Queen of UFOs

Let me be honest. I am the Queen of the UFOs. UFO (in quilt speak) stands for UnFinished Objects, just so you don't think I believe in extra-terrestrial aliens abducting people while they sleep.

In preparation for the garage sale, I pulled out three FULL 30 gallon bins from under my cutting table. Full of what, you might wonder? Full of UFOs, all in various stages of completion. Some projects consist of nothing more than folded fabric tied together with a ribbon, with a sticky note stuck on reminding me which project I have (had) planned for that particular bunch. Some of them actually reached the cutting stage; I have lovely stacks of squares, triangles or strips, waiting to be pieced together. Some of these actually have the instructions or book with them, which gives a greater clue as to their final composition.

What UFO collection would be complete without Orphaned Blocks? These are those completed pieced or appliqued blocks, lovely to look at, well constructed of course, but without a family. In other words, there's not enough of them to complete a quilt. Most of these come from classes I taught, classes I took and techniques I tried. I also have a 4" high stack of crazy-pieced blocks on 8 1/2 x 11 paper backing. Some of these orphans have recently found an adoptive home with the charitable quilt-making arm of my local quilt guild. I'm sure they'll be happier there than in my plastic bins.

Next, we get to the almost completed quilt tops - these are blocks put together with other blocks, but not quite ready for finish quilting. Some lack a border or have turned out to be too small or too large in some way. One small square quilt might be too big for a baby quilt, but not big enough for a twin sized bed. Some unfinished tops once had a border, but my color tastes changed and I ripped off the border with plans to choose something different and new. And there are also quilt tops that I inherited or purchased that I just don't love anymore.

Lastly, we have completed tops that are ready for quilting. Here's where I am the queen. I have a character flaw that resists finishing anything. I don't suppose that's news to anyone. I must be getting famous for being flaky. This is been bothering me a lot lately, like at the depths of my soul. Look at some of my older posts with projects that are started and ask me where are the pictures of the completed quilts. Take a guess.

You know, I started out writing this to put a humorous twist on my UFO's but the thing is, I'm not laughing anymore. I've got some serious thinking to do about this. I'll get back to you later.