This is a subject I have discussed in the past, but I think it deserves revisiting.
There comes a time in each quilter’s life when she needs to face up to the UFO situation. Are you organized? Do you even know what unfinished projects are hidden away in your sewing room? If you went back in time, how many years old are some of your abandoned projects? Two years old? Five? Ten?
We tend to stash them away out of sight and ignore them for years on end. I urge you to confront them and make a list of your UFOs, and make a plan on how to deal with them. I was inspired to get out a record-keeping notebook and go have a good look at the project bins I have full of almost completed or half-finished quilt projects.
Worse than the pile of unfinished projects was the list of future projects I had purchased fabric for and planned to make, but never even began the project. I have an entire shelf devoted to that. And then, sometimes I lose the pattern and cannot even recall what my plan was for all that expensive fabric I bought.
You have to just face the fact that in some cases, you may have lost interest in a project, and no matter what, you will never be inspired to pick it up and complete it. In that case, donate it to a quilt guild or someone who might like to pick it up and complete it. Sell it if you can and recoup some of your investment.
If you are like me, you have a stack of finished tops you have never bothered to have quilted. (That is a post subject for another time). In the case that you have a finished top that you know you will never use, donate it to a group that quilts flimsies (unquilted tops) and gives them to charitable groups. If your local community has a quilt guild, they could be a great resource to you if you want to pass on some of your UFOs.
So I worked on my lists today, mostly from memory. I am sure there are more UFOs in my closets, but I did come up with some that stuck in my mind that I’d actually like to complete. I have a record of starting projects and not seeing them through to a finish. I am determined to get a grip on this issue and wrestle it into some kind of controlled chaos.
There are four types of UFOs on my lists:
1) Projects I started within the last year that I plan to finish this year.
2) Older UFOs that I truly am still interested in and want to complete.
3) Projects I have bought fabric and patterns for and have never started.
4) UFOs I know in my heart I will never finish and need to pass on.
It feels good to face up to these projects, however, and try to make a plan to prioritize them for finishing. And I have to be honest, getting rid of some UFOs that I have lost the love for would free up a considerable amount of shelf space.
Do you have piles of UFOs? At what point do you say “Forget it, I am never going to finish that” or “Gosh, I still really like that fabric/project and want to finish it”. Personally, I see nothing wrong with letting something go if it no longer brings you joy. I don’t believe in drowning in guilt over wasted time and money. It may have been fun to work on those 600 half square triangles when you were making them, but now you have lost that loving feeling. Let it go. It’s ok.
What do you think? What is your UFO situation?
64 Responses
Luckily I don’t have but one UFO but I do have lots of fabric and patterns I bought just because I loved it. Have you seen The Quilters on Netflix? It’s a great 30 minute show about these men in prison who make quilts for kids in foster care. I mailed them a box of fabric. Everything they have to work with is donated so that’s a great way to donate fabric; not sure if they would want UFOs.
I’ve heard of that documentary, but haven’t watched it yet. How inspiring.
yes! wonderful show and idea!!
I can’t even think of UFOs!
I’m not getting the emails so don’t know what I didn’t do. Seems so hard to have to hunt for you instead of you coming to me. Yeah….lazy.
The email notification has just been resolved. Going forward, you should receive the notification of my posts in your email. Let me know if you have any more issues.
I just got it! Thank you. I simply can’t miss a post.
lol…..relateable
My situation is similar to yours. I had to laugh when I saw the Spooks and Spells pattern and yardage up front in your photo. It is next up on my to-do list. I have a white board that I use for my lists of Ufo’s, BOM’s, to be quilted, and to start. I try to keep all of the pieces and parts for each together, I have a pile of the Art bin satchels and some plastic bins, and some cardboard trays. Your system is much neater than mine, mine is a task to face up to, I want to straighten it out, but it can be overwhelming. Small bites and copious notes, I feel like I am catching up. If I could just stop buying more…
I have got to start that Spooks and Spells pattern! My fabric is all starched and ready to go. Now if I could just be done with this blog migration situation and actually be able to do some sewing….
I read an article in AM Patchwork/Quilting where some quilters were asked how many UFO’s they had. One woman commented that she have over 100. What?!!!
100? I am overwhelmed just imagining it!
I have only one unfinished project but about 4 that I want to do. I save those for the long icy cold winter days. Not sure how long I will quilt. I’m losing my love of quilting and varying my interests more. I have fabric that I’m not loving and like the idea Donna mentioned.
You sound so organized and like you have all those projects under control. Besides my quilting projects I have been overwhelmed with this blog migration situation, and my garage needs sorting out, and my closet is a mess….I feel like I am juggling so much right now. I just want to sit back and take a deep breath!
Your new blog is very nice to look at, but like Debi, I miss your email notice. I need to add you to my daily things to do. Hate to miss anything.
Between books and quilts, you always have something I like and would definitely miss if not for you. ( Cali & Co mystery quilt 2025 comes to mind) Thanks for sharing!
Hi Carole, I think today the email notification issue has been resolved. I won’t bore you with the technicalities, but I think going forward you will start receiving notice of my new posts in your email. Please let me know if you have any more issues.
Your new blog is very nice to look at, but like Debi, I miss your email notice. I need to add you to my daily things to do. Hate to miss anything.
Between books and quilts, you always have something I like and would definitely miss if not for you. ( Cali & Co mystery quilt 2025 comes to mind) Thanks for sharing!
New blog looks great! One bit of feedback…too much white space. Old blog had color in background and it was easier on the eyes to read! And I’m not telling how many ufos I have!!!
I will ask the fellow who designed the space if he can insert a background color. Thanks for the suggestion.
I actually thing this is a good idea. Im not having trouble reading the posts/comments but I think it would add a little ‘something’ to the look and feel of the blog. just my thought.
I think it is an easy adjustment.
I have 15 UFOs of different sizes because I enjoy having seasonal and holiday quilts on the walls. Some of the UFOs need borders and others just need to be quilted. I think I can, I think I can!
Will be sure to watch The Quilters on Netflix – thanks, Donna!
Hugs!
Thanks for commenting Barbara. I think 15 UFOs is a manageable number. I suspect I have about that many as well.
Congratulations on your new blog, and a very smooth transition! I inventoried my UFOs a couple of years ago…beware that it’s as easy to ignore the inventory list as it is the actual project buckets! Although I do pick one or two off a year to plug away at 🙂 I’m busy working through my stash which I consider equally productive, even if it results in a bunch of “starts”!
One more option to add to your list…if you have kits you have never started and you no longer love the project but love some or all of the fabrics, I’ve been known to poach what I love from the kit before finding a new home for the rest.
That is something I have done as well Nancy. Those kits can come apart and be used in other projects. I have also had good luck re-selling kits on eBay.
I have many UFOs and kits I have not started. I see Thistles by Fig Tree – that’s on my “someday list” too. If I finish a project and don’t love it enough to get it quilted, I will donate it to my quilt guild for their charity quilts.
A couple of years ago I donated some tops to a group that quilts them and donates them to charity. I need to look that up again and send them some more!
I’ll join in on recommending ‘The Quilters’ on Netflix! And as for UFO’s, I have a few but they’re out-of-sight-out-of-mind…
That is what happens to me when I store things in the storage area under my house. I never think of them again.
I’m definitely in the ‘out of sight-out of mind’ category when it comes to UFOs. I don’t know if I could handle pulling every single UFO out of hiding and making a decision about it. I’m always amazed when I pull out an old project and find that all I have left is adding the finishing border. Why did I stop??? I do need to go through a bin at a time and assess in small groups. It’s hard to get motivated to work on older projects when every time you turn around there’s something new to see. What a dilemma…😊 Have a good day!
I know just what you mean Sandra! I discovered a really nice Civil War Reproduction quilt I had made not that long ago. I had it hanging over a hanger in a closet and it was hidden for quite some time. It was one of those labor intensive Bonnie Blue/Red Crinoline patterns that had taken me ages to make. All it needs is the borders!
I’m definitely in the ‘out of sight-out of mind’ category when it comes to UFOs. I don’t know if I could handle pulling every single UFO out of hiding and making a decision about it. I’m always amazed when I pull out an old project and find that all I have left is adding the finishing border. Why did I stop??? I do need to go through a bin at a time and assess in small groups. It’s hard to get motivated to work on older projects when every time you turn around there’s something new to see. What a dilemma…😊 Have a good day!
Two years ago having just lost my dad (101 years old) and much earlier my mom and my husband, it was time to move closer to my grown children. I had lived in the same house for 45 years, a sewer and quilter for most of that time (with a nice big basement—lots of storage). There is nothing like facing packing up and moving states away to bring you face to face with your quilting life. Looking back, it would have been much better to follow your kind of process much earlier before heavy decisions around relocating cropped up! Now happily resettled, I’m back to many of the same naughty habits, starting what I may not live long enough to finish🫢
I absolutely know what you mean Carolyn. If I live long enough to finish all the projects on my list and use up all the fabric I own, I will be 120 years old when I die. I think it makes sense to force myself to do a real reckoning of what I own and pass on the fabric and projects I will never tackle.
I , too have too many UFO’s that’s overwhelming. I thought of the Quilters also as a place to donate but found that they are over stocked now that people are watching their show. I have found a few places to donate tops and supplies that you no longer love or need. 1. Many Hearts and Many Hands based in Eugene, OR. The web address is Quilting is more fun than Housework. Mostly they donate to children. 2. Covered in Love based in Texas who donate finished quilts to people in hospital. Web address is kat and cat quilts. They sponsor block drives where quilters make blocks and send them in for quilt making. 3. Ray LaGrange who takes fabric and quilting supplies as well as tops that he quilts on his longarm machine and posts on this blog. Most get donated to causes in his neighborhood in Florida. Email is raylagrange52@gmail.com. I have sent several of my unwanted tops and one got finished by Ray and he turned into an opportunity quilt for an organization. I still have only too many UFO’s, fabric and supplies to deal with but I’m still working on the problem.
Thank you so much for that info Kathy. It would have taken me a lot longer to find those donation links. I had them a while ago, but have no idea where I put their contact information. That was super helpful!
I know at my age, almost 78, that I am not going to live long enough to sew all the fabric I have. Last year I took a lot of it to an independent high school that needed fabric. I think it is time I rounded up more fabric to take again! I have finished almost all my UFO’s! I don’t keep many of my own quilts so that isn’t my problem. I keep telling myself not to purchase anymore fabric. I am good for a little while. Then temptation swoops in. I succumb and fall in the trap once again.
I think I will sew the newest fabric first. I used to think I should sew all the oldest fabric first but that is just my silly old rule. I’m officially old, right? I can sew whatever I want. I bought it. It’s mine and I make the rules about it. Right here, right now, I can think of several batches of fabric to donate. And that feels liberating!
I am going to take a lesson from your experience Donna, and try to do the same thing.
I used to think fabric never “went bad”, but the fact is, taste does change! Things I loved 20 years ago just aren’t doing it for me now.
I do not have nearly the same number of UFOs that you have but have the same ideas. After receiving notices of quilters’ estate sales I vowed that wouldn’t be me. I have gathered all the projects I am no longer interested in and they’re going to Stitch Buffalo, a wonderful group of mostly immigrant women who sew, embroider, etc. and sell in their beautiful store. Fabric that I no longer love goes to the church’s Piecemaker group where we make lap quilts for children and nursing homes. It feels so good to clear out so that I can concentrate of my newest projects!
Those are both wonderful suggestions of what to do with unwanted projects and fabric!
I am so tired of looking at a giant scrap bin. I use it for applique but it is out of control again. seriously, I’m ready to just dump it in the bin and start a new scrap bin. I’ll just pretend the other one didn’t exist.
I guess I’m the odd duck. I did not like that Netflix show. I’ll be interested in your opinion.
lol, you could cut some of the scraps up and use them for Leader/Enders.
Nicole this is a great topic to be addressed. I only have about 3 unfinished quilt projects….so not bad. But fabric collected is another subject. Being realistic, at 73, I will NEVER use a fraction of my fabric. We down sized from acreage to a smaller place and the move made me go through each piece of fabric. I have a sew group I meet with each week and donated 13 large bags of fabric!! Embarrassing I know but now my friends are reaping the benefits. I love the suggestion of donating the fabric to the prisoners, Stitch Buffalo, and other places mentioned. I’m making a note so, if I get too much extra, I can mail them the fabric. Thirteen bags would have been too expensive. : – ) I’ve never commented but I really enjoy your blog!!
At the moment I have 3 waiting for binding, one needing a bit extra on the backing before loading on the rollers. As for the UFO’s, I’m not into double figures yet. The intention is to do a new project (using scraps to help get them under control) and finish a UFO top before starting a completely new thing. Life does get in the way and now we are into the season of mud it looks more likely that I can get cracking on the waiting list!
My local quilt guild has a “garage sale” once a year. The members set up tables, sell their extras and get to keep the money. There is a small fee for each table. The public is invited to that meeting. This is a big event and a great opportunity to recoup $.
And at each guild meeting there is a “free” table. Members drop things on the free table, other members take them. Everything must be bagged in clear plastic. I label mine with yardage or other info. I try to take something to every meeting for the free table. Last week I took about twelve 2gallon bags full to the freezer table.
I went through everything a few weeks ago, that is how I had 12 bags.
Free not freezer
Test
I’m probably repeating myself but you really inspired me in the spring when you talked about unfinished projects. I have completed 6 UFO’s this summer and working on the 7th. So thank you!
Also loved the documentary The Quilters!
And of course love your new blog!
Thanks Kerry, and congratulations on completing so many UFOs. That’s impressive!
I echo many of your commenters. Right now I have about 10 UFO’s that I need to quilt for donation. Last year I made quilts to donate to a local nursing home at Christmas. So I wanted to do it again. Another source for donation is “Dress a Girl Around the World”. They can use any fabric to make dresses for girls in many underprivileged countries. My friend sews hundreds of dresses and sends them overseas a couple of times a year. Also they make reusable mensural pads for girls to use, which we hardly realize here in the states. It’s a great way to donate fabric that I will never use.
What great ideas!
Oh yes! UFO’s here and projects to do. I need to make a list! What do you do if you want to get rid of them?
A few years back I donated several unquilted tops to an organization who would quilt them and donate them to hospice or others in need. In a comment above, Kathy lists several such places.
I have been working with UFOs this summer. Several involved scraps, mine and some donated to me. The trouble is I now have nearly 2 dozen tops to be quilted by a long arm quilter. I know that my oldest project is a kit I purchased in 1997. It is the last unfinished kit in my stash. I was so excited when I bought it and now not so much. I still can’t let it go. I do love when I dissolve a project and return the fabric to the stash and gain new ideas in the process. Thanks for making this a topic. It does make me feel good to re-evaluate what I want to be working on now.
I was once in that same situation and had a couple of dozen unquilted tops. It took me a year, but I sent a couple out to be quilted each month and by December I had a quilt for every single person in my extended family! It was so fun to present everyone a quilt that Christmas.
I have my UFO projects in bins. But the ones I want to make are multiplying faster than I can do. One of my issues is that my fabric choices have changed over the years and what do I do with the fabric I no longer love. Lots of great ideas in the comments!!
I keep buying more and more bins, as if that will solve the issue of too many projects. You are so right, trends in fabric change just like fashion trends do.
I do have a few UFOs and I certainly have a handful of quilt tops living on a bed in the guest room, always makes for a unnecessary scramble when we have houseguests, but I digress….I really wanted to commend the idea of donating projects. In poking into thrift stores over the years, I have found a handful of partially completed quilt tops, bags of blocks and even an entirely cut and started project, all making me feel like a kid in a candy store. One of the partially completed quilt tops doesn’t suit my decor, as it’s an Amish style on a black ground, so I plan to finish it (the quilter had carefully bagged the pattern and pieces) and turn it into a quilt coat! All to say, that your discards, do in fact go on to live happy lives in some form or another.
It is such a great feeling to unload something you know you will never finish or use. And even better is the knowledge that someone else will get to enjoy it!
I love the idea of making a quilt coat. Brilliant.
Gosh – I loved this post. I tend to think I don’t have many quilting UFO’s (don’t ask me about other craft UFO’s!), but I could be totally off base about that. I think I will try to corral them and find out.
But, I think you are being too hard on yourself to call things you have not even started (that you bought fabric/pattern with a plan for doing) as UFO’s. Those are ”future projects”, nothing more :~).
Hi Deb, thanks for commenting. I think you may be right about the “future projects” issue. Technically they are not UFOs, rather dreams of happy things to come!
PS – I posted a link to this UFO entry in my own blog as I think my (small amount) of readers would also benefit from reading.
I’d love to check out your blog! What is the link?
If it hasn’t been started is it a UFO? I am guilty of signing up for BOM’s, but timing is wrong and they just get collected. Shameful of me. I recently moved and was amazed at how many projects I have ready to start. I have no business looking at all the new fabric releases and patterns to go with them – it just leads to more bad behavior on my part!
I think you are right Sandy. As Deb commented above, these should be thought of as “future projects”.
Or, in my case, Future UFOs. lol