Most of us creatives have UnFinished Objects tucked away in corners or in closets.
Do we always have to finish things we start? Why didn't we finish them, to begin with? Will we pick them up again to complete the object? Do we have to?
An old UFO...
One of my friends told me last week she got out "that quilt" again. When she first saw the pattern, she fell in love with it. Then she realized it was for an applique quilt... which she hates to sew... yet bought the makings anyway. So most of the time, the quilt sits on the shelf because she dislikes the work. She sews on it a few days a year and puts it back.
Another friend, a woodworker, bought some expensive wood to make a trinket box. She loves the idea of woodworking, though as a beginner, has yet to learn all the skills she wants. She still has the wood... saying she doesn't want to "ruin" it until she learns more. Her other works are beautiful, yet this wood remains uncut because she enjoys dreaming about what she will make with it.
One friend wanted to "do it myself" when given a half-finished beaded belt from their grandparent's estate. They wanted to learn the craft of their grandfather. They have since gathered all the supplies. And while they have learned, they have not finished the belt for fear of not doing the work well enough to honor the person who created it.
I was cleaning out my craft cupboard the other day. There I found an embroidery picture I started 40-plus years ago. I put it aside when we moved. I kept meaning to get back to it, yet after a while, it seemed silly to try and complete a picture I meant for my then three-year-old daughter. I had made one of the children in the picture look like her, and the other children look like her friends. As she aged, finishing it seemed moot.
Yet it makes me smile every time I see it. So I fold it up and put it back in the cupboard, unfinished.
Most of my friends have some sort of UnFinished Object someplace, laying around waiting to be completed. There are so many reasons projects get set aside. Fear, skill, timeliness, busy-ness... are just a few of the myriad reasons.
And I do still spot a few other UFOs occasionally as I go through an old box or a stuffed closet. I have yet to go through all fifty-one storage areas to see what is there. Usually, when I find a UFO I send it off to someone else... but not before I take a picture to prove that they were real.