Finishing things!

Early in January I got together with my friend Joan and we decided this would be the year for finishing things.  Joan loves to journal and does a spectacular job of it.  I haven't done any of that yet, other than this blog!  She gave me a beautiful small notebook which is divided into sections with lined paper, graph paper, plastic sleeves for photos or samples and some dividers in random places.  I decided it would be my journal of my "Finishing Adventures of 2012". 

We sat down on our regular Friday stitching day and began our lists.  She had gone through all her unfinished objects (heretofor referred to as UFO's) and listed them.  So while at my house we went through my cupboard of UFO's and listed them in my journal.  Even I was horrified at what I had in there.  If I finished all the things in there I would have an entire closet to put to better use.  I think there's a fine line between storing and hoarding and I may be on the verge of crossing it! 

My book is now divided into types of UFO's.  Unfinished quilts, unfinished dolls, unfinished paper projects (handmade books), unfinished knitting projects and unfinished art trading cards! 

Throughout January I have been applying myself to finishing things.  I have finished a felted purse....it had been in my closet for at least 3 years and it needed a button sewn on it!!!!  WHY do I stop when I'm so close?  But it's done now.

I then got out a doll that I think I started at least 15 years ago.  She's lovely and just needs her clothing completed.  I had started to make a skirt of leaves with decorative machine stitching on them.  The silk I was working on had bunched up and I didn't know how to fix that so into a box she went with all her parts and pieces to await ...... well, to await more knowledge I suppose.  This month she emerged and I was amazed at how much I've learned in the past years and how easily I could do that stitching now that I know what supplies to use and how to use them!  I've got the stitching done now and am adding beads to the skirt petals....beading is another skill I've learned since starting that doll.  I'll be going to the doll club meeting in Victoria next week and I intend to take her with me.  Some of the members were in that class when I took it with Patti Culea, and I'd like to ask if anyone can remember how many years ago it was! 

 Another thing finished in January is a knitted collar which I'm very pleased with.  It was started in a class at Needle & Arts in Campbell River http://www.needlenart.com/ with Miriam Leth-Espensen from Santa Fe, New Mexico.  I love the way it fits and believe I will do another.  It would make a lovely gift for someone who doesn't knit and it's so simple! 

This is a pot holder that has been on the shelf for a number of years.....I don't dare guess how many.  I don't even think I made it....it's folded squares and all it needed was a binding!  It's done now and crossed off the list! 

And last but not least, while at a retreat with my quilting group in April of 2011 I put together a kit quilt that my mother gave me and asked me to make for my sister to hang in her office.  I'm not a Halloween officianado, but I was willing to sew it together and finish it.  Mum had used the center panel to translate into graph work and knitted a sweater for my sister in the intarsia method, which incorporated these designs. (My sister works is a pediatric heart specialist) Mum does this in her head, without even drafting it out on graph paper! 

So this January I got out that quilt top, basted it and proceeded to quilt and bind it.  Yahoo....another finished project!  And the last step for January is to enter in my little journal of UFO's, what I finished, when I finished it, and any notes I think appropriate.  The only appropriate note I can think of is "Why the heck didn't you go all the way to the end before you started the next thing!!!"  See that big word at the bottom of the page????

I can hardly wait to see what February brings!