At some point, every quilter discovers an unfinished quilt stashed away on a shelf or in a bag. Some of us have several of them. They can make us feel anxious, inadequate or just plain guilty. The longer they sit there the more we feel the them staring at us with reproach. But it really shouldn't affect us that way.
UFOs become UFOs for a reason. They really aren't sitting there staring at us to make us feel guilty. They aren't symbols of our failure. We set projects aside because we run into technical issues, we made a mistake we can't see how to fix, we get frustrated, we start to question our fabric choices or we have emotional responses to the reason we started it in the first place.
Each of those cases require some perspective. Asking for help with technical issues is a good thing. There may be a different way of creating the block that makes more sense or is easier. There may be a problem with the pattern itself that some one has already identified and solved.
With a little perspective, you can turn a mistake into a design element. Add sashing, trim things down, insert a fabric that reads the same color as the one you miss cut. (If you look closely at this quilt you will see where I had to substitute additional fabrics to have enough to finish it.) Remember that quilts come out of a make do tradition and those quirks add personality and truly make the quilt your own. Figure out a plan and roll with it. Advice helps.
Frustration is another thing that may just take some time to get past. You can always pull out some scrap fabric and practice the technique with lower stress less risk to the project. Ask for help. Use the tedious piecing as leaders and enders and before you you know it you will have it finished. Give yourself a break and take the time you need.
Emotional responses are much more difficult. It is OK to donate a project that makes you angry or recalls emotions you aren't prepared to deal with. But sometimes it is a good thing to see it through and finish it up. I just finished and gifted a quilt I didn't finish in time to give to my mother. It was hard and there may be a few extra tears in that binding. But I felt good knowing it went to a couple who will love it and I don't have it around as a reminder. I believe it helped me work through some of the grief.
We all have reasons we quilt ranging from love of sewing to it keeps me sane. Enjoy the process wherever it leads you. Learn and "finish it up and move on, dearie."
Every bit of this post is good advice. I finished up every started quilt I had. Including a couple of tops that I thought had been given away but were discovered when purging myself of too much “stuff”. My problem was space after moving. But once that was dealt with away I went. It is such an awesome good feeling to not have quilt tops languishing in wait. Your post should be inspiring to quilters who might need the just right amount of pep talk to finish up an unfinished quilt or other project.
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