01 March 2012

How many is too many?

WIPs that is.  Works-in-Progress.  In other words things started and not finished.  I decided to write them ALL down as I do like a bit of a list.  Well, this is a loooooong list!  I've listed all my quilts, my woolly projects, and all the other miscellaenous bits and bobs in between.  I even found projects I'd forgotten about, and I came up with the Grand Total of 25.  Is that too many?!!  Please someone tell me they have many, many more than 25, that 25 is a mere trifle.

These beautiful Japanese fabrics, which will make "Kyoto Dreaming" (yes, they all have names!) were cut January 2010 ...

See, I think the problem is that I enjoy certain aspects of making.  I love choosing fabric, it is by far the best part.  I even love a good cutting session, and placing the fabrics is extremely good fun, but then comes the sewing.  Same with knitting or crochet, love choosing the colours, love making a start and seeing how it's all coming together, but then I'd just like to hand-ball it to someone else to do the hours on it.  I need to learn to love the repetitive part of the process.

My WIPs are many and varied.  I have [gulp] eleven quilts "on the go".  One is on my hoop being hand quilted and I'm well over half way.  There are three more waiting in line to be quilted, three that need serious machine-time and four quilts that need a zillion woman-hours to hand sew.  Phew, I'm pooped just thinking about it.


This quilt, "Queen of Hearts", is the one currently on my hoop.  It consists of 16 squares, with each square representing a woman in my family history.  On each square I have her first name, initials, and place and year of birth stitched into it.  They are my 8 great-great-grandmothers, 4 great-grandmothers, 2 grandmothers, my Mum and the final square, which has pieces of all the fabrics in it, is my square.  The Queen of Hearts is named after my Mum who instilled in me a love of family history and a love of stories.

The other, um, fourteen projects are smaller and more achievable to cross off the list quickly.  They range from small dolly quilts to crochet rugs (plural) and miscellaneous pincushions and needlecases.


So, I have come up with The Plan.  And I thought if I shared The Plan with you then it may just keep me on track.  This is The Plan : to finish a WIP a month (and even to backdate The Plan to include the months of January and February!) so that by year's end, presuming I haven't started any other gorgeously tempting new projects, my WIPs will have drastically reduced to a mere 13!!

Stay tuned for January's Finished Project post, and please make me feel better by sharing how many projects you have in that unfinished state (presuming of course it's more than 25, if it's less how is that going to make me feel better?!!!)

Cheers, Trudy

2 comments:

  1. Nah... 25 WIPs is just part of the Grand Plan, right? And it's always good to have just the right crafty project on hand for every mood. (ELEVEN quilts is mighty impressive!)...

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  2. It will great to see the WIP as they are finished. Would love to see the family quilt finished.

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