Jun 10

Jun 10 Quilting UFO's - Unfinished projects or Unwanted Anxiety projects?

UFO - No, not the alien kind

Quilting, for me, is a form of therapy - it’s how I calm my mind and detach myself from the frenzy that is current day living. However, not all trips to the sewing machine bring blissful peace and serenity and it took one project, in particular, to learn when to accept defeat and throw away the angst.

In quilting terms, UFO’s refer to Unfinished Projects (or Objects) and every quilter has a stash of ‘em somewhere! Mine stay in a big clear storage box, hopefully waiting to be finished at some point in time. But not all projects within these designated piles are totally finished; some have been put into the box simply because the path to finishing them became unclear, or frustration became the main component of the project.

It started with good intentions

My plan was to make two quilts to donate to our school's summer raffle. I had been gifted some fabric for my birthday and decided I was going to use the fabric to make 2 lap size quilts for kids. The fabric was lovely to look at and came in a lovely variety of patterns and colours and my initial thought was very positive, but it was to be short-lived!

I very quickly discovered the quality of the fabric was less than desirable and cutting it proved to be a nightmare. The weave was larger than I was used to and it soon became clear that the fabric had more movement than Saturday Night Fever, but I was determined to make it work so I persevered.

The long and the short of it was this - no two pieces of fabric were ever the same size and no matter how much I pressed the fabric I could never stop the weave from warping. The project was filled with frustration and anger to the point I would feel angry just looking at the motley pile of windmill blocks! I eventually gave up and put everything away; out of sight, out of mind.

Learning to let it go (no Disney pun intended)

The project came back to life when I discovered the deadline for the dropping of prizes was fast approaching so with renewed vigour I dutifully found the dishevelled blocks and once again tried to order them into some acceptable form but it was no use. The fabric was just too poor of a quality that no amount of gentle touch could have stopped the movement of the fabric. I surrendered to defeat, the previous feelings of anger and frustration very much returned. It was my husband who helped me see the light.

“This is meant to be your escape,” he said gently. “If the project is bringing you this much stress, throw it out!”

I looked at him incredulously - throw out fabric? Perish the thought!

“Seriously,” he continued, “just throw it out and buy some new, better quality fabric.”

Isn’t he wonderful?!

So I did what he suggested and launched the whole project into the garbage; the effect was wonderful! The instant the garbage lid slammed down I felt as though a weight had been lifted and I had been freed from a curse. My husband was absolutely right - quilting and sewing had become my way of relaxing and what point would it serve to work on something that gave the complete opposite?

Moving forward

Since that day I have learned to take my feelings and emotions into consideration when working through a project and if I don’t have that happy spark of joy throughout the project, I either change the plan or disregard it completely. There is simply nothing worse than having something lurking in a box that fills you with utter dread just by being thought of. Furthermore, why would you gift or keep something that evokes negative feelings?

Quilts should be made with love, care and joy so if you have that one (or maybe more?) project that’s been sitting in a dark corner, that you know you dislike intently, consider letting it go. Ask yourself if you would feel happy giving the project to someone you cared about. If the answer is anything but ‘absolutely’ you may want to rethink that UFO.