how do you decide what is a ufo and what is a wip?

17 years ago

PIGs (Projects In Grocery bags) are pretty obvious. Good thing I live on a ranch.

I was wondering how you all define a UFO (UnFinished Object)and a WIP (Work In Progress)?

My projects start out as a WIP. It is a project that I see on a regular basis. Sometimes I leave WIPs sitting out to remind me to work on them. In others words it has not made me mad (yet), I'm not bored with it (yet) or it is something I'm making for someone and it has no deadline (they don't know I'm making it). Usually when I get a UFO out and work on it I don't understand why it became a UFO in the first place.

I think for me that a UFO that is also a PIG would be a project that really made me mad. It would be a UFO flying across the room and landing as a PIG and put in a box to be later to be identified.

LOL Suellen

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Comments (27)

toolgranny
17 years ago
My PIGs are all things I don't ever expect to get back to because I don't like them. I sometimes find someone who wants them. I just sent a kit of blocks to a friend because they were not my colors but came to me free. I have a whole quilt cut and kitted that I didn't like the colors or pattern when I got it ready to make. I'll find a taker for that one day, someone color blind.

I have UFOs that sit there where I can see them to remind me to finish them. I get in the mood to do the next step and then they become a WIP again. I'm finishing off one today and hope to finish off another tomorrow. It's such a treat to know I am done and can move on to something new.

I get a real rush from something new. It often requires shopping for fabric, my favorite hobby. I have a room full and sometimes just the right stuff already and sometimes I go shopping. I love starting a new project. Don't get much done around the house for awhile, though.

Linda
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damascusannie
17 years ago
For me a WIP is any project that I'm actively working on--I have three going right now: a client's quilt, a quilt for my SIL/BIL's 25th anniversary and an applique project that I work on in the evenings.

UFO's are projects that for whatever reason are on indefinite hold--a WIP can become a UFO and vice-versa. I have WAY too many UFOs! Most are finished tops waiting for quilting time (a pro quilt finisher's quilts are like a carpenter's house--never done!) and a couple are projects awaiting inspiration for borders or something like that.

A PIg, or in my case, a PIC (Project in Cabinet), is one that I started and just don't like any more, so I shoved it out of sight and out of mind in the cabinet under my cutting table. This is like the black hole of quilting projects. I'll keep a PIC around for a few years and then usually throw it away unless one of the kids expresses an interest in it, in which case I'll keep it around until the aforesaid kid forgets about it and THEN throw it away. 8^)

Annie
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teresa_nc7
17 years ago
I have a lot of POTs (Projects On Table) too. Sometimes when I think about a particular WIP, I can say "it's a WIP" but deep in my heart I know it's a UFO. Actually, I probably have quite a few UFO's that have gone beyond being a WIP to become a UFO.

Then we must ask the question: when does a WIP become a UFO; after what length of time does it slide into UFO-dom?

Another question: if we have the pattern decided and have started to collect the fabrics, but have not actually cut any fabrics for a particular project, then what is it? It can't be a WIP because we have not cut or sewn any part of it yet. It can't be a UFO because it hasn't been started and can't be called Un-Finished.

These are important questions for us all - or they should be anyway. lol!

Teresa
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mary_c_gw
17 years ago
I have no PIGS.

I usually have 2 WIPs, and right now a WISP (work in slow progress). The WISP is slow because the blocks are very painstaking, and I can only do about 1/week without going nuts, LOL.

If I find I have a UFO, I usually deal with it pretty quickly - I load it on the long-arm, do a large meander or practice a new pattern, serge the edges and donate it to the local vet. Most of my UFOs are small, because I can decide after about 4 blocks whether I like it or not. I keep a bolt of cheap muslin around for backings, and use batting scraps.

The vets are happy, and I have no UFOs or PIGs making me feel guilty.

My time scale for UFO's is about 3 months. If I haven't worked on it for that amount of time, I probably never will.
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damascusannie
17 years ago
When does a WIP become a UFO? In my house, it's as soon as it goes into one of the dresser drawers for storage while I work on something else. Most weeks I have a project that I'm machine quilting (limited to no more than 4-6 hours/per day), one that I'm piecing and one that I'm doing handwork on, which means that most days, I've worked on at least three projects. If it's been worked on in the last week, it's still a WIP.

Annie
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calliope
17 years ago
I just had a good laugh with the responses on this one! I can really understand now how each of of these entities need their own lable. I have a PIG. It's the start of my Cathedral Windows quilt and may end up being my Cathedral Windows pillowcase. LOL It's sat in a basket now for months and is on the very bottom rung for finishing....basically because if I knew then what I know now, I'd have done it differently and it's too much work to end up not particularly liking the results anyway.

I have an UFO. It's my God's Eye Quilt, the top nearly finished and the material for the last two blocks cut and ready.......but I stopped working on it to finish up the quilt top I found in my mother's closet. That brings us to our WIP.

The quilt I found in my mothers closet I am sort of working on now, but I stopped long enough to make some blocks for the March Block Lotto. I just love that pattern (Brass Town Star) and I had to make three blocks just to get one I was satisfied to send. I'll save the first two because I'm not picky and can use them in the quilt I shall make out of that pattern. I've enough fabric for at least two more blocks and shall try to get them done for the lotto to use up the material I bought for that project.

I used to come here and lurk and snigger about all the unfinished projects you gals and guys get into, and now I am doing the same thing. You are a bad, bad influence ;-)
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cziga
17 years ago
I was laughing about this too - what a non-quilter must think reading a post like this . . . lol.

I have PIGS as I don't have enough space for storing them on tables or in cabinets - it's plastic bags for me.

I'm still too new to have UFOs. Everything I haven't finished is still a WIP because there are so few projects that I've even started so far.

Only one is starting to feel like it might not get done. I tried to invent my own quilt block (take an existing, difficult one and make it easier for me to do) but it just hasn't worked out the way I wanted it too. The colours don't wow me, and the blocks aren't looking quite right. I still need to figure out if there is anything I can do to revive it though. At least it was only a large table runner so it is a small-ish project.

I have a bunch of future projects stored in my head and I'm trying to hard not to start them until I finish my current ones. Oh the will power!
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ngmnewlywed
17 years ago
All I can do is laugh.....this is such a funny topic and so true for all of us...whether we choose to admit it or not!!!!! I have some PIGS and UFO's and WIP's. So, does that make me a collector???? hehehe
Susie
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crafteedee
17 years ago
For me, WIPs are projects that I have out or readily accessible that I have plans to work on w/in the next few months. (This consists of about 6-8 projects currently) Some of them are actually WISP (S = slow). One 8yo UFO turned into a WISP last year. Still not done, but I do LOOK at it at least every month to see if I want to finish it. :) So, I guess that one would be a WIVSP.

UFO's are projects that I got bored of, or something made me quit them, or I moved & put it away & forgot about them. They are in a difficult to access bin somewhere...location in the shed "unknown".
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fran1523
17 years ago
What deep philosophical musings from us quilters. I try really hard not to accumulate UFO's, but have to admit I did have one and finally finished it after almost 15 years in the fabled grocery bag.
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toolgranny
17 years ago
I love these deep, philosophical threads. It's like the meaning of life. Let's see - I have PIGs, POTs (lots), WIPs, UFOs and many WISPs. I also have a POWS - that's the piles on my window seat. Surely Suellen has one for her project - Coat for Goat!

Linda
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rosajoe_gw
17 years ago
Most of my PIG's are crochet items, I have an afghan that I take on car trips and today I started a Christmas needlepoint tissue cover that is another PIG to take on trips. Why I started that I have no clue, I paid $2 for it at a thrift store. Why didn't I finish the afghan that doesn't match anything in my house first??????????
My only quilting PIG is GFG and I plan to sew what I have into a doll quilt and give it away.
My UFO's and WIP are the same to me and regardless how UGLY I plan to finish them in some way, I can't stand to throw anything away.
Mary I like the vet idea. In this rural area we have 3 nursing homes close by, I plan to make lap quilts to donate. I also have a family that nothing is ever too ugly to them, even the guys will find a use for it LOL.
Rosa
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sew_self-taught
17 years ago
I have a few UFOs. They are quilts I started years ago before I really knew what I was doing. I put them away at the time because I lost hope. IÂm happy to say that I have finished a couple of them in the last few of months.

My WIP is what ever IÂm working on now and it usually is spread out on the living room floor, (my design wall). IÂve gotten so much better at only having one real project going at a time. Am I getting older and more responsible?? Yikes!

For me PIGs are projects started that are way beyond help and can never be finished. The pic bellow is of my saddest PIG. It was a quilt I started in 1991 when DD was a toddler. Notice how bad my "points" would be if I tried to sew the blocks together. There wouldnÂt actually be any points. IÂm saving it in a bag because even though it will never be a finished quilt, it will always be a PIG that I enjoy pulling out at looking at every so often. ItÂs so sad. I donÂt know whether laugh or cry. There are a lot more bad blocks made than in the pic.

Nina
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laurainsdca
17 years ago
Nina,

Looks like when you were newer to quilting your pattern skipped the same critical information about lining up triangles, and 1/4" fabric going past the points that myt pattern skipped!

BUT -- MAN, I just LOVE those bright colors. And the geometry of it. I can't help but look at it and think that the points are pretty consistent in their proximity to the edge of the blocks. If you squared them up and sewed them together they would go together pretty well. They shapes just wouldn't be "pointy." It would still be very cool looking. You could name it "Points be gone!" LOL. I don't know --- I really like those blocks. They make me feel happy.

As for me and PIGS, UFOS, WIPS, etc, I think I mainly have a bunch of WISPS. Works in slow progress. I had to take a few months off due to a bad schedule and when I stop to think I do have a handful of things going on but I'm *pretty* good at finishing them all eventually. I am not starting anything new 'till my current WISPS are done and that helps motivate me!
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biwako_of_abi
17 years ago
What does PIG stand for? Obviously, something not good.
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day2day
17 years ago
I have a lot of WIPs but I'm pretty good at finishing everything I start altho' it sometimes takes a long time. I had a few blocks of "Rose of Sharon" that I wanted to make into a quilt, but I didn't like my applique. I did make the 4 blocks into pillows, so they got used.

Nina, I did the same thing with some star blocks I made when I first started quilting. If you can believe it, I had 35 done before I realized,'oh no! they won't join up correctly' .I found a piece of fabric I liked and zig-zagged the stars onto it by machine--used an on-point design and judged the placement of blocks. It's one of my favorite quilts. Message, don't give up on those blocks.Make them into something wonderful.
~Geraldine
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damascusannie
17 years ago
Nina--I'd finish that quilt. It'd be a great baby quilt for a future grandchild and babies don't care about points. One of my favorite quilts is one of my first free-motion projects. It's not beautiful up close, but looks great from a distance and I like having a reminder to show me how far I've come. On those days when things aren't going well in the studio, I can go look at Crazy Pinwheels and gain some perspective.

Annie
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rosajoe_gw
17 years ago
I think the blocks are great, add sashing and you will never notice the points. It is too pretty just to sit in a closet.
Rosa
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toolgranny
17 years ago
Rosa, you made me laugh. My GFG might make it to a table runner.

Jan,
In case you've missed out on some of the acronym dialogue, currently being used are:

WIP work in progress
WISP work in slow progress
PIG project in grocery bag (as in put away so I don't have to look at it)
POT project on table
UFO unfinished object
PIC project in cabinet
POF project on floor
POB project on bed (and that could go on and on!)

Maybe we should do a quilting dictionary. While we're at it, someone should list the DD sort of thing - dying dog??

Linda
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sew_self-taught
17 years ago
Aww gosh everyone Â Thank you for your nice comments on my pathetic blocks. I really wasnÂt expecting that. I was just showing how easy it is to end up with a PIG. I remember when I started that quilt the directions said Â¼" seam allowance not included. I think I said to myself - well so, I donÂt need any "allowance". Ha, I totally didnÂt know what that meant.

I have thought about ways I could finish it. Like cutting them in a way where they would go together nicely and create a different pattern from the original idea. Cutting them out and appliquÃ©ing them is also a great idea! I hadnÂt thought of that. WeÂll see, maybe some day. Thanks again!

When PIGs Fly - - - is that when you decide to work on them again, they become a step up to a UFO?

Nina
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crafteedee
17 years ago
"When PIGs Fly - - - is that when you decide to work on them again, they become a step up to a UFO?"

That's cute! UFOs can be fossilized PIGs. :)

I have another acronym to add...
PIT (Projects in Tubs)
Mr. PIB (Projects in Bins/buckets)
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wendyfaye
17 years ago
How about POOFS (Projects on Oversized FootStools). I have a bunch there. You guys are too funny.

Faye
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toolgranny
17 years ago
Taking notes, taking notes.
Linda
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polardream
17 years ago
This is just too funny ... and sad. I have ALL of the above and then some! Just what I needed tonight as I think about going back to work tomorrow after spring break. I should be sewing but I was grading papers and cleaning the basement storeroom. YUCK!

Nina, I'd put a sashing between those blocks and give it to your DD for high school graduation! I love it!

Sue
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biwako_of_abi
17 years ago
I love this thread.

Thanks for the list, Linda. I really should have read the whole thread carefully, and then I would have known, but I was in a hurry.
POF? I'm ROFL!

I guess I have a PIG--horrible pieces I cut out for a Stack n whack and found that that particular material won't look good in that pattern--but it's not in a bag. In fact, I don't know where I put it.
Then there is my fish batik Slideshow quilt--still a M2M ("mean to make"). I have all the material for it, but have gotten sidetracked.

A stack n whack I started with a material that does look good has been a UFO for some time, but now I have bought the material I wanted for the background and it will be a WIP again in a few days.

And, of course, a Sylvia's Bridal Sampler, a WIP that is probably going to be around as such for a loooong time!
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cannahavana
17 years ago
My PIGs are the projects I have bought fabric for and it is still in the original bag with the intended pattern or idea for it. So, I guess mine are like Biwako's M2M.

I also have PODs, Projects On Dresser, in my bedroom. After sending the king size to the quilter, it cleared off a big chunk of the pile!

Rebecca
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crafteedee
16 years ago
Thought I would update this Quilting acronym list...
It keeps growing...

WIP (work in progress)
WISP (work in slow progress)
WIVSP (work in very slow progress)
UFO (unfinished object)
Mr Pibb (project in bins or buckets)
M2M (Mean to Make)
PIG (project in grocery bag)
POT (project on table)
PIC (project in cabinet)
PIT (Projects in Tubs)
POF (project on floor)
POD (project on dresser)
POB (project on bed)
POS (project on shelf)
POWS (piles on window seat)
POOFS (Projects on Oversized FootStools)
WaSSP (Work at Snail speed project)

PIPB (project in pizza box)
That one occured to me last night while working on my crazy WIP PIPB. Maybe my PIPB is more of a WaSSP. :)
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how do you decide what is a ufo and what is a wip?

Comments (27)

toolgranny

damascusannie

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