Thursday, February 24, 2011

A year ago today

A year ago today I blogged this photo.
One year later... and two of the three bags shown here are finished.  The third one only has maybe an hour of work left on it... yet it still isn't done.  Sometimes I just lose motivation at the very end of projects if they don't have a specific purpose or a recipient in mind... please tell me I'm not the only one this happens to!!

Also...
Randomly I search through my own blog posts to find photos... remember things I've made and so on. If you have a blog... do you ever do this??




© Blog post written by Julie Herman
For more information visit http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/

31 comments:

Andrew J said...

You are definitely not the only one. Of all the quilting projects I've done, I have yet to actually complete a project that was for myself, even though I have some started. It's easier when there's the motivation of giving the item as a gift.

Also, I used to do a "Photo A Day" blog (http://andrewjoslyn.blogspot.com/). I definitely go back through that blog occasionally, plus I turned each year's worth of photos into a hard copy book that I have sitting in my house so I can flip through it to remember what I did each year. It's pretty fun.

JustPlainLaine said...

Hi Julie. I do this all the time! I like a fabric or a pattern and just HAVE to have it/make it. Then, something else catches my attention or I have to get a commissioned project done. I keep a journal of all of my projects, I go back through it, and my blog, frequently to see what I haven't updated in a while. Usually the "undone" list is longer than the "done".

You are not alone! :D

Laine

Tammy said...

You know it sister! It is part of our fabric/blog addiction! And I have accepted it!!!

Katie Canfield said...

Yes to both! All the time! :) Sometimes I feel like I just "dink" around my quilting studio and don't get a whole lot completed, and then I scroll through my blog! :)

And this would be . . . . said...

if you need a recipient for one of those bags, I offer myself. LOL.

I understand what it is like to lose focus.

Lynette said...

I certainly have my share of UFO's with hardly anything left to finish on them!

Trisha said...

I usually laugh at myself when I look back at blog posts. I have the best of intentions but it doesn't always happen like I say it is going to when I am fired up about projects. I am a little scared to actually count up my UFOs.

Manda said...

I'm a terrible blogger, I never remember and I don't work quick enough to have anything to say :-)
I am the same for motivation, it took me 6 months to make my bag - things halted at various stages!

Marjorie's Busy Corner said...

It happens to all of us Julie.....hard to focus when one is so busy

Lindsay said...

Yes to both as well! I started a blog so I could keep track of everything that I make throughout the year. It's going well so far! I just posted my very first quilt last night! http://lindsaypinds.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-first-quilt.html

My friend loved it! I'm so excited to get started on another one. Thanks again for the inspiration!

Erica said...

Yep, me too! I'm currently despairing at the huge (unfinished) rag rug taking up a whole load of space in the corner of my bedroom. It's been a year in the making, but like you, without a deadline, i find it tough. Good to know we're not alone tho' eh? x

Jocelyn said...

Wow we must all have the winter blues or something. Kathleen Tracy (http://sentimentalquilter.blogspot.com/2011/02/unfinisher.html) just blogged about this very thing today. I have SO many projects that started out with good intentions but were left by the wayside. As far as the blog, I don't normally look back at projects. I think I'd rather look forward ;-) Guess we all better get busy and finish up some of these loose ends!

corina said...

I WISH I would lose momentum halfway through a project. I buy a pattern, search endlessly for the perfect fabrics, and then...........start all over with something else I find exciting. Not a stitch sewn, not even a feeble attempt at starting. I must have quilters ADHD!

Mary Grace McNamara said...

Of course! I read through my old posts frequently to see if I planned on doing something that I didn't follow up on. Then I try to get that to the top of my to-do list. I also like to see what projects I have done in the past that are relevant to current projects and then link them on my blog.

MGM

katquilter said...

You're not the only one this happens to. I'm pretty sure I am the Queen of Unfinished Things.

Lindsay Conner said...

I definitely scan my blog to find photos, but more often than not, I can find them in my iPhoto. :) I just dug out a quilt top I put together over a year ago (two years?) and I am so not in love with it. Will probably salvage the Amy Butler print for scraps.

Pinky said...

ummm... YES! most definitely! it's complete madness! I'll get really passionate about something and there will be a flurry of creative activity while I cut out and assemble (or partially assemble) the project and then I just run out of puff. Sometimes I go back to them and do a bit more.... perhaps if I blog my "list of shame" I'll get inspired to finish some things off.

The other thing that I have noticed lately is not that I browse my blog for photos, but the other way round, I THINK that I've blogged about something, and the photos are on my hard drive, but it turns out that I never did the post!!

Jess @ Scrappy n Happy said...

Yeap. I am the same! Especially if it is a "just because" project!

Sara @ Sew Sweetness said...

Maybe I am just nuts, but having more than one project going at a time really drives me crazy (it happens sometimes, because things come up, but...). I like to just focus my all on it until I finish. Quilting is a bit difficult in that way, because it's a longer-term project than a dress or a bag, but I still find I am that way with quilts, too. I used to just cut things out for future projects, but I find if I do that, I never come back to that project. :-P

Rhonda the Rambler said...

Oh girl...take a gander at my UFO list on my blog and you will never have to ask that question again. 90% of them are there for the very same reason...no recipient...no real intention...UGH

Jacqueline said...

I feel ya. No hard deadline means not necessarily goig to be finished any time soon. I have three quilt tops worth of blocks done and stashed in boxes... Not to mention patterns I want to try, fabric stashed for this or that... Its part of being creative I think. =)

WoolenSails said...

I put aside projects when I lose the motivation and think about them. Sometimes it is something I don't like about them, so thinking and waiting to finish them, inspires me to change them into something I want to finish.

I have gone through old photos and sometimes find something I forgot all about.

Debbie

Anonymous said...

No don't feel bad at all. I am some one who has all the time in the world during the day after my husband leaves for work and my daughter leaves for school and you would think that I could crank out the projects. {Oh yawn!} Especially this time of year. With it being late in the winter season I am fed up winter all together and find myself with no motivation. I have found myself(once my family is gone) lately curled up on the couch watching Netflix or what ever is on t.v. and fall back to sleep until almost noon. Bad I know! Why because I do not want to start sewing at 7:30 in the morning but I end up hating myself for not getting motivated by 9:00. However, what does motivate me is the sunshine (literially the rays of sun that shine through my windows) that brightens my home, the view of my back yard along with learning process of a project and then having it done well enough to sell it. Ahh yes, money the other root of evil. Take care Julie!

bethanndodd said...

Definately NOT the only one ;o)

Isisjem said...

No you are not the only one. I randomly lose steam at the final bit. It's not even that I don't like say binding or something. I often go back much later and finish stuff. Every time I do finish a project though I have this overwhelming good feeling of achievement - which makes me wonder why I procrastinate about finishing so much.

Anonymous said...

I was recently going through and updating some old links and things in old posts, and I couldn't believe how many things I've made that I've completely forgotten about! Our blogs are such a nice resource for us as much as anyone else, I'm sure.

School of Crafts said...

Um... I think I am way worse then you ;) I went on the cleaning spree a week ago and discovered 14 incomplete projects ranging from "just started" to "oh! I totally forgot I even started it" (which should tell you it was more than a year, hehe)
For me it is always hard to get through the middle of a project. Starting it is so fun and ending it feels like such an accomplishment. If someone figures out the secret please do tell :)

VickiT said...

I think you sound perfectly normal Julie. LOL Besides the fact, look at all the awesome and amazing quilts you have created in the meantime give all of us one more thing to add to our unfinished piles. LOL

Sandy said...

Oh no girl, you are certainly not the only one!=) I am in the process of rearranging my sewing room and I have waaay too many projects that were started and then shoved in boxes and put away because I lost interest for one reason or another. I have sewing ADD I'm afraid! LOL! I can't even believe how many boxes I am opening up that I don't remember starting. I've been quilting for 15 years and I have pulled out 32 (as of last night) UFO's that I need to get finished. Hanging my head in shame!

Connie Kresin Campbell said...

I think we are all the same! Every time I blog I find more and more that I want to make!

April (Polkadot Sparrow) said...

I made myself a rule a few months ago: only two projects in the chute at a time and if I want to start a new one, I have to finish one.

So now I just have a zillion UFO's flying around in my head, waiting for me to get to them.

I'm not sure which is worse because I fear that I've forgotten some really great ideas I've had for creating. At least you have evidence of your attempts. :)