Tips for Completing Quilts from the UFO Club

Tips for completing quilts are never wasted on stitchers! While some quilters work on one project at a time, most have UFOs. We abandoned those unfinished quilt projects because something else caught our attention. Or perhaps we ran into trouble and didn’t know how to fix it, or the project simply got set aside and forgotten.

Creating the UFO Club

How many UFOs do you have? I get asked how many are lurking in my storage space and refuse to answer; let’s just say there are a few. It wasn’t until I had to redo the floor in my studio that I realized I needed to take charge of those UFOs. Speaking with friends, I realized I was not alone and created the UFO club.

The premise is that everyone picks one of their UFOs they want to complete. I prefer they choose projects that have been sitting around for some time, but we bend the rules a bit. We meet monthly, and each person commits to completing some portion of that UFO for the next meeting. Sometimes the commitment is significant, and sometimes it’s small. It all depends on how much time they can devote that month. I note the commitment and send it out in an e-mail to the group.

How it All Works

At the next meeting, we look at the work to see who has met their deadline. Through other classes, I’ve found that written commitments alone are NOT enough incentive, so I introduced a monetary aspect to the group. The group runs from January to December, and each member pays an administration fee ($25), plus they put up a “commitment fund” of $100. If they do not meet a monthly commitment, they forfeit $10. A local food bank is the happy recipient of those forfeited funds at the end of the year.

We meet for ten months of the year, hence the $100 instead of $120. While losing $10 one month isn’t a substantial financial hardship, there’s a lot of pride and peer pressure to meet that commitment! At the end of last year, one of the participants was a bit taken aback when she realized she had forfeited THREE times in the year. Needless to say, that participant has not forfeited once this year! Having the money upfront is much easier than collecting it if someone doesn’t meet the commitment.

A Roaring Success

The UFO Club has been running for five years! The first year, everyone met at my house once a month. But when the pandemic hit, we moved our one-hour meeting to Zoom, and we’ve been on Zoom ever since, which allows people from further away or on vacation to attend; bad weather is a thing of the past. They do not have to be present at the meeting. However, a picture of their completed commitment is essential. It’s easy to create a slide presentation from their photos.

There are now two groups with 16 members in each, and I have a waiting list for 2024! I found that 16 people in the group is a good number and allows time for each person to chat about their homework and make the commitment for the following month. It’s been an exciting journey, and I’ve completed several UFOs.

UFOs of All Shapes & Sizes

Some UFOs have been enormous; completing one project took over a year. Others are smaller and only require a month. It all depends on schedules and how much work is needed to complete the project. It’s shocking when you dig into those UFOs how little time it takes to complete some of them! And the euphoria of having a completed project? Well, that’s priceless!

The oldest UFO we had was 40+ years old. The participant (Nancy) and her mother started the quilt before either of them knew anything about quilting. The above photo shows what awaited Nancy when she opened the project. Several eight-pointed star blocks, sashing pieces, and yardage were also in the box.

The pattern, most likely from a magazine, was not in the box. In light of Nancy’s Mom’s recent 100th birthday, Nancy decided to get the quilt finished and give it to her Mom. I created a pattern using EQ8. Nancy got the quilt top together, and I used an edge-to-edge quilting design to quilt it. Nancy’s Mom looks thrilled with the finished quilt, and yes — the quilt made it to the party on time!

Managing Your UFOs

Another thing to consider is how you put your UFOs away. Linda uses notecards to make notes for her projects. My problem is not acknowledging I’m abandoning a project when I place it out of sight. Linda’s notes are fantastic, so if you can, make yourself reminders because it’ll help you figure out where to start when you dig the project out.

Here is an example of a pattern “recipe card” she had stashed away. On the card, she writes notes about the pattern and the recipient and updates the card after every sewing session. Linda got the quilt top together, quilted it, and gifted it to Felicity.

Not only are we motivating each other (and the monetary incentive helps a lot), but if we run into problems, we have years of experience in the group to help with suggestions to overcome the hurdle. Sometimes, it’s been suggested that it’s not worth finishing the UFO, and it gets recycled into that person’s stash. It doesn’t matter that it didn’t become a quilt; it’s no longer a UFO!

The UFO Clubs Continue

Collectively, we’ve worked on some fantastic projects, and they are NOW complete. The smiles on the participant’s faces and the feedback that they could NEVER have done this alone is enough for me to keep running the UFO Club. Based on my UFO stash, the UFO Clubs will run for a very long time!

About the Author

Elaine Theriault is a teacher, writer, and pattern designer who is completely obsessed with quilting. When not quilting, she can be found cycling across Canada. Follow her adventures on her blog. If you have any additional tips for completing quilts, be sure to share with us on Instagram, Facebook, or the comments section below!