The 100 project challenge...7/1/07 to 1/1/11
So back in 2007, I became overwhelmed by the amount of unfinished projects I had laying around and the only person I knew with as much stash and ongoing projects was Terry from the Yuku boards. So we talked a little and came up with the 100 project challenge: No buying any new patterns until 100 items on our lists were finished. We started on 7/1/07. Terry was finished in about 18 months. Going into this, I figured it would take me 4 years. I've finished ahead of schedule.Today I put the last stitches into Bent Creek's Ocean Voyage and that's it. 100 projects completed since 7/1/07. Now, not all of them were on the list when I started but none of them were patterns I went out and purchased. I had them all in stash at the time of the start of the challenge or they were obligation pieces which cropped up afterward. It's kept me focused on finishing and it's been interesting to see how things changed in my life over the last 3.5 years.
One thing I changed was the way I list my projects. The active project list is only projects which actually have stitches in them - - Nothing kitted, no patterns I'm in lust with, no painted canvases without stitching on them - those all have their own pages in the workbook now.
My rotation page has a calculation of what type of projects I should be working on based on the ratio of the number of unfinished projects in that category. I can't say I work on them in order but at least I'm aware of them.
I also realized that I don't have to finish everything. It's okay to give something away when I'm no longer in love with it.
I've also decided I will no longer stitch or quilt for people who do not appreciate the amount of time and effort it takes to make things. For example, I will never again make anything by hand for the person who told someone I was "cheap" for making things instead of buying them. I know she has no clue the cost of the materials on the quilts and ornaments I've made in the past for her. Not to mention the cost of my time and as such, she will not value what I've done and knowing her, my heirloom quality projects will end up in a 2nd hand shop or on her eBay auctions listed at .01 starting bid.
I finish things in clusters. I'll see something which inspires me and I'll run home and work on projects for several weeks and then I'll lose interest or I should say something else will catch my eye and I'm off chasing that wild hare.
Quilting is going to sit for awhile since the politics of the local quilting guilds has left me with a desire to never walk in a quilt shop again; let alone look at any of my existing projects. - and that's enough said on the topic.
Now on to the future.... I have a new wild hare in mind I'll blog about later.
posted by Shondratasha @ 23:48
1 Comments:
Wow!! That is a huge accomplishment! Congratulations :)
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