I like to be successful, and my resolutions were typically too general and too unrealistic to achieve, so, for many years, I didn’t make resolutions.

Then, one year, I got totally fed up with my dirty refrigerator and decided to give up leftovers as a New Year’s resolution. Succeeding at a year without cleaning a gross science experiment out of the frig, I easily made this a lifelong commitment.

This year, I may be going back to the days of unrealistic resolutions. Though, if I am successful with my resolution, it will be worth it. My resolution is to finish one UFO for every new project I start. I’ve hedged my bet pretty well- I have 11 quilted quilts that just need binding.

Beyond that, it gets tougher. It will be a challenge to rediscover interest in the blocks for quilts that I long ago long interest in. The bigger challenge will be to see how my current skills are suited to deal with the quilts that, because of materials or design, got just too hard to finish. And, then, there’s my oldest UFO, from the days I wasn’t even really a quilter.

I first tried quilting in 1984 when I was a brand new mother having just moved to Philadelphia where quilt-making was experiencing post-bicentennial USA resurgence. I remember the first real quilt shop I wandered into, and the older ladies who insisted that, to honor the art, quilting should be done with a certain kind of fabric, certain designs, certain needles, certain thread and (certainly) by hand. I embarked on a wedding quilt as a present, and made great progress- for hand work. Then the baby got sick, then we moved, then, etc. etc. It didn’t take too long for me to learn that the quilt police weren’t coming if I used a sewing machine, and the wedding quilt has been carefully packed away since. I’d hate to see what the Vegas odds are that I will complete that quilt this year. My friend’s marriage is still going strong, so I’ve got time, right?

Quilt Happy.