Mojo Monday Jan 22: Assessing UFOs

This was the scariest part to do, so I decided to tackle it first and get it out of the way.

How many UFOs did I really have lurking, waiting to pounce on me with guilt? And which ones was I committed to finishing, and what would I do with the ones I was ready to pass along?

I dug through my shelves to find every single UFO I could. I'm generally very well organized but even so there were a handful that had gotten stashed in various places and I had completely forgotten about them. 

So, here's my list. I've used "code" names for some of the items below to remove personal identifiers. The parentheses indicate approximately how old the UFO is. "New" means it was created within the last month. I then indicate the stage it's in, mostly listing the next action that needs to be taken. If I've made specific decisions already about what I'm going to do with it, that's listed. If you just see the word "decision," that means I still need to decide what I'm going to do with it--if I want to finish it, re-stash it, trash it, donate it, and so on. For most of those, that means I have to dig into the project itself to see where I left things, how close I was to finishing, how usable what remains is, and so forth. I'll do that next.

By the way, for the purpose of this list, my UFOs aren't only those projects I've already started by virtue of actually cutting into fabric. I also have a bunch of labeled bins on my shelves with collections of fabric and patterns or notes about ideas. They were "in thinking mode," so to speak. Normally I don't count those as actual UFOs but in this case, I want to get anything off my shelf that's not going to actually get done, so they've made this list.

---

Sorting my UFOs....

1. Lo-Volume Quilt (new): Still piecing. Will finish in time to gift it in February.
2. Baby Quilt #1 (new): Borders. Finish by March 1.
3. Shabby Chic Jelly Roll Race (new): Decide about borders. May send out for quilting.
4. Baby Quilt #2 (6 mos): Quilt. Finish by March 1.
5. Autumn Jelly Roll Race (new): Decide about borders. May send out for quilting.
6. Child Pillow Case (6 mos): Construct. Finish by March 1.
7. Hand-dyed art quilt--flames (3 yrs): Quilting. Will most likely ditch this. It was experimental and I don't feel a pull towards finishing it.
8. "Vickie's Peacock" (3 yrs at least): Quilting. Will finish eventually--no date set.
9. Stonehenge Mariner's Compass (3 yrs): Quilting. Had totally forgotten this one and I really like it! Will finish eventually--no date set. May send out for quilting.
10. Hand-dyed art quilt--circles (2 yrs): Decision: to quilt or embroider?
11. African Star String Quilt (3 yrs): Quilting. Will finish, no date set. May send out for quilting.
12. Jelly Roll Sampler (3 yrs): Quilting. Will send out for quilting this spring.
13. Taupe Guild BOM (3 yrs): Quilting. Will send out for quilting this spring.
14. Annie Travel Bag (2 yrs): Construction. Will finish this spring if it kills me.
15. Guild Paper-Pieced BOM (5 yrs?): Decision--continue piecing or just do something with blocks I already have?
16. Charlotte's Mystery 2015 (3 yrs): Had totally forgotten I'd ever started this one. It was buried under other bins. Decision--finish or re-stash?
17. Crazy Quilt (in progress): Embroidery and beadwork. Will continue working on it.
18. Halloween Embroidery BOM (in progress): Will continue working on it.
19. Assorted Art Quilts: I lumped several bins into one UFO as none of them were actually started. They're in "idea" stage. I will most likely just re-stash everything. If the idea pulls at me enough I can find the fabrics again later.
20. Pillowcase for DD (4 yrs): Construction. Will most likely re-stash and donate fabrics.
21. Vicki's Rose (2 yrs): Construction. This was a UFO from a woman in our guild who passed away. I took it when one of her friends was offering her kits and UFOs to guild members. Realistically-speaking, I doubt I'd ever actually get to making it so I will pass it along again.
22. Graduation quilt (4 yrs): Construction. Will re-stash and ditch the couple of blocks that got made (they're nothing usable by anyone else as I was experimenting with Fibonacci sequences and messed something else--hence the UFO status). The giftee graduated several years ago so this will never happen. 
23. 2015 Craftsy BOM (3 yrs): Decision. Didn't really love the colorway anyway. Will likely restash it. 
24. Felted Wool Project (4 yrs): Decision. Not sure it's my style anymore.
25. Katerina Project (6+ years): Piecing. This UFO is the sole survivor of many "UFO purges." I designed it on EQ and still love the fabrics and love the design, but messed something up somewhere as the pieced borders really don't fit the center. So I need to do some serious problem solving. So this dang thing WILL get finished. I just don't know when.
26. Embroidery applique (1 year): Embroidery. This was a quick little kit thing I bought and put together at a retreat with the intention of getting it embroidered before Thanksgiving that year. Didn't happen. I still like it, though, so it's staying on my list. 
27. Tote and Purse bin: This isn't really a UFO, but it's a bin where I'd stored a bunch of fabrics and patterns together. I think I'd rather re-stash the fabric so it's more likely to get used, regardless of whether I make the purse pattern or not.
28. Cubby in cutting table: Another collection of fabrics and patterns that need to be re-stashed. So #26 and #27 are more organizational notes to myself than UFOs.

(With thanks to Kathy of Quilting-Sewing-Creating!)

So, if you're following along, that basically gives me four projects I want to try to finish in January and February.

• Low-volume quilt
• Baby Quilt #1
• Baby Quilt #2
• Pillowcase

Very do-able. 

This week I will:

1. Re-stash everything I've deemed re-stashable. 
2. Finish piecing the top of the low-volume quilt
3. Ditch anything I'm not finishing and isn't donate-able.
4. Decide where to donate what can be donated.

Monday Musings--UFO Sightings Complete

Actually, I'm not really sure I have anything more to say on this subject. Well, maybe just a little.

First, to recap: Whenever you find yourself thinking of something as a UFO, first make sure it fits your definition of a UFO. Then make sure it's something you really need to finish. Then list out the exact steps, especially the very next action of what you need to do to make progress on completing it. Finally, motivate yourself however you need to motivate yourself to finish it. Does that summarize the last several weeks of posts well enough?

Now, here's the thing: I've done every step of these posts with the exception of deciding which UFO I'm going to tackle next. You see, I just got the first syllabus for my coursework today and, yep, I'm pretty much not going to have time for much else than reading and writing for the next, well, several years. And I'm okay with that. That's simply where my life is at the moment and I choose to accept it gracefully, knowing that I have other focii right now. Could I do the 10-minutes-a-day thing just to get something done? Probably, but do I want to add one more obligatory task to my list just to achieve some sort of fictional finish-count? Nope. I'll be quilty-creative when I need to be for therapy, and I'll finish the couple of giftie things I've mentally committed myself to, but I'm not going to worry about achieving some sort of quantity goal at all.

So, in my long-standing tradition of giving my readers the advice I most need to hear: My last post on the topic of UFOs will be, cut yourself some slack. 

Who says you need to finish all those UFOs in a given time frame? In general, whether we're talking UFOs or new projects or whatever, just cut yourself slack. I too often hear quilters apologize for little they're getting done quilty-wise. What? Apologizing? They look at super-productive quilters and somehow think we're all supposed to measure up. Yes, I've even been guilty of that myself--more than a few times. But here's what I've also had to remind myself: It's not about quantity. You're getting done what you're able to get done or what you want to get done. If you're not getting more done, who cares? There's no Great Big Tally Board in the Sky that you'll be measured against after you're gone. 

If, however, you're feeling sad that you've not gotten enough of a quilty fix in your life, now THAT you need to listen to. Look at your schedule and see if there's a little sliver of time in there somewhere. Or see if there's some other way to be creative that you can more easily fit into your current realities of life (like me and embroidery--it works better for me right now than quilt projects do, so it's what I'm focusing on). 

I'm sure, at several junctures in the next few years of my new phase of life, I'm going to be feeling sad that I don't have the time to get my quilty on. But I'm not going to feel guilty about a lack of productivity. And I want you to hold me to that statement. If you hear me starting to apologize for not getting quilty stuff done, I give you permission to give me the metaphorical cuff upside the head. Just like I'll do for you. Say it with me: I'm cutting myself some slack. Again, louder: I'm cutting myself some slack. One more time, with gusto: I'm cutting myself some slack!

As a side note, cutting myself slack may well mean I'm posting far fewer blog posts in the foreseeable future--well, after this week, anyway; I've got a couple I need to get out given a big finish I just had this weekend! But I'll still be around and likely still as active as ever on Twitter, so keep talking to me!

Monday Musings: UFO Sightings Part 4--Where to Start?

So you've made your list and checked it twice, right?

I know at least some of you have--I've been hearing the reports! Love getting the feedback. I've also gone through my own list and, although I was prepared for this week's post (I do have a bit of an "in" with the blog writer), I still haven't done a bang-up job of attending to this week's assignment in my own life. So we're all in this one together for sure!

Now that you know what your UFOs are, and now that you know which ones you're actually going to commit to finishing (you did knock one or two, if not more, off the list, right?), now it's time to make a plan for finishing!

Rather than just starting at the top of the list and working your way down, I'd suggest you figure out which one you want to finish next using the following criteria:

1. Look for UFOs with built-in deadlines. For example, were you working on a wedding quilt that got set aside, but now the wedding is only a couple of months (or weeks--yikes!) away? This first sub-category--imminent first-run deadlines--is pretty easy to figure out and calendarize, so go there first. The second sub-category is "deadlines that have already been blown." But a deadline can always be reworked in a meaningful way: For example, is that baby who you were working on that baby quilt for about to have their own baby, so maybe that UFO can be repurposed for the next generation? Or could the unfinished high school graduation quilt now perhaps be a wedding or a housewarming gift? I'm not always an advocate of going with deadline-driven UFOs first (see the following categories) but let's face it--some of us work best to a deadline, so if you're that kind of person, give yourself a deadline or two!

2. Look for "Easy Wins." This is actually my favorite category, but it only goes so far. In this category, you find those UFOs that would take you so little work to finish it's actually pretty ridiculous it's still sitting on that dang shelf. Ahem. Sorry--I just let you in on a personal between-me-and-my-UFOs conversation. In any case, if you don't have any seriously imminent deadlines from category 1, this would always be the first place I'd suggest starting. An Easy Win makes you feel great and gets the buzz going. Once you knock out a fast UFO finish, you're gung-ho for the next one. You may not want to knock out all your Easy Wins in a row, though, as you'll then be left with the ones you have to slog through a little more and you'll just stop dead again. Depending on how many EW's you have, maybe you want to knock out one or two, then a longer one, then an other EW, then a longer one...rewarding yourself, as it were. Pretty soon, however, it's likely you'll run out of Easy Wins and you'll only have longer finishes facing you. Which leads me to the next category...

3. Look for the most interesting. Which UFOs still interest or intrigue you in some way? Is there a UFO you really did enjoy working on, but it was just taking longer than you thought so it got set aside, or it got sidelined by other projects that fall under #1 above and just fell off your radar? We're always more motivated to work on projects that keep our interest, so these UFOs are more likely to get finished, even if they're going to take us a little longer. 

4. Look at what's left: The frustrating projects or those that we've just lost interest in. Once again, I'd say that the first step here is to really be sure you actually have to finish these UFOs (see my last blog post). But if they're still on your list for whatever reason, and they don't fit into any of the other three categories above, you may have to really get creative with your own personal mind-games to get yourself to finish UFOS in this category. 

• Consider revamping your plans. Maybe just considering a different setting or border treatment or embellishment will bump this UFO into category #3. Or simplifying your design will bump it into #2. Or mentally designating it as a gift for someone on your Christmas list will bump it into #1. Look at that UFO and ask yourself, "What gift can I give myself in terms of this UFO? Is there something I could do differently that would make me gung-ho about finishing it?"
• Turn it into a friendly competition with a friend. Does your BQF (Best Quilty Friend) have a UFO that's working her very last nerve too? Challenge each other to finish your UFO by a certain date, and have the winner take the loser out to lunch. You both got it done? Pay for each other's meal, or take a third friend out and both treat her! Or run a UFO challenge in your guild as I've done a few different years: To join the challenge, each participant gives one fat quarter as a "registration fee" and a list of 10 UFOs they plan to finish in the year. The fat quarters go into a "kitty." I created a spreadsheet with everyone's name and the list, and then we have quarterly check-ins. Anyone who has finished one or more of their UFOs during that quarter gets their name put in for a drawing and the winner gets to pick one fat quarter from the kitty. At the end of the year, anyone who has finished all of their 10 UFOs gets their name put in a drawing of the grand prize--all the remaining fat quarters in the kitty. (I also had a set of sparkly antennae the winner got to wear through the rest of the meeting.) It's great fun, and every time we've done it just about everyone has finished at least half of their UFO list--several people finished all of them!
• Reward yourself. Figure out a treat you can give yourself when the UFO is completed--beyond just being able to mark it as done on your list. Get a pedicure or massage, make your significant other take you to dinner and a movie, go for a really long walk in a beautiful park, spend a lazy afternoon with a good novel...I suppose your reward could even be buying more fabric, although most of us are trying to finish up UFOs as part of an overall stash-busting scheme so if that's your reward, on your own head be it.

So, using these categories, your challenge this week is to choose which UFO you're going to work on next. (If you're already working on a UFO, great! Decide which one you're going to tackle after this one.) 

The problem I've been having lately is that I've been bouncing around a bit in terms of which UFOs I want to finish next. I've probably had three or four rotate on and off my design wall as I'm pondering one or the other. I think doing the Annie Unrein bag is scattering my brain in other places. Fortunately, this week and the coming weekend are fairly clear so I have hopes of once again making some progress...

Anyway...talk to me!

Monday Musings: UFO Sightings Part 3--Stitch It or Ditch It?

Sorry, couldn't resist tossing a little gimmicky rhyme in there. 

Okay, some of you have been whining...I mean...commenting about the fact that I made you face up to your UFOs this past week. It's rarely fun to make the list, right? Sometimes we're in for some unpleasant surprises when we really pull all those bins off our shelves or turn the light on in the corner closet. But still--really!--it's a liberating moment. The first step to solving the problem is admitting you have one, right? Tee hee. 

But I kept reassuring y'all--just wait until Monday. Today we make it all better. Or, at least, we start making it more sane.

This week, we're going to look at our UFO lists, I mean really look at them, and make some judgment calls.  This post is a little on the long side because we have to deal with some real baggage here. So, let's just start by saying...

You know, it is permissible not to finish a UFO.

I know, I know--trust me. I've heard it. "But that's a waste of time and fabric!" "But I spent so much on the supplies for that!" "But I just don't feel right if I have a loose end!"

I'm a loose-end kinda gal, myself. I like things to be completed, I like to get to the end of the story. However, there are a couple of things I've had to teach myself the last few years:

1. Is this my story, or someone else's story?

2. What is the story that needs to be finished?

3. Who needs to finish the story?

4. And what about the trash can?

Let's take #1 first: Is this my story, or someone else's story?

I'm talking here about obligation quilt projects. We probably all know what these are: the quilts someone has asked us to make--that someone having no idea whatsoever what it actually takes to make a quilt. They have no concept of the amount of work or expense that goes into them. This does not make them bad or inconsiderate people. It just makes them non-quilters. (We create this atmosphere ourselves, by the way, when we pass off a compliment on a quilt with, "Oh, it's nothing special," or "just something I whipped together." We're better off saying, "yeah, that puppy just about killed me but I persevered!" Don't be afraid of letting people know how much work goes into these things!)

There are also the obligation quilt projects we put on ourselves. We intend to make a baby quilt for our co-worker's son and his wife--we've never met them, but we really like our co-worker, so we want to do something nice for the new grandma. We start the quilt, and now said baby is starting kindergarten and the quilt is still half-done on our shelves. Or we start a quilt for a donation project and lose steam, or for a fundraiser, or for whatever.

One of the last projects I did for someone else on request: It was fun, but boy did it stress me out!

I have more difficulty with the second category than the first, only for the reason that I rarely agree to make a quilt for anyone at their request anymore. I did it a few times in my earlier years. I enjoyed doing those projects at some level, but I also stressed out about them far more than any other quilts I'd made for my own enjoyment. I felt perpetually guilty about how long it was taking me because of my work/travel schedule; those projects hung over my head like anvils until I could finally get them done. Fortunately in my case, all the recipients seemed to really appreciate their projects (I know one is still hanging in her living room since I see it every time I go over there). I know for a lot of quilters, however, that's not always the case--there are definitely some horror stories out there of what's happened when a quilter has gifted something to someone and it's not received in the way we'd all hope. In any case, I'm currently working under different guidelines--it may make me sound like Bad Quilter Lady, but I no longer offer/agree to make anything for anyone, unless it's contributing a block to a group project; and even then, I take a careful look at my schedule before saying yes. I just have to face reality--I just don't have the time right now.

An example of one of my "mental obligation" UFOs

My difficulty tends to be more when I mentally connect a project with a particular person--they don't know I've done so, they've not asked for it, they have no idea I'm working on anything for them--it's just me in my head, thinking, "Oh, this would be great for so and so." That makes it almost as binding a commitment to me as if I had told them I was making it, or they'd asked me for it. This is the type of story I need to learn to release. If they have no idea it's coming, and if I get to the point where it's just unreasonable for me to feel like I can finish it, what's the harm in letting it go? I just need to get over myself.

So--the question to ask ourselves here is, "is this my story" (in other words, something I really want to do myself), or "is this someone else's story" (in other words, something someone else has asked me to do). If the answer is the first, the corollary question is, "do I still want to be part of this story or am I ready to move on?" If the answer is the second, the corollary question is, "if I didn't finish this, what would be the worst that would happen?" My guess is, if someone has asked you to make a quilt and you go back to them and say, "You know, my schedule/responsibilities are different now than when I agreed to do this, and I just don't think I can finish it," they may be a little disappointed, of course, but they're not going to open a can of whup-*ss on you. In fact, they may completely understand and actually feel a little badly if they knew it was causing you so much angst in the first place and be happy to release you from the obligation.

Yes, most of the quilts in this category you may still choose to finish, and that's absolutely fine. I'm not saying not to! I'm just saying, as in all things, assess the need carefully. 

#2: What is the story that needs to be finished?

Several of my UFOs fall into the category of class projects or homework projects I worked on in my design study group; some are simply things I started on my own. They were projects I undertook to learn something new, to experiment with a concept, or to push my own envelope. They were incomplete because (1) I learned what I wanted to learn, (2) my experiment didn't turn out the way I'd hoped, or (3) my envelope, duly pushed, now sent me in other directions and other projects.

These are not projects I really need to finish. Their "story" was to teach me something, and I learned that something. There's no additional learning to be gained from finishing these projects. I may keep them around as reference, but I don't need to keep them around as UFOs. I can now mentally re-categorize them and move on.

Do you have projects kicking around from that class you took five years ago that you've never finished? Ask yourself: Do you really need to? Do you really want to? Or are you feeling like you should finish it just because we're supposed to finish things?

#3: Who needs to finish this story?

So you have a UFO that needs to be finished--who says you're the one that has to finish it? There are some people who get a big kick out of finishing other people's UFOs. By passing one of your UFOs along, you may well be providing someone else with hours of entertainment. You may be providing someone else with something they can practice their own techniques on: For example, maybe they want a "low commitment" project to practice their free motion quilting skills; if they haven't put all the time into making the quilt top, they're likely to feel more free to mess up the quilting. Or, maybe they want to play around with over-dyeing and surface design techniques and turn it all sorts of interesting colors. 

Of course, that means you need to give up all control about how it's finished. That queen-sized UFO may end up being several totebags and placemats by the end. But at least it's no longer on your list and someone else has had a great time playing with it. 

One of Mom's UFOs I did finish

When my mother passed away, I went through all her UFOs to decide which I was actually going to take on myself; I was pretty careful, but I still ended up with a sizable number. (I did get those all done!) I let her friends go through the rest, and they each took a couple. I then took the remainder into my guild and put them up for grabs--I didn't go home with anything left in my bag.* My guild buddies were pleased to have this new opportunity for fun and games! As for my own UFOs, I'm fortunate that I do have a couple of friends who enjoy completing UFOs, so I recently handed off a couple. I pulled them out of my totebag with an apologetic look and mumbled words of, "If you don't want it, that's fine, I'll figure something else out." Their eyes lit up and they practically grabbed them out of my hands. "Ooh--this'll be fun!" So next time I know to be less apologetic about it.

Look at your UFOs--are there some that you may be willing to release to the wild? Maybe you could even make a game of it: Put each one in a brown paper bag and challenge your guild friends to each take a bag and convert the UFO into something different--if it was originally a wallhanging, turn it into a totebag; if it was originally a totebag, repurpose it into a tea cozy...etc. Set a deadline and let the fun begin!

#4: That Oft-Maligned Trash Can

Some of you just shuddered, I can feel it from my house. There's a rule in the quilt world that it's Terribly Wasteful to Throw Out Fabric. I might as well be thrown in quilt jail for even suggesting such a thing.

All I can say is, there are some projects I've tossed and then danced a happy dance around the trash can. There's something completely liberating about demolishing a UFO. I reserve this for those projects that caused me unwarranted frustration and angst, that I'd be embarrassed to have anyone else be witness to, or that just cause my stomach to twist whenever I look at them. I just have to purge them from my life. 

It's cleansing. Try it.

Assignment for this week

So, this week, I want you to assess each one of your UFOs and honestly--completely and totally honestly--determine if you actually (1) want or (2) need to finish it. If it's a project for someone else, why isn't it done yet? Could you talk to that person about the consequences of not finishing it? If it's a project for you, does it really need to be finished or, at least, does it need to be finished by you? 

I'd actually already gone through my list a couple of months ago and found two projects to give away to others, and trashed a couple of other ones. I still plan on going through the list again to see if there are others I could "off." So I'm with you in this!

See if you can't decrease your list by at least one UFO--maybe more!

*One of Mom's UFOs did come back home to live with me. One of my BFF/BQFs, Lori, finished it and gave it back to me as a gift a couple of years after I'd done the UFO-giveaway. Mom's original UFO was actually round--or hexagonal or whatever. I think she intended to complete it as a table cover. Lori finished it as a wallhanging and gifted it to me; it now hangs over the bed in my guest room. So, see? There is a happy ending for UFOs sent off to live in other people's houses!

Monday Musings: UFO Sightings, Part 1--Just What Is a UFO?

So it would seem that some of you appreciated the 5 Ss posts that I've done the last few weeks--maybe some of us are feeling the pinch of being a little less organized than we'd like. So I'm thinking I'd like to keep with that theme for a bit, but explore different facets of it. As usual, stuff I talk about on my podcast and blog are things I'm addressing (or feeling the need to address, anyway) in my own life, so I'm talking to myself as much as to anyone else.  

I've mentioned that I had a sudden alien invasion in my sewing room. What to my wondering eyes did appear but something like 17 UFOs. Really? When did that happen? Leave fabric alone for long enough and it gets up to shenanigans, apparently. 

So, based on that, and on comments some of you have made when I've been talking about my UFOs, I'm going to do a few posts on what I've learned about addressing those alien invasions in your own life. 

Week 1: Define for yourself, "UFO" 

We all know what a UFO is, right? "Unfinished Object," or so they say. But what, exactly, is an unfinished object? Turns out there's as many definitions for what warrants the definition "unfinished" as there are quilters not finishing things. I once read an article or a blog awhile back--don't remember specifics anymore--written by someone who defined her UFOs to include quilts she'd even just  thought about doing. In other words, she may not have even bought fabric or designed it on EQ or sketched it in a notebook, but it was in her head as a quilt, therefore the fact she hadn't made it yet rendered that quilt as unfinished.

Technically, I suppose that would be true. But if I were to be held accountable for every quilty thought that passed through my mind, well...I'd just throw in the towel and call it a day right now.  

Some people include PIGS (or Projects in Grocery Sacks, an acronym which really geolocates it's users to those who live in parts of the country who call grocery bags "grocery sacks," as here in Western NY it would be PIGBs, which is virtually unpronounceable); these projects are those for which you have a pattern or design and you've collected all the fabrics for it--it's all sitting neatly in a bag or a bin awaiting your attention. And waiting. And waiting.

A very old photo of my storage for UFOs. I'm pleased to report all of these UFOs did get completed. They're now replaced with a new stack...

Some quilters include WIPS (or Works in Progress); these are projects you're currently working on. They've not yet started collecting dust on the shelf, but are still at least more or less in current rotation. 

For me, I made some judgment calls a few years back and came up with this working definition for myself: A UFO is any project in which I've already made the first cut, and which has dropped off my mental radar for any number of reasons.

In other words, I don't choose to count PIGS.  My rationale for that is that I can always repurpose the fabric if I lose interest, so just because I've thought about doing a particular design and put together a particular collection of fabric for it, doesn't make it a UFO. I haven't actually cut into that fabric yet, so I've never officially "worked on" the project to make it now be something I haven't worked on in awhile.

I also don't count WIPs because, by definition, those are still "in progress." It has to have been languishing on my shelf for some period of time.

I've never strictly defined how long a period of time it needs to have been out of rotation; it generally has more to do with whether it's fallen off my mental radar or not. If I look at something and think, "Oh, yeah, I really need to finish that," it means it's dropped off my radar, even if it was only waiting for me for about three weeks. That makes it a UFO. 

I don't count quilts I've dreamed up. That's just crazy talk. 

So this week, if you want to play along, work on your personal definition of what you actually, personally, consider a UFO, if you haven't already done it at some point in your quilting career. Don't just take someone else's definition for it--use a definition that works for you. You might even want to write it down, maybe hang it over your cutting table or something, live with it for a bit. Does it feel right to you? When you're ready, share your definition here!