What Makes A UFO?

Before you start thinking I've gone a little kooky and am going to start talking about aliens and flying saucers, just wait a minute. If you keep reading, you'll find that the UFO's I'm referring to are known to us stitchers (and maybe other crafters) as UnFinished Objects. Do we all have them? Probably not all of us, but my guess is that many stitchers have a UFO or two hiding out somewhere in their stash.

Now, a Work In Progress (WIP) is a totally different thing than a UFO. In my book anyway. A WIP is something you're actively working on. You may not have picked it up in a couple of months, but it's an ongoing project that you intend to complete. The UFO, though, is more likely to be years old and your needle has not passed through that fabric in an embarrassingly long time. Nor are you sure that you will ever finish it. They're not necessarily bad projects; there is just something about them that makes it a) not fun; or b) difficult to work on. Maybe you've just come up with things to do that are more interesting. Or it's possible that the fabric you chose is suddenly a challenge for your aging eyes.

Case in point: my two UFO's: English Cottage Sampler by Theresa Wentzler and Angel of Divinity Stocking kit by Dimensions. When I bought the TW chart, I didn't know how, um, involved these can be. They're beautiful and that beauty comes with a price: blended threads, 7 shades of green, tons and tons of backstitching. And the stocking, well, it may look like it's almost done, but no. It's one of these designs that's 100% stitched over the surface, so there's so much more to do.

It's not totally out of the realm of possibility that I'll someday pick these up and start stitching, which is the reason I haven't thrown them out or given them away. I just have so many other things, I'd like to stitch in the meantime. So, alas, these two will just have to retain their UFO status for a while. But who knows? I might surprise you, and myself, someday.