UFOs or WIPs and the Five Why Method

 On my drive to work every morning I listen to pod casts.  As I listened this week it occurred to me most people have multiple projects going at one time, Several mention getting stuck on a project.  Others get bored working on just 1 project. Some just get too excited about a new project to wait. Of course there are the Unicorns out there that do one project at a time and don't start another until its done. For the most part though quilters, crafters, and/or makers tend to have multiple projects going at once. This then results in UFOs or WIPs. 

UFOs are UnFinished Objects. Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts defines a UFO as any project that you haven't worked on in the past 6 months.  Karen also says it's not a project until you start cutting the fabric. WIP stands for Work In Progress.  So WIPS are projects that you are either currently working on or have very recently put aside to work on something else. I currently have 6 UFOs and 7 WIPs. (Not counting the scraps I am cutting for future projects but that is another post.)

A couple of moths ago, I joined a Facebook Group call "Queen of the UFOs"  The whole point of the group is to not make it to the top of the list. To get your name bumped to the bottom of the list you just have to post a completed project. There are some rules of course.  It has to be a project started before January of that year. There is a limit on how many small projects (think place mats) and a bonus for large quilts. The purpose of this small group is to help motivate quilters to finish their projects. 

I love seeing the finish projects from this group. Some of these quilts are 20 plus years old.  In the post you can feel the pride of the woman who has completed the project.  It can be inspiring and motivating to be a part of this group.  I am currently sitting at the 3 spot on the list.  I have not finished one quilt since joining the group at the beginning of April. The thing is I have 3 quilts that are completed except for the label. A couple of hours of hand sewing in the evening and I get bumped to the bottom of the list.  I just need to do it. 

I guess the question to ask is why? At work when we are trying to solve a problem, a method we use is asking "why?" For example: 

1. Why was the line down for 15 minutes? Because the capper was acting up? 
2. Why was the capper acting up? because the caps kept getting jammed. 
3. Why did the caps get jammed? because there was a slight bend in the rail and they don't flow as they should? 
4. Why has the bend in the rail not been fixed? Because we need to replace it. 
5. Why hasn't it been replaced? because the part is on back order.

Usually by the time you ask why 5 times you can get to the root of the issue.  So maybe I need to start applying the Why method to UFOs. Today I am going to just do a general or broad questioning of Why I have UFOs instead of each one.  I may list each one separately in another post. I am also going to combine the the WIPS and UFOS for this exercise.

A UFOs needing a label.

Let's start with the 3 easy finishes. These are 3 quilts that just need labels on them. 

1. Why isn't it finished? - needs a label
2. Why does it need a label? - to document the quilt for history, because it's one of my goals to label quilts, to claim my work
3. Why isn't it labeled? - label isn't finished.
4. Why isn't the label finished? - needs heat set and cut.
5. Why haven't I heat set and cut it? - printed a different size than usual and I am not sure about stitching it on.

I came to realize the whole issue is I am concerned about the size of the label and turning under part to stitch it on.

The next group of UFOs are the Flimsies or finished quilt tops.  I have 7 of those.  

1. 

   Flimsy ready to be quilted

   Why aren't they finished? - They need to be quilted
2. Why haven't I quilted them? - Need to go on the long arm and it's cluttered
3. Why is it cluttered? - I have to move fabric bins
   
4. Why haven't I moved the fabric bins? - don't know where to put them
5. Why don't I have a space for the bins? - not finished organizing the Studio
6. Why haven't I organized the studio? - too much stuff for the space

I could keep going with this line but what it comes down to is finding a solution. So for now the plan is to put the fabric bins under the dining room table while I get some projects out of the way. Long term solution is to shop from my stash to reduce the amount of bins and storage containers so that it will fit in my space. Also to reduce the amount of other crafting supplies to increase other storage space.

If I am being honest though there is are a couple of splits at the second question. It could also go like this:

Another Flimsy

1. Why aren't they finished? - They need to be quilted
2. Why haven't I quilted them? - Quilt Path software was updated and I am intimidated by it
3. Why am I intimidated? - Second update since I bought the machine. Not comfortable with it using the long arm yet, I haven't read the new information
4. Why haven't I read it? - too little time, not set as a priority
5. Why isn't it a priority - other things on my mind, not accessed it/ printed it out
   
6. Why hasn't been printed out? - lack of ink or paper (now corrected)

Or a third scenario would go like this:

1. Why aren't they finished? - They need to be quilted
2. Why haven't I quilted them? - need backings
3. Why don't I have backings? - need to make backings
4. Why haven't I made the backings? - need to measure/need fabric 
5. Why haven't I measured/gotten fabric - time/money - need to prioritize

Again it does come down to priority doesn't it. So much of getting things done is simply prioritizing

quilt top needing borders

Now for the last group, the unfinished tops. I have 4 of these. One needs piecing, two need borders, one needs reworking. I don't need the 5 why's for these. The one needing piecing is currently bein worked on. The two that need borders were waiting on my finding the border fabric, that has been found for both so I can get those back into production. the last one is stalled because I need to reconfigure the quilt. It was a completed top but it wasn't well planned and is way longer than it is wide.  This will require ripping out and re working the top. So a major under taking.

All this asking why hasn't gotten any of the quilts done has it? My husband might call this exercise a waste of time. (he doesn't believe in making lists either) And No, it hasn't gotten any of my quilts across the finish line. YET.  But it does get one thinking about what has stalled out the projects. Once we understand why we are stalled, we can work the problem to get un-stalled. 

For the quilts needing labels - I figured I would edge the labels with narrow bias tape and the kills two issues with one stone. I hate hand stitching through the label material and it makes the label bigger. 

For the Flimsies needing quilted - move stuff off the long arm, make backs, and set aside weekends to get them quilted.

For the tops needing finished - Piece in the mornings before work. (doing that now) measure/cut and make borders in the morning and/or evening as time permits. For the one needing reworked, use TV watching time to rip out and re configure, that is once labels are on the three mostly finished quilts.

How many UFOs and WIPs do you have? What has you Stalled out? How can you prioritize?