My Toppling Pile of UFOs

I decided back in February that I was not going to start anything, I mean anything - quilt, wall hanging, pillows or clothes, until I finished my overwhelming pile of unfinished objects! My only exception - I could do a new "something" if I needed it for a class I am teaching.

Have I accomplished what I set out to do? Well, yes and no. Yes, I have stayed on track, not started anything new except for a couple things I needed for classes and have been able to get a few projects finished. I finished up several wall hangings and fixed a pile of alterations that have been sitting in my sewing room since last fall. I was also able to go through my spring/summer clothes and alter the skirts, tops and jackets that needed changed or repaired. I found two spring skirts that I cut out last year and finished those.

So, yes, I made a dent in my pile. But the dent seems oh-so-small! I have a huge, almost tumbling over pile of class samples and half finished ideas to complete. I store most of my projects in totes as you see here with all the pieces and info so it is all together when I am ready to work on it again. I have two stacks of totes this high with projects in various stages. This is only one pile that I am temporarily storing in my sister's room while she is away at school. I am hoping to reduce this a little since she will be home in three weeks!!!

Why do I have such a pile? Excellent question!! It's not that I just start something and never finish, although that happens on occasion. Over the past five years that I have been teaching, my teaching samples have piled up. For each class I teach, I stitch multiple ideas plus several of the same thing in various stages so I can show how to complete the project step-by-step.

I like to have as many visual samples as I can for every class I teach. It gives everyone more ideas and shows how many different themes and projects can be accomplished with just one idea. Plus, it helps me and guides me through the project as I am teaching to have multiplies in different stages. And of course, I only start out making one sample and soon my mind is flying with possibilities and I just have to stitch out some of those ideas! I get myself into trouble when I start asking myself, "What if...?" :)

With multiple classes a month, all different, my samples and in progress projects have just grown and grown! I try to finish some of them each month after I have taught that class, but it usually ends up being filed away in a tote. That is a big part of the reason why I have such a toppling pile of UFOs!

There are always those projects that I start, have a brain freeze and just can't seem to get past it. If I put it away a while and then get back to it, I usually can think of several ways to accomplish whatever I was trying to do. Sometime I will be looking for a certain fabric or notion to complete the project, but haven't found it yet, so I will lay it aside. And there are times that life interferes with my embroidery projects!

I will keep chipping away at my pile, but new ideas are just starting to bloom in my mind! I have been staying up way too late with a pen and paper sketching several new ideas! They are just sketches now; I'm not sure how long I can put off putting them into fabric and thread, but I'm trying.

I've started ideas for a quilt in memory of my mom who passed away last November, a new embroidered quilt that I may teach in a local class and few other ideas. For now I am content to doodle on paper and plan out fabric, embroidery designs and quilt blocks. But it won't take long to switch to fabric! :)