Project UFO

*okay…I started a group on flickr…you can find it HERE.  Blog button is at the bottom of the post!*

UFOs. You know. You know what I mean. They’re there. Floating above you and telling you “work on me. work on me.” Yep…they can be slightly creepy…a little out of date…a blast from your past.

There are a lot of resolutions out there in blog land right now…a heck of a lot of them include using up your current stash. Well last year I did the whole “let’s not buy any fabric for 8 weeks” thing and many of you played along with me. I gotta say…I’m sort of past that. Trust me I want to use up my stash. But I know from experience that going cold turkey isn’t the way for me. Small indulgences make me a happier person. And trust me…you want me to be happy.

So my resolution for this year has not necessarily been slash the stash or scrap my scraps (though it’s great when that happens). No. I’ve decided that what is really hanging over my head is not my fabric stash (which actually makes me pretty happy most of the time) but rather the unfinished projects that are dragging me down. Those darn UFOs. They can give me a guilt trip like no amount of beautiful fabric can….because they’ve been started. Heck, most of them are almost finished! But distractions come, deadlines loom, and those projects get put on the back burner. Sometimes they are there for so long I know that I am really not interested in spending my time finishing them.

so here it is: Project UFO

Project UFO

I’m not necessarily even putting this out there for anyone to join me (though I’d love if you did!). My goal for this year…certainly the first six months of the year is to go through my UFOs and attack them. Brutally. Yep. Brutally. I think some of those projects need some tough love. Not everything I’ve started really needs to be finished. And while it is hard to get rid of things, that is exactly part of my plan. And I’ve already begun!

This pile of green, grey and white bee blocks had been acquired over the last couple of years through various swaps and bees. I even made some. But I needed to let them go. I don’t have enough for a quilt myself. I don’t have the time for them. But most importantly I don’t have a vision for them and they deserve that.

Project UFO

I was holding out on them waiting for a time to get to them. But tough love people. I was not going to be the one to give them the happy home they need. Thankfully Melissa snatched them and is thrilled to be getting them! I know she’ll do right by them.

So that is my first venture into Project UFO. I have more planned because frankly there are just too many projects started around here that are not being finished in a timely manner. Unless I plan to spend years on something I don’t want to be doing that. I might put a six month time limit on things. Eeek! Tough love. Tough love. I can do it. Finish it, pass it on, or toss it. That’s what you’ll be seeing. I need life to be a little simpler and nothing like a cute graphic to help me do that. 😉

If you like the idea of Project UFO, let me know. I can make up a blog button…we can do the whole linky party thing…whatever. But I’ll be using my cheesy graphic to help motivate me to handle those UFOs.
UPDATE: Here’s the button! Just grab the code underneath it and post that in a HTML widget on your blog. Easy peasy!

 

Cut To Pieces
<div align="center"><a href="http://cuttopieces.blogspot.com/2012/01/project-ufo.html" title="Cut To Pieces"><img src="http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s316/pingpong4614/ufo-2.jpg" alt="Cut To Pieces" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

I want to believe. (ten points for whoever gets that quote!)

31 thoughts on “Project UFO”

  1. First of all, I looove the X-Files! And second, this is an awesome idea! I have a few very resentful UFOs sitting around my sewing table right now. They're ticked. And they're tired of waiting for me to finish them!

  2. I don't have many UFOs (thankfully). I have one quilt that I have been dragging my feet a bit on quilting, even though it's basted…..and I started quilting it. I'm just not feeling it. Maybe that's what I should have worked on tonight!

    Oh, is the answer X-files? I feel like that quote has been a Trivial Pursuit question or something. I never watched that show.

  3. And the truth is out there? 😉
    Keeping my fingers crossed for you.
    I have just two UFOs really. The more "serious case" is the one for which I keep changing the project and design (there are so many things you can do with triangles – diamonds, hexies, etc)

  4. I have one UFO but I swear its my nemesis! 1 stinking Laura gunn quilt that has thwarted every attempt at quilting it I've made. I swear it has super human powers to snap thread and needles (also willpower!) & I know it secretly laughs at me when I'm trying to pull its kingsize width through my home sewing machine….Come to think of it I need Will Smith to come and drag it through a desert and kick its ass a few times for me 🙂 Hmmm Will Smith….Back to point I'm in! I will have this thing quilted in the next month. There I said it. Oh yikes I can hear it giggling at me!

  5. Thankfully, I don't have any UFO's from when X-files was still on (loved that show though)! And while my UFO sitings seem to be under control for the most part, 😉 I do see a slight pattern creeping up where I stall on basting and quilting those tops once they get pieced. This is the year to finish them and end with a clean slate!

  6. That is totally my Crafty New Years Resolution too! I have so many UFO quilt tops just waiting to be basted and quilted and SNUGGLED! Ignoring all the other UFOs and trying to focus on those this year. Although, it is 1 week from February and I can't say I've touched my UFO for this month yet, hrmmm 😉

  7. Project UFO is just what I need! I have so many UFOs floating around, its scary! I agree, they hold me back. I feel guilty & it ruins my creative process. I'm in!

  8. I have dozens of UFOs hanging out with my WIPs. I've come to terms with the fact that I'll never get them all done. Especially since none of them are of the type I'm willing to completely give up.

  9. I'm in! Project UFO matches up nicely with my 2012 word which is reduce. I am binding up right now on a quilt that I started last April for my bed. I pulled it out of a pile of UFOs on Sunday. It was 1/4 quilted. Taking it bobbin by bobbin, I quilted the rest and got the binding on. I feel so much lighter and can't wait to see it on my bed. Great goal, Angela!

  10. I totally agree with you about UFOs…I wrote a blog post on it myself some weeks ago, and eventually gave away 2 of the items that were slowing me down for years. They were no longer my style and yet I kept moving them from location to location. I'm happy to be rid of them; but now I need to tackle the others.

    It's just so hard because I want to finish them; but something shinier, prettier and cooler comes along.

    Let's do this.

  11. Ok, I'll post the blog button! Yup- I need it too!! That's my resolution, along with the several other full size quilts I need to do this year 🙂 hehe! LOVE the idea! Thanks!

  12. Oh I need this something fierce! I started a quilt 14 years ago. It was my second ever, and I'm sorry to say it's never been quilted. I wanted it to be but I don't have the patience for hand quilting and since it is king size so it really needs a long arm. I think I'll just have to bit the bullet and make the investment to have someone else finish what I started.

  13. I have a list of about 10 UFO's that are on my list. My oldest one I finished in December was from 1999. I don't really like it anymore but I know that once I donate it someelse will love it.

  14. X Files! I used to live in B.C. when everyone who had ever wanted to act had been in an episode of X Files!

    I have a few UFO's hanging over my head that I would love to finish somehow. I would love a cheezy graphic to motivate me (or at least to put on the sidebar of my blog and pretend . . . )

  15. I'm all over this already, as Rhonda at Quilter In The Gap is running a finish along all year. We're breaking our UFOs into quarters and at the end of each quarter linking up what we've done for a chance to win prizes (next chance to participate will be end of March/early April) I need motivation to kick my posterior into gear lol On the plus side, I'm 2 done, 2 1/2 way through and 1 1/4 done my 5 for this quarter, and it's still only January – I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…

  16. How did you know that I've already taken inventory of my UFOs? Did that just last week, including putting them on a spreadsheet and prioritizing them. Eighteen UFOs are googly-eyed staring at me now. But gosh, even if I don't finish them in 2012, ya gotta love that graphic. Too cute! It's good to know great quilting minds think alike.

  17. I tried the UFO thing last year and got a quite a few crossed off the list but I am still working at it! I have not made it an official resolution but am definitely going to keep my list and try to cross off as many as I can in 2012. I will gladly add your button to my blog… it is sooo cute!!

  18. Love the button! Yeaterday mu husband came into my sewing room when i was selecting fabrics for maybe starting on a Swoon quilt and he asked if I was starting another UFO….

  19. Ok I'm finally going to try one of these parties! I've put the link on my blog AND put some photos up on the flickr group. Thanks for the invite! I'm excited about joining in.

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