I’ve been trying to go through things and get some kind of a handle on the number of UFO projects I have. Well, maybe not the number, but some general kind of organization so that I can start working my way through the pile. I’m not ever going to be completely caught up, that’s not how my brain works, but I know in that pile are some difficult questions about how I want to be spending my time and what projects just are not ever going to be completed, at least by me anyway.
I have been noticing a pattern in my UFOs (both knitting and quilting) and it’s that I get to about 90% done and then set them aside. It used to be tops that were just waiting on a border to be completed, but then I found modern quilting, and borders went out the window for the most part, so there’s a different 90% mark, usually all the blocks are done but only partially assembled. I’m trying to understand what is going on in my brain that I seem to lose interest and walk away when I am so close to the finish line.
I have been aware for a LONG TIME that I am a process person. The idea is that there are two types of creators: PROJECT PEOPLE who do the thing to it’s completion because the finished item is what brings them joy and excitement, and PROCESS PEOPLE who delight in the doing along the way regardless of ever completing anything. Kind of a journey vs destination idea. I know I am a process person and always have been. I like the doing – or I guess I should say I like PARTS of the doing, and maybe that is my undoing. The parts of the process I like, I engage in freely, across all projects. When I get to a part of the process that I don’t like, I tend to get distracted and start on something else that has the stuff I like. I think it’s rather like skipping the brocoli at dinner and going straight for the dessert, time after time. Dessert goes to my hips, and this approach to quilting broadens my UFO pile.
My plan going forward is multi-layered. First of all, I need to sort through the UFOs and figure out which ones I am actually going to finish or at least get to some level of completion (smaller quilt, no borders, that kind of thing). Second, I am learning to evaluate patterns better to see how much of the stuff I don’t like there is vs the stuff I do like. In the past, I would get wildly captivated by one aspect of a pattern and never even notice that a solid 40% of it was stuff I don’t like doing until I was neck deep in it and POOF we have another UFO. I need to be more intentional about picking the things I want to spend my time working on, so that I can enjoy more of it with less of the “eating my brocoli” feeling.
My goal for 2026 is to finish one UFO per month. I know that won’t make any kind of a dent in the stack at all, but that will be 12 quilts that are dispatched out of the UFO pile and on to a decent life either as a community service quilt or for use around my house. Getting started is always the hardest part, so if I can get some good habits going, maybe I’ll break through the whole pile in I don’t know, like maybe ten years???