Whispering drawer of unfinished projects

I am working through the non-stat holidays over Christmas in the day job, but I have tasked myself in the down times with finishing some of those sewing projects that have been hanging around cluttering up drawers and generating guilty feelings.

I used to laugh at a friend of mine who started things incessantly and then left piles of stuff strewn around the house of half finished projects. It has taken a while for me to realise I am also that person. I have two drawers of unfinished projects and when I open the drawers I have to slam them shut again because the guilty feelings of lost interest come seeping out. With so little time and lots of fun things to do - it seems to take a real effort to go back to something I've moved on from and finish it off. Often more so because I may have put the project down because it got a little hard, or a little dull, or I made an error and the thought of unpicking everything again seemed too much to bear. However, I am sure they silently whisper to me making me feel mean when I opt for some new project. So you get the picture - that’s my holiday plan.

The mission so far …..
So far I have finished off some wee birdies I started. These were to be Christmas tree decorations but … well clearly if they are, its going to 2011. They may transform to being a mobile or something so I have placed them in the "presents" box.

I have also managed to finish a top I had started (pattern from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross). I got half way through this top months ago before realising I needed to make bias binding for the inside neckline. This raised two issues: 1.) I have yet to find any kind of inner peace with bias binding. And 2.) because having started with a contrasting fabric, I didn't seem to have enough of that fabric for the length of bias binding necessary. So I have carried a wee slip of fabric around trying to find a match whenever I happened upon a fabric shop. No such luck. My new determination has meant I just found something vaguely similar and went to finish it off. (In hindsight - I should have just used the same fabric as the top itself. And as it happened, the amount of bias binding needed was much less than stated so could have done it from the remaining scraps anyway. ah - sigh).

I'm not in love with the result. Its too short given how wide the top is (- I really should have lengthened the pattern as I always like my tops longer) and the neck sits slightly oddly. For some reason my bias binding seems twice as wide as the picture for the pattern. Given the instructions were incomprehensible to me, and I had no idea what was supposed to be happening, it may suggest the route I choose may not have been the correct one. Nevertheless - the point is this. Its finished! It won't be making it to my favourite top pile, which is a shame because I liked this fabric and in my mind's eye it was going to be great. Nevertheless, in emergency situations it will keep the sun off my shoulders, and if nothing else and it will be out of my "unfinished projects drawer" and that’s a start.