My grandmother’s wagging finger along with her favourite motto, ‘Waste Not, Want Not’ sprang to mind yesterday as I delved into my storage box to find many cross stitch items that were being neglected. Yes, there were the predictable UFOs (UnFinished Objects) lurking there. I am also ashamed to report that I found lots of USOs – UnStarted Objects!
A good overhaul of our stitching stash will almost certainly reveal many items that we have forgotten or just put aside. We can be busy stitching a project, only to be lured into starting another more urgent item. The first project is stored away, and possibly forgotten. At other times, we just lose interest in a particular project and move on to something more tempting.
I have found that the best way to overhaul the stash is to be brutal! Like clothes that hang unworn in your wardrobe, half-finished projects need to be scrutinised with a view to getting rid of them, or at least recycling them in another form.
Firstly, it’s important to look through your UFO stash, and weed out projects you know you are never going to complete. This needs to be discarded. Be ruthless! Donate it to a charity thrift shop or a youth organisation which uses craft supplies. All of a sudden, your UFO pile is suddenly a lot smaller. Now, there is more organisation to be done.
One method of organisation is called the Rotation Method, and many stitchers benefit from it. To do this, stitch a particular project for a certain amount of time – for example, 10 hours, or the evenings of one week. When that time has elapsed, you then put the project away and take up another one. The amount of time should be a planned to be ideal for your routine. Store the fabric, chart, and materials for each project and put them together in a plastic bag.
Another option is to prioritise your projects. Which one should be finished first? Deadlines spring to mind – a wedding or a birthday treat, perhaps. Choose a specific project and focus on that one first.
As for those projects that you feel that you never complete – now is the time to donate them to a local charity project or to swap with a fellow stitcher.
Rather than consider that these incomplete projects are a problem, it is good to consider that they are a positive challenge to be experienced!
Happy Stitching!
Iona
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