UFO Sighting

Inside Out style Hawaiian Shirt

This shirt is older than my 22 year old son, yet I just finished it. How does one end up with 23 year old UFOs?
Way back in 1990,we lived in Southern California. I had a little sewing room and I would put my cut out projects in a little basket on my desk,to keep all of the pieces together until I was ready to sew them. In this basket I had a simple blouse, the Hawaiian shirt and a pink batik sundress for my daughter, then aged 5. But that Spring, Mr.Hunting Creek got a new job in Washington, DC, so we had to move. The mover people came and packed up everything, wrapping our items in copious layers of packing paper, and labeling each box with their own inscrutable codes. .They labeled boxes "Fragil" , "Dinning Room", "Book" and my favorite: "Things". When we arrived in Virginia, sewing was definitely not a priority. Also I had a new job, a five year old, and I was pregnant. The sewing projects box was neglected.
I didn't even have a sewing room. Then I had a new baby, a demanding job and there was no sewing for a while...but I missed it. I had Mr. Hunting Creek find my machine and supplies. I made Christmas Ornaments, sewing on the kitchen table. I made my daughter's First Communion Dress. The little basket of cut projects lay packed in a moving box, forgotten....for years. Fast forward to last year, when finally I had a new, improved sewing room of my own. Not in the basement, not in the kitchen, not sharing the TV Room downstairs but upstairs, next to my office. Mr. Hunting Creek found boxes in the garage full of my old patterns and my basket of projects from 1990. Just cut pattern pieces, no notes as to what pattern it was. At least I had marked the pieces. The 23 Years ago me assumed that I would remember what pattern the pieces were from and use those directions. The 23 years ago me didn't match the pocket. Could I put a shirt together without instructions? I assured Mr. Hunting Creek that when you've made one shirt, you've made them all. You know what? That's actually true.
This shirt, and the following one, count against my goals this year of both Sew a Hawaiian Shirt and Finish Something. A twofer! 

Surfer Girl Shirt

Surfer Girl Shirt sighting in the Wild

Here is a recap of my yearly goals so far:
January: Sew a scrap quilt - done!
February: Make something out of silk - done
March: Use a  border print - in progress, lost buttons, so need new ones
April: Sew a Hawaiian shirt - done - made THREE
May: Make something formal - totally flaked out on this due to lack of formal occasions
June: Make pajamas- done - made two for me, two for Mr.Hunting Creek July: Make T shirts - they are cut out but not sewn, got distracted by non-sewing life
August: Make a Baby quilt - in progress. The baby is born, so I have to finish the quilting part by the end of this month
September: Finish something -hooray! Two unfinished projects shown above, FINISHED
October: Use a Vintage pattern
November:Use a new pattern
December: Make a Holiday decoration

Seven out of nine isn't bad. I still have some August left and I already did September's. I'd like to finish the year having completed ALL of these.

What UFOs lurk in your sewing life? Does it feel like they will never be finished? Do you need to declare UFO bankruptcy and start over? Are you the kind of person who doesn't even have UFOs?

UFO Control

Velvet Tree Skirt

October may be a little early to complete a Christmas Tree Skirt, but I cut this out last December and then got too busy doing other tins and it kept getting put off until it was too late to sew it. And who wants to work on a tree skirt in January through September?
It's made out of star-embossed velvet that I found on the sale table at Hancock's Fabrics. .Some sewists like to cut out many things while they are cutting; they like a stack of projects waiting for them and go merrily from one to the next. I have discovered that this approach makes me feel oppressed, feeling like I have left things undone. Then I get off on a tangent and things get put aside, and then a year goes by and I feel guilty. No more. I vowed last January that I was converting to a one project at a time person. I have a basket of incomplete things that have been weighing on me, so yesterday I cleared the worktable and looked at what I had waiting. The tree skirt looked like an instant gratification project. The words Velvet and instant gratification are not combined in sewing literature for good reasons. Velvet is a tricky, slippery customer. Velvet made out of unknown , possibly man made materials, slippery-er still. It didn't want to feed evenly, even with my Pfaff even feeding foot turned on. Pinning only helped a little. I ended up basting the whole thing - which is like basting a very large circle skirt. Not quick. Not difficult, but certainly not instant. I could understand why I had set it aside when I got busy last December - velvet tree skirts should only be attempted in leisure hours in October. I was determined to finish yesterday and there it is draped over a chair; Christmas Trees being  somewhat scarce this time of year.

Next up, from the UFO pile: a Forest Green Stretch Velvet top. Because I love green and velvet and  I'm a glutton for punishment. I cut this out last December too, but was too busy to finish it so now is the time.(Quick and easy, right? This is Vogue 7264 view A. My notes remind me that this is a stretch velvet from Gorgeous Fabrics. It's soft and such a pretty green. The pattern is OOP, and the fabric is sold out. But she has other pretty things :)
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Are you a one project at a time sewist, or a multiple choice sewist? I am a recovering Multiple Choicer.
This is not to imply that I have no more UFOs lurking about; I do. Now with every two completed ones I get to start a new thing. Baby steps.