UFO Challenges - Healing Emotionally

I am not hosting a UFO Challenge, nor am I participating in one. I am working to complete a list of my own during this year. They are incredibly difficult. I've been trying to figure out why. 

First of all, when we abandon a project, because it is all about abandonment, so much is going on and it might be different for each project. I cannot help but think of people abandoning each other; children being abandoned, lovers; toxic relationships or situations.

In order to look at quilting projects that are my UFO's, being honest, means I personally have abandoned the ones that are now on my list to finish this year. While they are not little children, nor are they lovers, at one time, I did feel a strong connection to making them. Then, something INSIDE ME, walked away from the projects. 

I can see three reasons for this as I write this morning.

Honestly, sometimes, I got busy with wanting to finish projects that had deadlines. Those projects without deadlines to finish got put in a bin to work on later.

Sometimes, I found myself in over my head without the proper skills to work on the project or to finish it. As is said, I bit off too much to chew.

And then, I found one (so far) that I had no desire to finish.

When I looked at that project, it became quite clear that I would never want to work on it again. There was no one I wanted to give the quilt to, and I was simply done. I bundled up the quilt top/bottom/binding, PLUS extra like-themed fabrics that I knew I would not want to complete and sent them to another quilter who makes comfort quilts for others. Its in her closet now to make a choice to finish the first quilt and to start on another one. I am done with it.

That seems to be it, either they had less priority in my life, I needed more training to handle it, or I was done with it.

Organization played an important part in getting to this point where I could work on my UFO's. Next it was commitment to the project. If I wanted to finish it, then I really have been pushing myself to work on it. For instance, that Red/White/Blue quilt only has simple horizontal stitches, yet I find that it is taking so long. After each line is done, I flip it to make sure it didn't wrinkle. Then it gets rolled again to fit into the machine throat. I am not sure why it is taking so very long and already, because of the duration or the weight of it, I find myself wanting to set it aside. 

However, I am committed to finishing it before going onto the next project. And so I will.

Looking at them like abandoned children, lovers or toxic relationships has helped me sort things and make new choices. The thing we often fail to look at is the person who did the abandoning. It is always easier to make them the bad guy or gal, but when YOU are the one who does the abandoning, then it is easier to justify your reasons. It feels essential for me to take responsibility for my quilting projects and either ONE; get on with it or TWO; release it. In both cases, whether it is a person or a project, this is all about healing our previous choices in life.