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UFO Challenge
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We are so proud of our UFO Challenge.  It is one of the key concepts of Stashbuster to finish what we started.  This is an organized system to help you do that! 

Legacy.jpg

Legacy quilt by Beverly in Georgia

UFO Challenge Coordinator is Ellen.  Email her with any questions about the UFO Challenge.

UFO Challenge Rules

1. Count the number of UFOs that you have as of Dec 31st. The group challenge runs from Jan 1 to Dec 31.
*What is a UFO? Any quilty project you have started (must have some cutting or sewing done by you) as of the end of December.
These should be your projects (not things you are quilting for others
for pay.) Charity quilts can count if you do it all (not just bind or
label), and you had it at your house Dec 31st. If you take a UFO and
finish it for a charity quilt, you are still allowed to have someone
else quilt it, as long as you finish the binding for it.
If you have inherited UFOs these can also count, as can swaps, or RR,
that you have started before Dec 31st. Hope that covers everything.

2. You are only allowed one potholder or doll quilt on your UFO list!! But you can do one potholder when you are in a pinch!! If everyone does one it will be fair!

3. This year we are adding by popular poll results an added motivation to finish a UFO each quarter-should you not have a finish by the quarter end (March 31st/June 30th/Sept.30th/Dec. 31st)-you will owe the kitty 1 fq as a penalty!

4. If a quilt is all done, but the label, you can't get it back from the
new owner add a label and call it done. Many felt these ways of "dodging the bullet" were in the grey area!! The project must at least need binding and a label to be considered a UFO.

(For the sake of the prizes this is our definition of UFO... if you want to list other projects on your own list that is fine, but finished UFOs eligible to get your name in the draw, must be quilty. There must be some quilting in the project)
*If you feel listing all your UFOs will overwhelm you, you may opt to just enter the number you hope to complete, say one a month (12) or one every other month (6).
You are welcome to use the database to list UFOS when it is set up-list however many you feel like putting on it-add if you find some later! *Feel free to use the FAB 4 database to focus on 4 at a time.

5. Your entry is recorded when your two fat quarters of quilt shop quality fabric are received.  No novelty fabric, or holiday fabric, please.  E-mail me, Ellen  for mailing address. I would also like you to send fifty cents, which will cover the cost of mailing out the quarterly fq winnings and year end winnings. When you mail them to me PLEASE enclose your name, e-mail and address. I can NOT confirm their safe arrival without this information!

6. This is a 2 FQ entry, regardless of how many UFOs you have or when you join. If you join mid year, you still send in 2 FQs and fifty cents.
*With 2 FQs we have a bit of a kitty for prizes, and the money will help defray the cost of mailing out the prizes. If you are not in the US, you can choose to either send the American money or fabric.

7. To add to the fun, we are going to list the names out (best way will be by random draw to establish on order... if you join later your name will be added randomly to the top third.) in a grand list. If your name is on the top of the list you will be crowned Queen of the UFOs for a week! This is not a position to covet!
As queen you will need to e-mail the group, tell us about yourself, how long you have been quilting, confess to the true number of your UFOs, and admit the age of your oldest UFO! You have 1 week as queen. During your reign, you will try really hard to finish a UFO. If
you finish a UFO, you can abdicate your position, and move to the bottom of the list. However, if you fail to finish a UFO during your reign, you will send in a FQ penalty, (This is just a ploy to fatten the kitty, as well as an incentive to finish UFOs.), and you will still move to the bottom of the list. The next queen will be crowned when you move to the bottom of the list, one way or another! This one week deadline is so that one poor soul doesn't end up on the top of the list (with all that pressure to perform) for a long period of time. Anyone that finishes a UFO will move to the bottom of the list (even if you aren't queen.) The way to avoid being queen, and having to fess up to the group, is to finish an occasional UFO!

8. We want to have a little fun with this, so we will have prizes. Each time you finish a UFO, let me know, and your name will be entered into a quarterly draw (4 a year). The more UFOs you finish, the more times your name is in the bucket. At the end of the 3 month period we will draw a name, and that person will win a portion of the FQs collected. All these names will be moved on to the draw bucket for the final draw.

At the end of the year, one person will win all the FQs left over. (If there is a huge number of FQs, I reserve the right to have more than one winner.) The winner is determined by a draw, not by who finishes the most UFOs. To enter to win one of the quarterly draws, you will need to finish a UFO during that period.

9. What constitutes done? Done is completely done, (or done done as someone called it.) not just the top done. So this should mean quilting, binding, and labels on! In other words, completely done and ready to use, or give away. If someone else is doing the binding for you, it still has to be done, not just mailed off. Remember these have to be quilty UFOs to be eligible for the draw.
If you get rid of a UFO.... give away, throw away, abandon and separate into fabric, these UFOs can be taken off your list, but they don't count as finished as far as the draw goes.

If one UFO becomes one or more finished projects, each will count as a finish. However, if two or more UFOs are combined into one project, it will count as one finish.

10. When you complete a project, you are encouraged to e-mail the list, and CC me, Ellen, you can put UFO challenge, or I finished one in the subject line, or something to that effect, but PLEASE DO CC me. You can also mark it down in the database (add one to your completed total, and mark it done behind where you listed it.) The list on the database is really mostly for you as a participant. I will go to the queen of UFOs list and move you to the bottom of the list and mark the date you completed your last UFO. I will also enter you in one time for the quarterly drawing, and one time for the end of the year draw. With the large volume of posts to the list, an email to me is the most accurate method to ensure I get your finish information!!
I will save every UFO finish email to back up each quarter's finish list.


11. Chatter about sorting UFOs, culling UFOs, storing or organizing UFOS, ways to stay motivated, anything UFO, or stashbusting is welcome and greatly encouraged on the list! You can even tell us the age of your oldest UFO, where the strangest place you found one lurking, some good places to hide (store?) them. If other quilters are game, we could plan some no travel quilt retreats (or quilt-ins if you are from the 60s, quilt marathons if you are from the 70s!) periodically throughout the year.

12. The point is to focus some of your attention on your UFOs in the coming year. We will be each other's support group! This will hopefully relieve stress, clean up some storage, and allow you to feel better about your quilting hobby! You may even feel less guilty about starting new stash projects! The idea is to have a little fun, keep the rules simple, and hopefully end the year with fewer UFOs than you started!
*Each UFO gives you a chance to win, the more you finish the better your chances.
*The entry (2 FQs) is the same for everybody, regardless of when you enter, or how many UFOs you have.
* There are no penalties for starting new projects. The only penalties is for failing to finish a UFO during your reign as Queen and failing to have a finish each quarter.
*The idea is to be a motivating list, not a highly competitive group.
· And remember, finishing UFOs is stashbusting!
· And ultimately you want to avoid being crowned the queen of UFOs.

13. If you complete a twin sized (approx. 60 x 80 inches) or larger quilt completely by yourself (quilting and binding, too) it will count for 2 points this year. If someone else finishes it, it will just be one finish and one point. This is to even things out for those that do mostly larger projects, and for those that do their own quilting, whether by hand, machine or on a quilting machine. A top alone is not a finish, but when it is done done, let me know if it counts for the extra point.


Check with me, Ellen, for further clarification. 

Sign ups can start anytime, but the actual start date is Jan 1.

 

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We were green before it was even popular! Our mission is to use what we have, finish what we started, and not buy needlessly!  Go Green!  Recycle a pig!