UFOvember 2021

Here we are in the last half of November and I just found this year's UFOvember Blog Hop. This is the second year Geeky Bobbin has hosted it and I spent this week catching up on the posts while eating my breakfast. (One step towards my work life balance is taking time in the morning before going to work.) The whole point of this blog hop is to get you thinking about your UFOs in a different light. There are 3 areas of focus. Resume - in other words finish it. Rework - change the project to make it more manageable or useful. And Rehome - give it to someone who will finish it. I have enjoyed these posts and learned a few things and found some things to look into. 

 One thing I learned is that everyone has UFOs.(Unfinished objects) Some prefer to call them WIPs. (work in process). But everyone has them. The number they have tends to vary greatly. One poster stated she had way too many to count. Another stated she only had 1-2. I personally have 10 that I've actually started on. There are several in various planning stages but they are not actually projects yet.  I don't count them as projects until I've started cutting fabric. 

 Another thing that was obvious to me is everyone loses track of their UFOs. They get set aside for various reasons and then forgotten. This year I've tried to keep them front and center but so far that hasn't worked to get any of them done. At least not yet.

One of the first steps to conquering UFOS is to inventory them.  When inventorying them you are supposed to list what you need to do to finish them. To help with that you can try a UFO Prevention Tool Kit. Becca Fenstermaker of Pretty Piney has one on her site. You may have to sign up for her newsletter to get it though.

One blogger suggested determining what has stopped you from working on that particular project.  Were you out of fabric? Was it out of your skill range? Did the colors not appeal. Is the project just too big?  Etc. I think would start listing those reason on the inventory sheet as well. 

As I was looking at my UFOs, I realize that the biggest thing holding me back was not having my long arm up and running. The past two weeks I've been working here and there on straightening my leaders.  Yesterday, I got them as straight as they are going to get. This morning I woke up very early (4:00am and not my idea). Since I couldn't go back to sleep, I cleared and cleaned the long arm table.  Then I cleaned the rails and carriage.  All that was left to do was the hook and race.  I needed to use my air
compressor for that so I left it until 7:30am.  While waiting I looked up the directions to do it one more time.  All that is left is to update the tablet and Millie will be ready to get back to work.

Another issue is I've misplaced my design wall.  I need to lay out two quilts, one of them is a new UFO this year.  The other was just barely started last year.  So I only have 1 new UFO this year.  but that isn't saying much since, I haven't done a whole lot in the way of quilting.  This issue may require a deep clean of the studio to resolve.  But I was going to do that anyway.

I also found the clip board with my UFO project sheets.  I think I will probably have to hang that on a wall somewhere in the studio to keep it visible.  Interestingly, I have made progress on some of them.  So they will need to be updated when I inventory my UFOs later today.

Another great idea which was not new to me, but it is worth repeating was: Work on it for 15 minutes each day.  This blogger suggested you pick one UFO to work on one day at a time.  Each day schedule 15 minutes just to work on that UFO.  I think will try to make the my first 15 minutes of each sewing session a UFO time slot.  I think doing it first will keep me from running out of time and then not getting it in that day.  One thing I do know for sure, is if you want to get things done you have to know your work habits  and your limitations to make this hint work.  

There is something that I found in this Blog Hop that I am seriously going to try. Sunflower Stitcheries does a Quarterly Finish Along.  Basically each quarter, you choose a project to finish that quarter.  You post a picture of the project and what you need to do to finish it. The next two months you post another picture and an update.  At the end of the quarter, you post the finish project.  It's all up to you to keep on track and reach your goal. But you do have a group of people cheering you on. I will look into this starting in 2022 if she is still doing it next year.

I think though that the Most Important thing I read in this blog hop was by Exhausted Octopus.  She stated in no uncertain terms that there is NO SHAME.  She reminded everyone there is no shame in creating, there is no shame in starting and not finishing, there is no shame in waiting for the inspiration to finish, and there is no shame is letting go of something that doesn't work for you anymore. 

I think that was probably one of the best messages of the blog hop so far.  There are 10 more days to go and I am excited to learn even more.  Check out the Blog Hop.  It starts on Geeky Bobbin's blog.