The UFOs4Charity Project

 

The UFOs4Charity Project is about digging those old UFOs out of the closet (or bins, or under the bed) and finishing them so they can be donated to charity. They say charity starts at home and that’s what I am doing – finishing my UFOs and donating the quilts charity. I invite anyone else who wants to clear the clutter out of their sewing room to do the same. Sew it together, quilt it, donate it.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to clean out your sewing room by turning all those UFOs and other fabric odds ‘n’ ends you couldn’t throw away into quilts, and donate them to charity. No rules, no sign-up, no restrictions other than those of the charity you wish to donate to.

 

Definitions:

UFO: any un-finished object. I define it broadly, as “object” can mean anything, not just defined projects. Think in terms of anything of fabric that is not yardage that is cluttering up your sewing space (or other areas of your house or storage unit or shed/barn/garage). And what the heck, you can use up the old uglies in your stash too. I encourage you to use what you have, no need to run out and buy new fabric, but no one is policing this effort. The goal is to finish a quilt and donate it.

Charity: any entity accepting quilts to use for any charitable purpose. I’m fond of disaster relief efforts, but anything charitable is okay, whether the quilt is given to a deserving person, or sold to generate funds for some worthy cause. Whatever size or style of quilt you make, there is someone somewhere who will want it. (I hope to have a resources page here soon.)

 

Top reasons you should join me in turning your clutter into charity quilts –

  • to gain a cleaner sewing room.
  • to get the old out to make room for the new.
  • to waste not, want not – by putting your old stale stuff to use.
  • to have a chance to play with design ideas or try something new.
  • to enjoy the relaxing fun of carefree sewing.
  • to experience the thrill of finishing.
  • to experience the warm fuzzies of giving.
  • to feel lighter without the weight of unfinished projects hanging over you.
  • to make the world a better place by filling it with quilts.

Yahoo Discussion Group –

A place to hang out and talk about your finishing efforts, and get help when you need it.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UFOs4Charity/

Flickr Group –

So you can post pictures of the finished quilts you donate!    http://www.flickr.com/groups/ufos4charity/

Share on Twitter –


 

How it all started –

UFOs4Charity got its start from my own quest to clear the clutter from my sewing room. I hadn’t realized how much I had until we moved, a DIY move. My husband complained about spending two weeks moving fabric, and I didn’t have the guts to tell him most of it was UFOs and leftovers. I decided, after lugging a few too many plastic bins from one house to the next, that the time had come to finish my UFOs and get them out of my sewing room.

My desire to finish my UFOs soon grew into a desire to clear all the clutter from my sewing room by making quilts from it. I have a lot of old stuff from quiltmaking – scraps, leftover bits, orphans, abandoned projects, not to mention fabric I’m not so fond of. I want to clear out all the old stuff to make room to take my quilting in a new direction. But I can’t throw anything away. Waste not, want not, caring for the Earth, and all that stuff.

At first I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of UFOs I have (over 100). Then one day I had an epiphany – I don’t have to actually finish the projects I started, I can use the material any way I want. I can play with it, chop it up, sew it together at random, and generally have fun with carefree quilting. And I can practice my free-motion skills on the resulting tops. The results will still be warm and cozy even if my quilting stitches are uneven and I can’t follow a line. I can use up old fabric, even if the colors are dark and muddy and the print ugly. Mix it all up and the result is still love wrapped in fabric. I don’t have to make show-quality quilts, I can turn it all into charity quilts!

So I set out on a quest to turn the clutter in my sewing room, including a good chunk of my old stash, into quilts to donate to charity. I’ve set my sights on 100 quilts, but it could end up being more before my sewing room is clutter-free. Then another brainstorm hit – what if all the other quilters out there (21 million by one estimate I saw) did the same thing? Wow – think of all the quilts bringing warmth and comfort to the people who need it most.

And that’s why I’m asking you to join me in my quest for a clutter-free sewing room by making charity quilts.

 Posted by at 3:15 pm