They lurk at the back of our craft cupboards, taking up space and emotional energy: the UnFinished Objects.
You started the project with the best of intentions, but then you ran out of something: materials, time, passion for the project, motivation, direction (how do I quilt it????), the skills to do it justice…
You’ve invested precious time and money into the project, so you’re not about to trash it. With the pandemic putting further pressure on our crafty budgets, time, and energy, this is the perfect time to dust off those UFOs and help them back on their journey to completion (and potentially fast track some holiday gifting!).
Welcome to the 2nd edition of UFOvember! Over the next 30 days, I invite you to join me in examining our crafty orphans and deciding whether to Resume work on them as planned, Rework them with a Plan B, or Rehome them to another crafter, who can joyfully get them across the finish line.
Feel free to share all about your UFOs using #ufovember and #ufovember2021!
I’m going to start with an update to my inventory of UFOs from last year.
My super sneaky trick to avoid UFOs
In the past year, I’ve managed to add only one new UFO, by using a clever trick:
The past year of pandemic has really limited my sewjo (and I know I’m not the only one!), so I started very few new projects, and the ones that I did start were almost universally finished, because they were top priority projects.
The ones that didn’t get finished were pure experimentation and learning new techniques in virtual workshops through QuiltCon Together. I had no grand plans to turn my experiments into finished projects and just used fabric that I had in large quantities (I have a bolt of Cerulean Free Spirit solid, bought because I thought it looked like the same shade as the light blue in my logo), or pulled from my scrap bin.
Although it’s hard to tell in the photo, the light blue background fabric on the bias tape appliqué samples (class by Latifah Saafir) is the same as the background in the middle of the foundation pieced curve block (class by Steph Skardal). From now on, whenever I make a sample block, I’m going to use the same fabrics, so that I can conglomerate all the samples into an improv pieced project.
Reworked
Coral Crash was made with test blocks for my Glitch quilt pattern.
After a long stint as a UFO quilt top, it became the base for my first ever quilt coat in the Spring of 2021 as part of the Quilt Coat Along. (Full post to come when I add the finishing details!)
Started: April, 2019
Status: Waiting for binding, buttons, and pockets
Plan: Resume again, and soon!
Overall, 1 UFO down, and 1 added. I’d say that’s a big win!
Check out all the other UFOvember bloggers, for inspiration on getting your UFOs DONE!
I love UFOvember! I followed it last year and thoroughly enjoyed every day!