My name is Leanne but most people call me Lucky. I have been asked by Dawn and Wendy to let you know about my coat hanger rule. Thanks so much Wendy & Dawn for this opportunity to let people in on my secret, keeping UFOs to a minimum.
I’ve only been sewing since December 08 and I can understand how easy it is to have those UFOs multiplying .Starting quilting late in life I was thrilled to be able to turn my daughter’s bedroom into a sewing room the day she moved out. .
I quickly learnt there are so many beautiful quilts, table toppers, cushions and bags tempting me every day. I could so easily have more UFOs than I care to mention. I didn’t want to find myself in a situation where I was hiding half finished things.
As I use the walls to hang my rulers and decorate my walls with gifts from swaps I thought why not my own WIP and the 6 coat hanger idea was born.
How does this rule work?
The coat hangers each hold one project I can work on and my limit is 6. I can’t start a new project until a coat hanger is empty. Also the items are often the first thing I see when I walk into my sewing room.
Having 6 items to pick from helps to keep me motivated as I may want to work more so on a particular project more so than one of the others. In doing this, the items that hang longer aren’t forgotten and after a while I look and think......wow I feel like working on this one today.
I don’t include swaps or BOMs as there is always a time limit and I have no problem in completing those one.
Once a BOM is finished I then hang it all in a sealed bag on the wall and then its ready to be completed, before I can start something new. Like last years BOM I did with some lovely ladies that Dawn designed for our “Our Craft Forum”. Once there was a space on the wall, up the BOM went. No time at all it was turned into a table runner, instead of sitting in a cupboard.
So there you have it, my 6 coat hanger rule and it’s worked for 2 years in my sewing room. I love the idea of not having the UFOs hidden from sight. Seeing my WIP on display is as rewarding as having it finished and moving onto something new.
