Finishing older projects

2020 has arrived, and with it I am sure many of you have made some resolutions. The most common ones I usually hear from quilters is that they would like to finish a number of old projects before starting anything new or making it a goal to use up some of the stash before buying new fabric. While these are great plans it easy to get stuck in a rut and avoid any quilting with set in stone plans like this, so I have a few tips to hopefully help you keep your goals but have fun doing it.
Carrie's plan for the year is to pick just one older unfinished project each month and finish it. When it is finished she can move onto whatever new quilts or bags she has found. This is a great way to finish up 12 older projects in one year without getting bogged down and overwhelmed.
Tam
my was telling me today that she plans to finish 10 projects before she starts anything new. This is a good way to clear out space and make room for some new fresh fabric and kits. And the motivation of starting a new project will keep her on her track to finish them.
I have a few different go to methods when I feel the need to bust the stash or finish old projects.
The first method is to take a week and only work on projects that are more than 1 year old. I pull out one work on it until it is finished or the week is up, I have finished multiple in the span of a week because sometimes they just need something simple like a binding sew on, borders cut and added or the blocks are all pieced they just need to be sewn together. At the end of the week I go back to my new current projects.
Another method that works really well for me is to buy a new fabric collection or kit that I absolutely fell in love, put it in my sewing space in my line of vision, and tell myself I cannot open it until I finish 3 other projects. I used this method multiple times last year and it worked really well.
The final method deals with stash busting. I like to either run a quilt along through my blog, or find one that is about to start on Social Media and use just scraps for the quilt. This goes a long ways to using up some older fabric. My aunt follows along with many of my quilt alongs, and almost always makes 2 quilts, one from her scraps, that she uses as her practice block and another from a new collection of fabric that she loved. This way she busts through old scraps but gets to use new fabric at the same time.
If you thrive on lists and crossing things off as you finish them, write down which projects you have on the go, what each needs to be completed and an order that you would like them done in, than start quil
ting and crossing things off.
I hope one of these methods will help you this year. As with all resolutions, it is best to start small and manageable than to go cold turkey. It is really important to choose numbers and set goals for yourself that will work for you and are achievable, and also to have rewards for work well done.
And if a project is really not working for you, maybe the colors are really not your style, the pattern is hard to understand or the techniques used are a little to intense, do not be afraid to call it quits. Maybe use the fabric for something else, donate the project to someone who would like it or even throw it in the trash, which to be honest sometimes feels like a weight lifted off the shoulders.
I have a few more little quilt alongs planned for the year to bust some more scraps and hope to share some organizing tips with you yet this month.
Also even though life is busy, I find that blogging once a week is not enough to share everything I want to share, so I will be going back to twice a week posts, cut switching to Monday and Thursday instead of my usual Tuesdays.
 I want to share more tips, tools and techniques with you, do some tutorials, start a few new series, show off new fabrics and share more of what we are working on behind the scenes at Chicken Feed Quilts. So I
Have a great week, and check back Thursday.
Kayla