Friday, September 08, 2006

What a UFO????

As I'm sewing and enjoying my new project with the cute 3" nine patches I was thinking about UFO's.

What's your definition of a UFO????

1. A UFO is a project that's been started and is still waiting to be completed.

2. A UFO is a project that's waiting in the "wings" (drawers/closets/bins/baskets, etc) to be started.

3. Other - please explain.

I'd love to hear what you think a UFO is. Feel free to either leave a comment with your definition or post in your own blog.

I'm feeling pretty chatty today so don't be surprised if I post again today. ;-)




19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aha ! What's a UFO ?????????

1. if I'm still working on it (normal process), then it's not a UFO, rather a "CP" (current project)
2. I would choose your second definition as a UFO

May I propose a personal definition ?

U.F.O. = "Unexpected Finishing Outcome"
(LOL)

Cherish your "UFO's", anyway ! They could become GREAT quilts !

Vicky said...

I count UFOs as projects that have been started and there's hope that they'll be finished at some point in the near future.

A WIP for me is what is currently on the sewing or cutting table. Although those could turn into a UFO very easily!

All those projects that have fabric and patterns pull and kitted together waiting on me to start them -- well, they're just dreams! :)

May Britt said...

A UFO is definitively not an unidentified object on the sky, it is a projekt that multiplies in my cabinet LOL

Linda C said...

UFO is one that you have started doign some work on---cut up and have a block or two done but then you set it aside for a time.

A project that's waiting in the "wings"(drawers/closets/bins/baskets, etc) to be started--is a project in mind PIM

If you are currently actively involved in sewing/quilting on said project, it is a work in project or WIP.

That's my definition anyway.

Hedgehog said...

I have wondered the same thing. I have a quilt that's been pinned for quilting for over a year now, waiting for quilting inspiration to strike. I keep it out and look at it often so that it doesn't become a UFO, even though I haven't sewn a stitch on it in 13 months! I suppose a UFO is something that falls off the current project roster.

I like Linda's PIM acronym!

Patti said...

That's easy for me to answer! To me a UFO is exactly that - an unfinished object. It's been started but not finished. A finished top is a UFO because it's not yet quilted and/or tied and bound. Once I cut the first piece of fabric for a project it becomes a UFO.

Projects that aren't started, but "ready and waiting in the wings" are "PIGS", or "projects in grocery sacks". This term was coined on the Stashbusters yahoogroup list years ago. My PIGS don't live in grocery sacks but it works for me.

Another term for a not yet started project for which you have all the fabric, etc. is a "HSY". I like that term even better. It's pronounced "hussy". Once you've had all the materials for over a year it becomes a "brazen hussy" LOL!

I freely admit to several dozen UFO's and even more brazen hussies!

Libby said...

For me, a UFO is a project that has begun with earnest intention, but languishes in a box, a bag, or a wad in the corner waiting to become a quilt. A little like the Island of the Misfit Toys in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, they hope that someday they can once again be favored -- even become an actual quilt, laundered and loved by it's owner.
Oh rats, now I'll not be able to discard any of my UFO's for fear of making them feel worse than they already do.

Finn said...

Hi Darlene, love the little 9 patches...a favorite size for me too!
It'll be fun to see what you do with them.

UFO...un-finished object. That's pretty much what it means to me. I was enthused, I cut, I sewed, I got bored. I left. It sits. UFO...on 01/01/06..I had 68. I've managed to finish off 18 so far this year. Uphill all the way!

Cher said...

I pretty much agree with Finn, a project started and set aside for whatever reason..for however long.

Susan said...

I think it's your first one. It can't be unfinished if I never started it. =)

Patti said...

Whoops! It was just pointed out to me - thanks Lisa! - that I forgot to put in my post what HSY stood for. That's "Haven't Started Yet's". Works better for me, since all my unstarted projects are in drawers and on shelves instead of in grocery bags!

Jenni said...

A UFO has been started, then I lost interest and moved on to something else while that old quilt 'aged' in a drawer somewhere. My Japanese quilt is a perfect example, started 3 years ago, neglected for 2.5 years, and now about to become a reality. I like HSY - I have quite a few of those - but the idea could easily change between now and when I start it. WIP is what's happening now.

Nancy said...

To me a UFO is something that I started (at least some cutting done) and then sometime in the making I got sidetracked to something else and pushed it aside. Then it got bagged up and put away because I didn't go back to it when I finished whatever I pushed it aside for (IF I finished the new project and didn't push IT aside. LOL!). That's when I consider it a UFO. When it gets put out of sight with no intention of working on it in the immediate future.

But unlike most people I do not consider completed tops to be UFOs. Because I mostly make tops only so in my mind it is finished when the top is done. The quilting is for someone else to do. :-)

tami said...

I would say a UFO is something you started then stopped to move on to something else.
A project that is just waiting in the wings isn't a UFO it's "potential".
What you are working on now is a WIP, work in progress.

Leah Spencer said...

A UFO is a secret.

You don't want to tell anybody how many you really have! ;)

Jeanne said...

These are all great definitions! I chuckled at Leah's: "A UfO is a secret."
Jeanne :)

Evelyn aka Starfishy said...

I think of my quilts as unfinished until I put the binding AND label on - if it doesn't have a label it tends to bug me for years! I like to START many different projects and then become interested in something else. But, I also like to FINISH my projects! So, this summer I have worked out a system of working on just 10 projects at a time and nothing new can be added until 1 is done. It has been working out great for me - I still get the variety that I like to work on, plus a little reward system on the side of being able to add something new "guilt free", PLUS actually finishing things!

Anyway, in my mind it is unfinished until it is usable (plus a label!). You can't USE a top, even if the top is technically done. I don't want my "tops" to end up in a yard sale some day - BUT finished QUILTS are cherished for years!!! Great motivation for me!

Cheers!

Evelyn

Anonymous said...

A UFO? Hmmm...Well, The boys and I think this is an object that is in the sky. We feel very sad for the fabric you drool over and the projects you dream of and start that after all that this is the name you give them....So very SAD!!!! Oh how you ladies come up with the most unusual names for your quilting.

LOL..We wanted to put our two cents in.

From the Darling -DD and of course the Darling - DGK's..Wanted to make sure you knew D meant Darling and not anything else. ;o)

Passionate Quilter said...

a little late, but I agree with Patti, who has HSY's (hussies is what I call them too!) of projects that haven't been started--after all, you could change your mind and nothing was cut. BUT the minute you cut into it and sew just one block, it's a UFO and stays that way in my Excel program until the label is on. Only then can it be transferred to my done tab. Now, you get to pick out whatever meaning you like--they are your quilts! Notice how so many of us create our "own" rules to advance past go for another quilt? LOL

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