How do you get started?
 

I am going to make a big admission... I will do every form of displacement therapy to get away from starting a quilt. I have even been known to clean the oven rather than start cutting. I know once I start I will be fine.

Actually I am sitting here tonight looking at a great selection of fabrics and yet I am posting on here...

I have a flying geese quilt in my sights, I have planned it in my mind's eye... so please someone, tell me to get on with it... and it would be lovely to hear that I am not alone!

Why don't you make a trial run at the flying geese pattern using a fat quarter? That might get the juices flowing.

You are not alone. I hate to start a quilt, as I am always so indecisive....did I select the right fabric, will I like it when it is done, etc. I have found that making one block sort of eases my mind. If I like the block, I will probably like the quilt.

So, you are not alone. I am going to go start this quilt I am "staring at," and so should you. :)

Dina

You're not alone. I have much more trouble starting a project than I do finishing one. For me the hard part is making the decision of WHAT to start. I have so many fabrics, so many patterns, so many ideas, and picking one is hard for me. Maybe I should just give up and start 5 projects (or 10? or 15?) at once - maybe that would be easier than picking just one? But I would still have to get off the computer and get started...

Sorry starting a quilt is such a big deal to you. I have no problems at all, I just look at all the fabrics I have and tell myself I need to get going. I finish one quilt and immediately start another. I am quilting my 11th quilt for this year I hope to finish it and start another my Labor Day.

I think all of us have at least ONE part of the quilting process that does not appeal to them. We are all human and have our likes and dislikes. I LOVE my timer! I use this method whether I have a quilting task I don't like...or a housework task that is looming: Set the timer for 15 mins. Then work on that nasty task for ONLY 15 mins. (you know you can do ANYTHING for 15 mins!). After the timer goes off, make yourself go do something else. Could be something you like...just not the 15 mins task. Later, you can come back and do another 15 mins. You will be SHOCKED at how much you can get done in that short amt of time. (I take NO credit for this...go check out the FlyLady..her idea! Just my ahHA moment...off to fold that #%^$^%$@ load of clothes! Bet I can get it folded and put away in 15 mins...ready, set..>GO!) lol (PS you could send it to me to cut out..I like that task!)

Thats funny, because I am a great starter and horrible finisher

Okay, you're not alone.....now "get on with it." Did that help? :)

oh my dont think about it. i just dig right in and away i go.

Well I have the opposite problem. I'm a great starter but I have trouble finishing. Hence all the UFOs. :)

I don't have trouble starting something. I have trouble finishing something. Back when I was young and married, I would have 4 or 5 dress tops done, but no bottoms!LOL. It seemed I did the hard part first, but didn't want to finish the skirt part[the easiest part]. grin PS I never had anything to wear!

I put off starting a quilt because I don't like all the cutting. I have to tell myself that it is just one quilt. If I mess it up or am not crazy about the colors when I'm done, it is only one quilt. No big deal. There will be another quilt after this one.

What she said..... *red faced*

piney

I have no trouble starting . . . IF I buy fabric specifically for a certain pattern. My trouble is drawing from my stash. "Oh, there's too much of that one and I don't want to waste." "That one would make a nice dress for DD/DGD." "I really love this piece, so should save it for something more special." "I don't have coordinating fabric, for that one." The list goes on and on. :rolleyes:

Ha, that's me too. Love to start new projects, but never seem to completely finish them.

You sound like you have a vision, at least a partial vision, in your head. I don't use patterns (I study them and decide how I'd like to copy them and no one would ever relate what I have created to the one I copied!). I use graph paper (prefer velum) and put in the geese the way I "see" them. Obviously they are flying over ...... so that gets sketched in. And geese like water, so maybe a lake needs to be there... and bit by bit the picture comes to life. Then I resketch because I need to reproportion the sizes, etc. By the time I get to this point I am so anxious to begin that it just happens.

Of course, when you work on a quilt this way it takes on a life of it's own and you can't be held responsible for how it comes out. I took a "viewers choice" first place at a very large fair with a NW Native American totem bear one year. It is hard to take credit, but I did follow the vision (I couldn't stop byself). This is my favorite way to make a quilt and I do it for someone specific each time. When I just "do" it, the quilt is never completely satisfactory.

For those who need quilts I find fabrics in my stash I loved once and don't so much any more and dig around until I find the "perfect" mix and make the quilt top, usually geometric, perhaps simple squares. I think of who might get that quilt and the fact that I have so much and others have so little (think after a hurricane!) I find myself pouring myself into the making.

Hope this helps.

I'm a bit like you. I have no problems finishing what I start, but I have been dithering for weeks about making mug rugs for the Secret Pal swap :o Part of it is confidence (I'm a newish quilter) as I don't feel my quilting is 'good enough', but part of it is fear of not getting it 'right' (in my own eyes).
Sometimes you just have dive right in.
(I started an applique mug rug yesterday :))

I only have a problem starting if the "mood" to quilt isn't there. But once the mood hits me I GO!!

Ditto for me! I get so excited about starting a new quilt but enthusiasm starts going downhill when I get to the binding because that's my least favorite part. I have to make myself work on it and finish it BEFORE I start a new quilt. That doesn't mean that I'm not already thinking about that quilt that's just waiting for me to begin.

I have the same issues.....it's been a few months since I've been in my sewing room to sew....I iron in there and touch all my fabrics on a regular basis! lol Many years ago I made a quilt for my in laws and I made myself work on it one hour a night until it was done. Now a days I don't like to burden myself with time constraints so I sew when I want. There are some things I hate to do and putting away laundry is one of them so I put laundry away during commercials....my husband just laughs at me. He says I make a game of everything!

Wow, I thought I was the only one that had a hard time starting a quilt!

Just finished my first quilt class. Teacher said that best thing to do when you are apprehensive or a procrastinator is to do just one square....just to make sure it will look as planned. If you don't like it then you haven't wasted time cutting out and wasting a lot of beautiful fabric.

I have no issues with starting a scrap project... but set a bunch of purchased fabric in front of me.... paralysis sets in... did I buy enough... is this the right pattern... is this the right fabrics....... it just goes on and on. The first cut is the hardest! JUST do it! it will all flow after that.

I kow how you feel but on the other side. I have not trouble starting, I have trouble when I get to the actual quilting, where the quilt top is sandwiched with batting and backing. I just stop because I don't want to mess the project up. I work full time and never have time to practice the quilting and have found you can't quilt a spot in 20 to 30 minutes without practice. I currently have seven quilts to quilt and have no motivation to start. Sorry you are having so much trouble starting a project. Good luck.

Yeah, that's my problem too! :)

My biggest road block is cutting the fabric. What if I found a better pattern, what if I cut it wrong?
This has plagued me all my life. You are NOT alone.
MaryKatherine

OK, just do it! Cutting is tedious but once that's done, isn't it fun to do the sewing. By the way, if you plan on making flying geese, do yourself a favor and buy the 'Wing Clipper" ruler. You will love it! There are a couple of different rulers on the market but the Wing Clipper is the best. It will make your flying geese experience much easier and much more accurate. Good luck!

Maybe it's that you feel you must do ALL the cutting before you can start sewing? Cut some, sew some, etc. It works for me.

Are you afraid of the flying geese? I have never had your problem but I am sure it might happen at some point. One of the best ways I have found to make flying geese is with the Square in a Square by Jodi Barrows method. You might want to check out that method (you make 2 at one time), I love it and recomment it highly. Here is her web: www.squareinasquare.com

me too. I have a house full of UFOs or if you are charitable, WIP. LOL

I'll make you a deal, you come clean my oven and I will cut out your quilt.LOL

I'm sort of like this -- my problem is I hate to cut into such beautiful fabrics! I LOVE just looking at them, touching them, etc. But when the quilt is done and I get the "Ooooo's and Ahhhh's" from admirers it certainly all worth it. If only they knew what I go through to get to the Done point! LOL Glad I'm not alone.

I love quilting but I hate cutting. If I could find somebody to do the cutting I would be in heaven.

sorry you're having problems motivating yourself to quilting. I would rather sew / quilt more than anything else. I always seem to have to get one more block finished before I can do anything else, like cooking, cleaning, etc.

BUT....next week, I MUST stop sewing to get the house straightened up.

Okay, it's been a month now since I've sewn. I have so many projects, UFOs and new projects, waiting for me and I can't decided. I need to get my baby quilt done first, but it's just sitting there. I go into my sewing studio every day, but leave after a few minutes. I always plan on at least straightening it up, but don't even do that. My heart isn't into it right now. I just came off of doing a lot of quilts and I think I burnt myself out. I just wish this would go away. I'm not even reading the quilting magazines I get in the mail. Something's gotta give soon!

procrastination and a long long life.
 

Oh my you are so so not alone. I have a stack of about 10 full size quilt tops that I spent 3 days pin-basting. They sitting on a chair in my living room waiting for me to start quilting them....ahem, what have I done, made another quilt top, cleaned a closet, set out two new projects to start, in fact every thing except getting those suckers done. Don't know why I am this way but I sure am. Now I will deep clean the kitchen, set up my annual t-shirts and socks tie dye project and then maybe I will want to sit on that chair so I will quilt them up....but when oh when, hopefully before the holidays. Well I go though this every year and so far I have not missed a Christmas so yeah probably before Christmas. In the mean time I will have churned out a couple of more tops, because I superstitiously believe if I ever get caught up I will die. So far I think I will live into the next century, but only if I don't buy any more fabric or make a trip to the thrift store.

This is me -- when my stash was smaller I did not have this problem but now I find that I start grabbing fabrics for one quilt, then another, then another and the result is I have a big mess and no place to sew.

Seems that my problem is so much other stuff to do.

I'm with you. I love getting started but hate the sandwiching/quilting part of it. I don't mind doing the binding. I think everyone has their speed bump in a project.

And I have been known to start cutting a quilt rather than cleaning the oven!! LOL