nanna-up-north

I think we've all been there a time or two. I have a few UFOs myself right now.... and I plan to put numbers on 5 of them.... I'm not going to pick which ones, just the top 5 projects. Then, I'm going to have my DH or DS pick a number from 1 to 5. Whichever number they choose will be the one I work on.... no backing out or whining about which one. Just do it..... muddle through if necessary. The goal will be to work on it till done. Then, I'll pick the next one, etc. Sometimes I just have to force myself to work on something but that's okay.

One way I've gotten myself to work on a project that I'm not excited about is to bargain with my time. I tell myself that I will work for 2 hours and then I get 30 minutes to do something I'm really wanting to do. Then, I just repeat the 2 hour, 30 minute cycle till I either get it done or till I've reached the point where I'm excited to get it finished. I find that I'm always more excited to finish the closer to done I get.

Good luck... let us know what works for you.

ka9sdn

I agree that you pick a project that is nearest completion--once it is done you can mark it off. Do that with all the others and watch that list disappear. Then and only then get yourself a new project and get it done. Happy New Year.

pollyjvan9

I'm with PatriceJ and TwoXover. I completed quite a few projects in just about four weeks by doing that. Some were almost finished and so I could do two or three a day which really encouraged me. It is so much fun to see completed quilts stack up where you can see what you have accomplished.

Jingle

I am one that finishes a quilt, totally before I start another.
If I were you I would pick one UFO and just work on it until it was totally finished and move on to another. If you don't get started you will be wasting precious time and not get a thing done.

deedum

Can't help you, cuz I have the same problem on the other hand, I couldn't stand having only one project! I walk in my room to straighten up and yet start another project,then one day when i least expect it, I will get busy and get them almost done and start again. Oh what a web we weave.

GrannieAnnie

LOL, you have come to the land of never ending UFO's for advice??????????

I wish I could help myself!

lots2do

Wow! What a lot of great advice and encouragement. I thank you all for sharing your thoughts with me. We had our last Christmas celebration with family today so I couldn't sew but tomorrow, I'm there! I think I'll set up two stations -one on the featherweight for a placemat project that's supposed to be a gift and a cute snow person wall hanging that someone at the guild keeps asking me if it's finished yet on the other machine. Would feel really good if I could get that up on the wall while we still had snow!
I knew I came to the right place for advice...keep on sewing and smiling!

granny216

I have friend that are do one at a time quilters but I just happen to be one of those that took classes, made quilts and then had to make a special one for wedding or like event plus babies and they got put aside. Have been trying to work on them above all else. Have several that are just in block stage. Others with patterns and material and on and on it goes. One closet is full of boxes of this stuff. And I have a fabric stash that would run par with some of the quilt shops I've been in. Have helped others with fabric that is in my stash and plan on having a gigantic garage sale in the late spring of all sorts of sewing stuff. I will never be able to use all that I've acquired in the past 40 years including feed sacks.

MisDixie

My worst enemy to getting things done is a cluttered space. I can't get myself to settle into anything when the sewing room is piled up. Sadly I do sewing and alterations for the public and things often get cluttered and then when I do have time to quilt for me nothing happens.

asimplelife

I have a big problem with UFOs... since I started quilting again in late September here's what's been working for me. I had 94 UFOs as of 10/1. I picked a group of them to work on until the end of the year and have finished 16. I have picked another group to work on for Q1 of 2013. I ignore the rest! Too many is overwhelming... one at a time is not my style. I like to have 5-6 projects going at once as I get easily bored/distracted. I keep track of my progress on my blog and keep busy posting to the UFO Challenge folder .

When I finish 5 UFOs I treat myself to a new quilt book, fabric, new ruler, etc. When I finish 10 UFOs I get to start a new project. This might sound pretty drastic but it is VERY motivating for me. I figure a focused year or so of undoing what took me 10 years to create is a good trade-off.

I have finished every new project I've started this fall (no new UFOs for this girl!). Really what I'm doing is teaching myself how to finish things! I was very intimidated by sandwiching, quilting and binding and I'm not anymore. I'm looking forward to learning to FMQ in 2013 and my goal is to average a UFO finish each week.