UFOvember – Let’s Talk Unfinished Objects!

Welcome to UFOvember! The month of November when we get serious about our Unfinished Objects…..

Now don’t panic…. we aren’t saying you need to FINISH your UFOs this month…. just join us in figuring out where you are up to with them and working out where you are going with them.

Do you perhaps want to resume that project? Ie get back on the wagon and finish that baby!

Or do you want to rework it? Change it up and make a different project out of what you have? Maybe a cushion or table runner and call it a day!

Or do you want to rehome it? Someone else may think it is the bee’s knees and finish it up!

But before I could figure out those questions, I need to know exactly what all my UFO’s are.

Off to Officeworks I went (a large box store here in Australia for all things stationery and organising!) and came home with 6 plastic tubs so that I would have somewhere to put my WIPs.

Then I had a HUGE clean up of my craft room…. seriously, I had stashed those UFOs in the most imaginative of places! I should have taken some before shots of all the boxes, and bins and drawers and files I found WIPs in!

And of course the next day I went back to Officeworks and bought another 12…. Yep, I have 20 WIPs!

And I decided once and for all I would organise them in the one place so I could actually SEE what projects I had. And access them relatively easily to work on them.

I bought these gorgeous scalloped printable Avery labels and discovered that you can go onto the Avery website ( averyproducts.com.au/print ), put in the code for the cute labels you have just bought and they provide all these cool templates that you can then put your own text into and print out!

So, one blue toner cartridge later, I had all these fabulous labels! Which just make the whole WIP containers look so pretty!

I have stored the containers underneath my cutting table / work space… so I will see them every.single.day! No more hiding from me!

Then I compiled a master list of all the projects. I used my Projects At A Glance page from my Quilter’s Planner, but you could just write them down on a sheet of paper.

and then I started to work out exactly where I was up to with each project.

Did I have all the fabric (or did I need more)

Is the pattern with the project?

Any templates required?

What was it that stopped me before (did I make a booboo, did I get bored, was there no reason to finish it, did I fall out of love?)

How much more do I have to get the project finished?

I then filled out a quilty project tracker sheet for each of my WIPs. In 2021 I made my own WIP Tracker sheet that you can download here. The WIP Tracker sheet is then popped into the plastic tub with that WIP. This way I can just grab the sheet at any point in the future to see what is next to be done.

So, I have 20 works in progress. (sounds like a lot, but when I counted my WIPs in early in 2019 I had 36, so well done Anne!!)

2 are waiting to be quilted (will be done during my Xmas holidays)

1 is my Grandma’s hexie quilt which has some damage to a few hexies and actually doesn’t have any batting in it! I want to fix the hexies and then put batting in and quilt it. But I am scared. I need my big girl panties for this one!

2 have not been started yet and I am saying right now that I will NOT be starting these until at least 6 of the WIPs have been completed. Hold me to this! Star Quilt with Ombre Sky and Solstice with Alison Glass Holiday.

1 is going to be rehomed (or thrown out if nobody wants it). My improv cushions were started during a class and I just don’t love them enough to finish them. I will take them to my next Melb Modern Quilt Guild day and see if anyone would like to take them on!

And 3 are going to be reworked into a different project.

My gnome quilt I have 8 blocks done and I am just going to use some larger sashing to make a reasonable sized child quilt. Quilt it with an all over design and then donate to a local charity.

My Kinship Sampler quilt started during last years 100days… I have 20 blocks made so I am going to make this into something smaller, with some wide sashing probably! Then do a quick quilting and donate.

My Village house blocks that my bee mates made earlier in the year are going to be used in my B&C Sampler quilt. This way I don’t have to make quite so many extra blocks!

The rest I will be resuming at some point. I have worked out some that will be projects I sew on whilst my longarm is stitching out a digital design. Others I will take to the Melb Modern Quilt Guild days when they resume. Others require some concentrated time… so the first weekend I get that I can just sew, these are on the list!

This was a really worthwhile exercise to do! I even did a quick video explaining some of this if you want to watch rather than read!

If you want to find out more and learn some great tips and tricks for your WIPs, check out these blogs before me and come back and check out the others as the days of November go on!

Thanks Bobbie for organising this blog tour – it has been well worth it!

• November 1 – Bobbie Gentili – http://geekybobbin.com
• November 2 – Becca Fenstermaker – https://prettypiney.com/blog
• November 3 – Joanne Kerton – https://canuckquilter.com
• November 4 – Sue Griffiths – https://www.duckcreekmountainquilting.com
• November 5 – Ashli Montgomery – http://www.meandcoach.com
• ME! November 6 – Anne Boundy – https://saidwithlove.com.au
• November 7 – Sarah Ruiz – http://sarahruiz.com
• November 8 – Teresa Weaver – https://yoursewingfriend.com/blogs/sewing-friend-news
• November 9 – Karen Brown – https://www.justgetitdonequilts.com/blog
• November 10 – Bobbi Bridgeman – https://snowydaysquilting.com
• November 11 – Raylee Bielenberg – http://www.sunflowerstitcheries.com
• November 12 – Althea Gyde – https://www.blueheronquilting.shop/blog
• November 13 – Kenzy Hogan – http://sewingcorals.blogspot.com
• November 14 – Leanne Parsons – https://www.devotedquilter.com
• November 15 – Jessica Caldwell – https://www.desertbloomquilting.com
• November 16 – Laureen Smith – http://www.tourmalinethymequilts.com
• November 17 – Karen Kehl – https://betterdonequilts.com/blog
• November 18 – Stacey H – http://twoterriersstudio.net
• November 19 – Cinzia White – https://cinziawhite.com
• November 20 – Laura Piland – https://www.sliceofpiquilts.com
• November 21 – Rachel M – http://thebarefootcrafter.com
• November 22 – Kathryn LeBlanc – http://www.dragonflysquiltshop.com
• November 23 – Judit Hajdu – http://www.quiltfox-design.com
• November 24 – Lyra McCabe – https://quiltingmccabe.wordpress.com/
• November 25 – Jill Therriault – https://stitchinginheels.blogspot.com
• November 26 – Cristina De Miranda – http://shipsandviolins.com
• November 27 – Kate Starcher – http://katiemaequilts.com/blog
• November 28 – Valerie Prideaux – https://www.cozyfunkycool.com/
• November 29 – Kim Mastromartino – https://www.schooloflinedesign.com
• November 30 – Natalia Knowlton – http://NerdyQuiltersBlog.blogspot.com