UFOs and other thoughts

I don't know how many of you have the same failings as me... someone gives you a link to a web site and it has a great pattern... a 'Must-Have'! You happily pay out your money, download (hey I rarely send for paper patterns these days... who can wait that long for the mail...) and then you print. Oh ecstasy! You can visualise the final project with all your friends ooooing and ahhhhing over it... . So, in this first flush of enthusiasm you dive into your craft materials and if like me, have a stash you could open a store with (according to hubs) you can't find the perfect fabric or the correct colour of paint ... or... oh you know what I mean! That's it! Check the money in your purse... this is serious... it requires a trip to Joann's, Michael's or AC Moore immediately!

So you go and purchase a bolt of muslin cause it is 'on sale'. I know I have one in the house but it will save me money/a trip out to purchase more when I need it next. YES! They have the paint/wire/bells/thread/floss/fabric ... that I need as well! Suitably armed with my purchases I rush home. Oh the glory of it all! I can just see me putting the finishing touches to this tonight!

I'm exhausted! Need sustenance before I go any further. a couple of peanut butter cups later, the energy levels restored... I get out my materials, the freezer paper ...no I'm not cooking (for my non crafty friends).... it's to trace the pattern pieces... can't cut my precious pattern!

So I mark out the pattern on my fabric. I haul my 'portable' , 25 lbs of circa 1965, sewing machine on to the table. (Hubs always has a good laugh over the 'portable' discription! ) Thread the machine and away I go, sewing to my little heart's content. Before you know it I'm done. Next you stuff the little darling pieces and soon you will be able to paint and grunge. And that's what I do... painting and grunging ... one eye on the tv for my fave programme and the other on my little delight! I glance at the clock... it's getting late, my eyes are beginning to droop... too late to bake these... they can dry in the utility overnight.

Next morning… it’s another day filled with laundry and housework, cooking and dishes. “I’ll find some time in the afternoon to finish the project,” says I. Afternoon comes and goes. Something more pressing arises, like the newest catalog from one supplier or another. “I can put it together this evening.” But following a phone call with DD… “It’s too late, I’ll do it tomorrow!” And so it goes… one day follows another and the project casts a beady eye at you constantly reminding you that you haven’t finished it! Then days turn into weeks (and sometimes months). Eventually the UFO gets moved to a basket/box/bag to join other of its friends. At least it won’t be lonely!

Hands up everyone who recognizes themselves in this tale! I know I have many part finished projects ( unfinished objects) that haunt me, make me feel guilty. So every now and then I promise myself that I cannot start any new projects until I finish at least one or two of the UFOs. Why you may ask am I going on about this? Well today was one of my days of reckoning. I pulled out a couple of the half finished projects and started putting them together. I have finally finished one… it’s only taken about a month (maybe more). I have two others to work on tonight. I’m making a public promise to work on them and get them completed over the weekend because I know that if I don’t… they will continue to languish unfinished. Look for a picture on Monday of these two. But for now… you will have to settle for my finally finished Pumpkin Crow Pie. I made it from a design by Sharon Mitchell of Homespun Heart Primitives.