Another One Bites the Dust

Another WIP bites the dust!  This one is the Round One sampler from Modify Tradition.  I finished the top near the end of last year and it sat neglected until now.

I generally don't like samplers, and I'm still not crazy about this one.

I do find, however, that once it's been quilted, bound and washed, even a ho-hum project gains a mysterious aura that makes it attractive.


I had originally intended this quilt to go to the lab so that Lindsay could stretch out on the sofa and rest her weary head in comfort, to facilitate the thinking of brilliant thoughts.  But a secretary in our department has been quite ill and is starting a long recovery process at home.  I thought a cheery quilt like this might be nice for her.  So I'll have to make another one for the lab.

I realized that the last three quilts I have completed have gone out to others, and in the meantime, I don't have a quilt that's big enough to cover my bed properly.  The next quilt I finish is staying home!

When I was editing my WIP list on the sidebar, I started thinking about the difference between WIPs (works in progress) and UFOs (unfinished objects).  I first heard them differentiated by Jennifer.  I had always lumped them together in my mind, but classifying them separately does make better sense.  A UFO is at a stage where it is sitting around and just needs a little push to be complete.  Perhaps it's a quilt top, or a quilted piece that needs binding, but it's languishing in a limbo of neglect.  A WIP is a project that is being worked on, perhaps blocks are still being constructed, it's on the design wall, but it the quilter is actively engaged with it.

By classifying WIPs and UFOs together, I added to my sense of guilt whenever I started a new project before finishing the old one.  I don't think anything is sadder than the prospect of having stacks of uncompleted quilt tops in the closet.  But this way I only have one UFO -  the gorgeous Paprika.  I have several WIPs, and I am making progress on all of them, bit by bit.  I like having several projects on the go at once, because they are all at different stages.  Some require careful piecing and thinking at each stage, others can run through the machine chain piecing like a house a-fire.  I can always find a quilt that needs exactly what I feel like doing at any given moment.  I'm not sure if this is reasonable, or merely a way for me to justify starting new projects!

What about you?  Do you feel differently about WIPs and UFOs?  Do you worry about justifying new projects when others are still in the works?

Updated to add to this week's Sew and Tell over at Amy's!