Design Wall Monday

I had a project on the design wall this weekend, but a conversation with my husband resulted in that quilt being taken down and a very old project of his being put up there.  

We are scheduled to go on a trip in May and we were discussing that. Jack really wants to do some hiking, but has admitted that might not happen because of health issues. We were talking about things he could do and I mentioned that he could work on the quilt he started quite some time ago. He said he would think. We wrapped up that discussion and each got busy with other things.

About an hour later, I went to the kitchen to do a few things and when I returned, I found this on the cutting table.

This tub has been packed away and stored on a shelf under my pressing table for quite some time. It was put there after Jack last worked on his quilt. He had spent quite a bit of time playing around with the fabrics and making the blocks. He had started to sew the rows together and was excited to get it ready for the quilting. I remember him putting it up on the design wall to talk about it with my brother Jerry, only to find a mistake in the bottom row. 

Do you see the mistake? Right there in the middle of the bottom row. He had even started playing with border options. (Ok, what was I thinking to have dyed that design wall fabric that color???)

Fast forward to yesterday... 

While I was preparing dinner, the quilt top that I finished sewing together Saturday (I can't show it because it's a pattern test), was taken down and this replaced it. 

The mistake has been taken apart and placed correctly. Jack inventoried the contents of the storage container, typed out the hand-written notes, and has once again started thinking about border and quilting options. :-) The quilt is being removed from the wall as I type up this post, and all of the rows are being labeled and organized. I don't think he plans on working on this until our trip, but he is excited to finish this. I am excited for him!

Maybe it's the new year, but the idea of finishing a project that has been put away for so long is really appealing to me. This got set aside because it needed "fixed" and other things took precedence. (Most likely those other things included me reclaiming the design wall and rarely having it empty. But that's another story...)

The reemergence of this project has me thinking. I have A LOT of UFOs and I think it is high time that I pull them out and evaluate them. I need to be honest with myself and prioritize these projects. Who knows; I might fall in love with a project that found it's way into storage and move it to the front of the "to do" list. 

But in reality, I am sure that will not happen to most of the projects and I'm ok with that. It's ok to decide that it's not perfect, but that doesn't mean that I can't finish it and give it to someone who can use it and maybe even love it. It's also ok to decide that I no longer have a desire to work on something. If that is the case, I then need figure out how to give it a new home and a possible new life.

I will do this slowly, as I know myself well enough to know that I will fret about how much money I have tied up in each of these projects. But, it needs done and I know that I will feel better after having done this. It's a way to clear my sewing space and my head. After that, I can proceed with what gives me pleasure.