Gemm

The overwhelm is real and it can take a lot of effort to get past it. There's already been a lot of great advice and encouragement in the responses here (and I'm appreciating the reality checks, too, so thanks!) but I just wanted to add my two cents' worth and echo what most people are saying: it's totally okay to need and to take a break. I dabbled in quilting for a little while in the early 2000s and then life reared its ugly (busy) head and it took a pandemic and some big life changes for me to have enough time to get back into it.

If you're not ready for a complete break, it's also okay to shove a few piles/boxes/totes/bags (however you store your fabric and quilting stuff) into the basement or spare room or the back of a closet or toss an old sheet over it and only be able to see a limited selection of your fabric (or patterns) for a while. Because I source a lot of my fabric from other people's discards, it tends to be extremely random and generally in pretty small or odd-shaped pieces. I find if I try to focus on a limited amount of fabric (I store my scraps in colour boxes so that's often where I start) or a specific idea I am more likely to be able to move forward with a project.

A couple of specific shoutouts from other responses:

Iceblossom, joe'smom and greaterexp are right - getting organized can be a really helpful first step. Maybe it's purging (but not everything!), maybe it's filing, maybe it's sorting, but regaining control over part of the chaos can help you regain the fun and joy you have when you're piecing. And I agree that the Fabric Moratorium is a great place to get ideas and encouragement - I'm actually heading there next to share what I've been doing with some of my scraps. :-)