The UFO Queen Gets Rid of a Few Jewels in Her Crown

I am the self-proclaimed Queen of UFOs. A UFO Queen. I even have a program/trunk show called Confessions of a UFO Queen. There are lots of reasons for this - I love starting new projects, I can't say NO to a new BOM, I really enjoy workshops and classes, and so many quilts intrigue me. I am proud to say that I own my queenliness. I'm rockin' this UFO stuff.

But sometimes, ENOUGH is ENOUGH!

I do have a few strategies to reduce my UFOs, and I've been moderately successful using these strategies to reduce my UFOs. And by moderately I mean 3 or 4 out of over a hundred.

I've been doing some clearing and minimalizing thoughout the house and the next logical place was my quilting studio. I've been having a serious discussion with myself about whether a quilter (or any crafter/artist for that matter) can be a minimalist.  

So given the combination of recent minimalistic thinking and doing my UFO program/trunk show a couple of weeks ago at the Maple Leaf Quilters Guild in Baldwin, I guess I've inspired myself to take some major action. I'm clearing books, fabric, UFOs, yarn, cross stitch patterns, spinning wheel and wool, patterns, beading supplies and anything in my studio I can let go of.  I'm planning a yard sale for the middle of September.

First step - look at quilting UFOs and sort into the following categories:
    Keep project to do later
    Liberate fabric back into stash and rehome parts of  the         project that I did complete
    Sell project at yard sale
    Turn a large quilt into a smaller project and call it done. Here are a couple of projects that I decided to turn into smaller projects. They are now in the "finish it up" tote.

I probably reduced my UFOs by about 20 percent. I'd like to think this was a first pass and maybe if I did it again, I could let go of a few more.

Next - books. My tastes and skills have obviously changed. My goal was to let go of a third of my books. I think I got close.



Third step for quilting stuff is fabric. I have a large tub full of potential backing fabric. I was hoping to let go of half, but only was able to let go of 4 pieces out of 12 (only 1 of these is going away). I still have to go through 1 yard cuts and fat quarters. My goal is to have a third join the yard sale. This is going to take a while and be really challenging. I don't buy ugly fabric, and even if I did, if you cut it into small enough pieces, all fabric is beautiful!

Last for quilting supplies is patterns. 3 file drawers full. I am 60 years old now. Assuming (optimistically) that I'll be able to quilt another 20 years, and that I could finish 6 quilts a year (not happening), it will take me at least 30 years to make all the patterns I have. I know I can't do them all, but how do I decide which to let go of? They don't take a lot of room and they provide inspiration. So I could make an argument that I could keep them all since collecting and using are 2 different hobbies! I'm rationalizing and that concept doesn't fit into my minimalistic thinking. So, I'll give it a go and release as many patterns as I can. 

Of course I still have knitting yarn, weaving yarn, beading, cross stitch and other crafting supplies to examine.

I have my work cut out for me over the next 3 weeks. It's tough, but enjoyable - I get to look at and touch each little piece of lovliness (see why its such a challenge?).

If you are close to Lawrence, come by and check out the yard sale on 14 and 15 September. My friend Kim is bringing some of her stuff too. Rumor has it she has 5 tubs of fabric set out already!