really... I made up that last part to see if you are still reading! LOL
Seven quilts were finished from the 2015 UFO list and six from the 2016 list. 

In 2017 I started participating in One Monthly Goal program at Elm Street Quilts. This has been very helpful for me in being accountable to myself to meet my own goals. Of the 2017 UFO list six quilts were finished. 
I notice that a few of the quilts keep getting bumped into the next year's list. It's time to get some of those old projects finished! Click here to read my January 2018 UFO review. 

Tied Up In Knots

Here is a big UFO success for me. This Rainbow Scrap Challenge  quilt was started in January 2012 and finished in May 2018... only 6 years from start to finish! The blocks contain 672 squares that finish at 1" which means a lot of tiny scraps were sewn into this quilt! 
I have realized that having an abundance of UFOs is a chronic state for most avid quilters and is nothing to be concerned about (perhaps a teeny tiny bit of denial, hardly noticeable really!)  

Okay, her quilt studio is totally out of control.
Who's going to tell her?!?

My two main goals to work on now:
1) to increase efficiency in managing the flow from the start of a project to the finished quilt in a more organized manner, while enjoying each step of the process even if it takes years to complete, and 
2) being very aware of the life clock ticking, and the UFO chaos that will be inherited by my offspring in the event of my promotion to the heavenly quilt studio, everything needs to be sorted out with clear instructions so that any one of my quilting friends could receive the project and finish it (or put it on their own UFO list!)
Happy Quilting!