Judy's 2011 UFO Challenge and The Quilting Board's UFO Challenge of the Month 2011 and Jill's Year of PIGS have me inspired to make a dent in my project stash. I have been thinking alot about this unfinished business, mostly because there seems to be a negative theme associated with having unfinished projects.
I admit there are many different types of quilters..some work one project at a time, have only the fabric for that project and complete it before conceiving their next work. Others, like me, have alot of irons in the fire...projects of varying age and completion. Often in quilting groups, the "virtuous" one projecters cast a wet blanket on us multitaskers. The question I ponder is...Does it really mean anything??
We humans make meaning out of everything...we measure our worth in so many meaningless ways and then carry that load with us. We are too slow, too fast, too curvy, too linear....the list goes on. Who decides what it means? Some external authority? the quilt police? the nun in our head?
I have thought about why I can sew some things start to finish, with no "unfinished:" state in between. Why some projects I leave and come back to? Why, Why , Why...I have even asked my husband.
In the end, I have decided to finish some of my PIGS-UFOs, AND that it doesn't mean anything that I have them or finish them. I am not going to feel guilty about my unique creative process and it's circuitous route to completion.
For me, the purpose of the passion, is in the process...
the fun of shopping for fabric,
the artistic part of planning a project,
the Zen of chain piecing and the whirr of my sewing machine motor,
the joy of sharing the love of sewing with my daughters,
the bonds of friendship forged in a room full of friends all creating at the same time,
the satisfaction of seeing someone wrapped warmly in one of my quilts,
the quiet hours I sit immersed in my own thoughts, in front of the machine, gazing out the window watching kids and dogs and snow or lightening or husband in the yard while I figure out my life...
These things are the joy of quilting....and sometimes, like today I finish something.
We humans make meaning out of everything...we measure our worth in so many meaningless ways and then carry that load with us. We are too slow, too fast, too curvy, too linear....the list goes on. Who decides what it means? Some external authority? the quilt police? the nun in our head?
I have thought about why I can sew some things start to finish, with no "unfinished:" state in between. Why some projects I leave and come back to? Why, Why , Why...I have even asked my husband.
In the end, I have decided to finish some of my PIGS-UFOs, AND that it doesn't mean anything that I have them or finish them. I am not going to feel guilty about my unique creative process and it's circuitous route to completion.
For me, the purpose of the passion, is in the process...
the fun of shopping for fabric,
the artistic part of planning a project,
the Zen of chain piecing and the whirr of my sewing machine motor,
the joy of sharing the love of sewing with my daughters,
the bonds of friendship forged in a room full of friends all creating at the same time,
the satisfaction of seeing someone wrapped warmly in one of my quilts,
the quiet hours I sit immersed in my own thoughts, in front of the machine, gazing out the window watching kids and dogs and snow or lightening or husband in the yard while I figure out my life...
These things are the joy of quilting....and sometimes, like today I finish something.
