My Dirty Little Secret

Today I am letting you in on my dirty little (ok not so little) secret.   There are UFOs  in my closet, and in my storage drawers, and in my cabinets... not the ones with the little green guys, but this kind....

UnFinished Objects.  And not just a few, either.... lots of them.  These are just the sewing projects... I didn't even include the knitting and crochet and other crafty endeavors... I'm not even sure I got all the sewing projects.... LOL.  

For years I have chastised myself for having UFO's hanging about.  Some of them for years at a time... Some of these even moved from my apartment to my house.... We moved in 2004.  I beat myself up for not finishing things in a reasonable time frame.  I thought of it as a lack of self discipline, I saw it as wasteful, I considered it some sort of failure on my part for not following through.  

I believe that at least a part of my self-judgement about this comes from hanging around the blogosphere.  Reading other people's blogs where they seem to just have it all together, living in a perfect little world where crafting takes center stage and every project turns out beautiful and is finished in record time.  Anyone else ever felt that way?  

Let's get real... no one REALLY lives like that, do they??? Because if they do, I want to know their secret....  

Granted, I am probably worse than a lot of people when it comes to flitting from one project to another.  I tend to see a "shiny" new project and go hopping down the bunny trail... But wait... isn't that part of the fun and the joy of being creative?  

That being said, I AM on a mission to reduce the number of UFO's buzzing around my home.  There is a joy, also to seeing a project come to completion.  

I have also decided, however, that there really is no need to chastise myself for unfinished projects.  I will get to them eventually and if I don't, it's really ok, because I learned something from each one.   It's a little about embracing who I am.  I have such a limited amount of sewing time that I want to relish as much of it as I can.  Why should I spend it in what feels like drudgery just because I "need" to finish the project in front of me that I am currently bored with?  If I come back to it another time, it will be fresh and interesting again and it will be enjoyable then. 

So, all of that to say that if you are a little  (or a lot) like me, it's ok.  I give you permission to explore the bunny trials and see what lies there.  Your old friends will be waiting for you when you return.  I promise, they won't hold a grudge, and neither will I. 

Happy trails.... :)  

Finished! At Last!

OK I know it's Saturday, but I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for her Finish It Up Friday this week anyway. That is because I have not one, not two, but THREE finishes this week!  Yay!  I could not bear to shout that they are finally finished. LOL

The first is this little wall hanging that I started about 2 years ago.  It was inspired by Amanda's little pillow, I decided that mine needed to be a wall hanging instead.  I finished the top right away and that was as far as it got until a couple of weeks ago when I decided it was time to finish it.  I sandwiched it and quilted it then and finished up the binding this week.  It still needs some little rings sewn to the back so that I can hang it up, but other than that it is finished!

The second is this little baby quilt that I started about  a year ago.  Not sure who will wind up with it yet, everybody seems to be having boys! LOL  I cut all the little tumbler blocks on my Go! cutter.  Love that thing!

And the third and final finish is this baby!  I am embarrassed to say that it was started about 4 1/2 years ago.  I got the blocks done in a reasonable amount of time, and finished the top several months later in a sewing session at Amanda's house.  She helped me arrange the blocks. :)  I finally got it quilted about a year later, the binding machine sewn on about a year after that, and I finally got it hand sewn this week. It was originally started as my effort to join in Amanda's One a Day quilt a long.  Needless to say I fell a little behind... LOL.  I am so glad to have this project off of my list and into use.  In perfect timing for a really cold week being forecast here in Minnesota!

I am not counting these as part of my unfinished project goal this year as I finished them before I set the goal.  Next up is to finish my Scrappiness Squared quilt and a small pillow a friend asked me to make from a special sweatshirt.  I hope to finish both by the end of January.

What projects are you working on?  Did you finish any up this week?