First, Happy New Year! My New Year began with a major reorganization of my unfinished projects, fabric and sewing space. It just seems like a good way to begin the year with a clean slate.
My goal for 2020 is to finish at least twelve of my UFO projects. That's an average of one per month. Of course, some projects are smaller or only have a few steps remaining. Others will take longer to complete.
My process began by gathering all my UFOs, current projects and other projects. Then I piled them on the kitchen table. It kept looking worse and worse as the pile grew. Soon it was apparent I needed a strategy.
For each project I asked myself:
What kind of project is this?
Quilt, Wall Hanging
Handbag, tote, other bags
Table runner, pillow, other craft item.
What type of project is this?
Applique
Pieced
Paper-pieced
Embroidery
Do I still want to make this item?
For the items I no longer wanted to make, I removed the fabric and added it to my “fabric stash” to sort another time. Because some of the projects in this group were not started yet, it was easy to move them to the fabric pile. Blocks or partial blocks I added to my box of test blocks. They are useable for charity projects and other quick quilt projects like pillows and placemats.
All the table runner, pillow and craft items were grouped together, and I placed them in the first drawer of the daybed in my sewing room. This drawer also has a couple binders of magazines in it, so it really isn’t as many projects as it looks like on the surface.
All the handbag, tote and other craft items are in the middle drawer of the daybed. This group had more projects than I expected. I may reconsider not making more of these later. For now, I’m happy with the projects that remain.
The last drawer holds a few quilt and wall hanging projects. To my surprise, this group was the smallest. Maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised because I did spend time in 2019 working on several unfinished quilt and wall hanging projects so that I would have practice projects for my long arm machine.
I also have a sewing armoire and I decided to store my current projects there. About three of these projects are in progress. The remainder are quilts I’m planning or designing.
I’m very happy with the result and now I’m looking forward to making progress on my UFOs. The plan is to work only one project at a time until it is finished. Follow my progress here on Fridays.
Do you have a plan for 2020 to get your UFO's done? How do you organize your projects?
Happy Quilting!
~Mary