A Winning Battle in the War of UFOs (part 2)

O.K. Just so you all know, I am only using the calendar as a way to explain how this works. After doing your projects like this for a few months, you will not need to use a calendar because, well, you will just get it. The picture above is just an example of how your month will go.

1. The first week you will work on your 2nd most important project that needs to get done.


2. The second week you will work on your 1st most important project that needs to get done. (I know you are saying "Huh?" but just wait...)


3. The 3rd week you will work on your 3rd most important project of the 4.


4. The 4th week you will work on your 4th most important project.

Each week you will work on one quilt. Your week starts on Monday and finishes on Sunday. Sunday is the day that you will pack your project back up into its box or bag and put it away until the next month. If a month has 5 Mondays, then in this system, it has 5 weeks, in which case you would work on the 1st most important project again on that 5th week. Then next month on the first Monday you will start again with the 2nd most important project. Now you see why I do the 2nd on the first week...I needed to have a 'break' between me working on my 1st priority.

Now, lets say that you are piecing blocks by machine on one of your projects one week and your machine breaks, or you run out of fabric and have to order more...you actually have a 'cheater project' or 5th project that you can work on but you should not work on any of the other 3 projects. I work on my 'cheater project' when my hands get sore from hand quilting or when I am creatively blank or if I just plain don't want to work on that weeks project for a day or so.

Let me give you reasons why this system works for me (and hopefully you, too)

1. I force myself to only work on one project during the week...so simply put: If you wanna quilt, Monica, quilt this...it forces me to get over whatever road block that caused me to stick the thing in my closet in the first place.


2. By working on a project for a week, and being 'forced' to put it away on Sunday...you are going to find yourself actually wanting to work on it again the next month. In other words, you are not working on these projects long enough to get sick of them.


3. I never feel guilty about starting a new project now...as long as it is used as my 'cheater project'


4. By only focusing on 4 projects, I find that I am more aware of what supplies I need to get them done. I try to only spend money on fabric, etc. for these 4 projects. I don't even worry that I have 35 (or much more) UFOs that need to get done...just these 4.


5. After completing a project, I will finish out the week doing the 'cheater project' then I get to re-evaluate which quilts are most important and add another UFO from my pile to replace the one that I finished.


6. If you find that you are not getting one of you projects done or are not looking forward to it after a few months of this system; it is a very good indication that you don't want it done bad enough and you should find another person to give it to. (Well...it IS a way to get it out of your closet you know)


7. By putting my entire project away at the end of every week, I don't have it in the way of my other projects or stressing me out; plus, when I take that project out again, everything is there. No hunting everywhere for the fabric, stencils, etc.

I will give final information tomorrow. Don't worry...tomorrow's instructions won't make your head hurt. Big huge smile.