The Beauty of an Unfinished Quilt: It Smells Like Potential

There’s a moment in every quilt—somewhere between the excitement of pulling fabrics and the satisfaction of that final stitch—where it exists in a state of pure possibility. The messy middle. The unfinished. The in-progress. And to borrow a line from Ted Lasso,

“It smells like potential.”

I love that moment. I love when the pieces are still scattered on my table, waiting to be arranged just right. When a stack of half-sewn blocks carries the promise of something whole. When I can look at an unfinished quilt and still see every possibility stretched out ahead of me. In my mind, it’s already perfect—before the seams get pressed, before a stray cut throws me off, before I second-guess a fabric choice.

And yet, somewhere along the way, we’ve been taught to feel guilty about unfinished projects. As if they are proof of something undone, something abandoned, instead of what they truly are: a reflection of curiosity, exploration, and creativity still unfolding.

But what if we reframed the way we see our WIPs? What if instead of shoving them to the back of the closet, we looked at them and thought, What beautiful potential.

The Case for the Unfinished

An unfinished quilt holds something a finished quilt never can: the ability to shift, evolve, and change. It is not yet locked into a final form. It invites us to come back when we’re ready, when we have fresh inspiration or simply the time to sit with it again. And sometimes, leaving a quilt unfinished for a while is exactly what allows us to return to it with new eyes—ready to make it even better than before.

Not every quilt needs to be a race to the finish. Some quilts are slow by design. Some are waiting for the right moment. And some, honestly, might never be finished—and that’s okay, too. Maybe they taught us something. Maybe they served their purpose already. Or maybe they’re just waiting for us to see their potential once again.

A Thread Through Generations

Some quilts, though, find their finish in the hands of someone new. I’ve had the privilege of completing quilts that were started by family members long before me—unfinished pieces that carried the stitches of another’s hands, another’s story. There’s something profound about adding my own work to something that began generations ago, about picking up where someone left off and honoring their creativity by bringing it to life. In those moments, quilting feels less like an individual pursuit and more like a conversation across time. I’ll never meet some of the hands that stitched those first pieces, but through fabric and thread, I can feel their presence. And maybe, someday, someone will do the same for me.

Let’s Celebrate the WIPs

So here’s my challenge to you: Pull out an unfinished project and look at it with fresh eyes. See the beauty in what it could become, rather than the guilt of what it’s not. If you’re inspired, keep going. If you’re not, let it rest a little longer—knowing that it still holds promise.

A quilt in progress is never a failure. It’s a story still being told.

And to me, that smells like potential.

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The Daily Stitch Journal Prompt & Reflection Exercise

1. Pick a WIP (Work in Progress)

   • Find a quilt or project that’s been sitting unfinished for a while. Lay it out where you can see it.

2. Write for 5 minutes

   • What made you excited about this project when you started?
   • What part of the process did you love?
   • What made you set it aside?

3. Reframe it

   • Instead of seeing it as something incomplete, describe it as something full of potential.
   • What possibilities does it still hold? What could it teach you?

4. Decide on its next chapter

   • Do you want to work on it again? If so, what’s one small step you could take today?
   • If it no longer excites you, could you pass it on or repurpose it in a new way?

No pressure—just an invitation to see your WIPs in a new light. 💛

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