Thank you all for the encouragement. I am working with my doctor and will have meds that will help with the nicotine part. I'm hoping that working on this quilt will help with breaking the physical part of the addiction. I'll go with doing the flowers and the path first, then see if I want to add something else when it's done. At this point, if it takes me either 3 years or 20 years to get this quilt done, I will be able to look back on it and remember how long I have quit smoking.

I quit for the third time about 20 years ago. I took the pills, I chewed the gum and stayed busy. I chewed the gum for several months. Then, I switched to sugarless gum for another couple of years. The one thing I had to finally get is that you can never have just one cigarette. If you do, you're hooked again. It might take a few weeks to start smoking again, but once you have one, you'll have another. Then, you'll have another.

That's a lesson I learned the hard way. Good luck.

bkay

If you are turning charms into hexagons, you do not have to precut your precuts. A square that is 1.5 inches bigger can make the hexie.

2.5 inch square makes a one inch hexie, fold fabric around 1" hexie paper, sew each corner, trim
3" square makes a 1.5" hexie - to make a 1.5" hexie start with a 3 " square
3.5" square makes a 2" hexie - 2 3.5
4 " square makes a 2.5" hexie - 2.5 4
5" square (charm) makes a 3.5 " hexie - 3.5 5
etc, etc

My suggestion is to do all of these things - whatever you want to do at that moment. If you feel like cutting - cut some hexies. If you want to feel like you want to 'make' something - sew some hexies together. If you really feel the need to focus tightly on something - do some embroidery. The point is, do whatever it is that will take your focus off wanting to smoke. Congrats on trying to kick the habit and good luck! Another motivator might be the idea that all the money you will be saving can be used to buy more fabric!!!!!

This is a great quilt idea! I think the 1" hexies will be enough work - you won't need to add embroidery to make the project keep your hands busy. Of course, that depends on how much you smoke and how big you want the quilt to be. The biggest hexie project I've completed was pillow-sized, and it took ages. I'm part of an English paper piecing group on Facebook, and I would guess that a queen-sized quilt would take you a good year to complete, if you sew whenever you would have smoked (plus in the evening to keep you occupied).

Do you enjoy hand embroidery? If you decide you want to add embroidery, you can always do so after you have the flowers pieced; I would just be cautious about deciding to do it up front, and having it turn into something you don't have time for or don't really care about. This could make you feel like you have "failed" at the quilt, when it should feel like part of your success.

As an aside, I don't cut the fabric into hexagon shapes for 1" hexies; I just use 2.5" squares. The bit of extra fabric in the seam allowance doesn't hurt anything, and it means I get 4 pieces out of a charm square.

My last cigarette cost me $300. Threw it out the window after having been ill. Town marshall pulled me over. That was more than 30 years ago. The hubs has not lit since 2010 this month. He keeps the large Snyder's Pretzel rods handy. They're about the size of a cigar. He always has them around. He used to buy a carton every 10 days and at the last carton at $55 times 3 that's a lot of money. It may have been more but he always had a coupon. Marlboro reds was his choice. I don't miss it at all. I know longer smell like smoke and neither does our home. So if you need a break from the busy hands you may want to reach for a pretzel cigar instead. I grab one once in awhile myself. Yes I often still want one but feeling great with the alternative pretzel.

I applaud your determination to quit smoking. You can do it!

If it were me I'd "smoke" on the seam ripper!

Praying for success. My parents both smoked and Dad only quit when he had to have a heart valve replacement and was in ICU longer than normal because his lungs didn't respond. Mom quit when Dad did. Thank goodness. Dad is no longer with us as his pig valve lived its life of 10 yrs. and he opted for no more. Mom is 92 1/2. I never did take up the habit or use alcohol. My addiction was sugar & diet soda, but on chemo it no longer calls my name. Hope that side effect never changes.

Good for you! Choosing to quit is a life saver. I look forward to you posting your progress on the forum. You can do this and have a beautiful quilt.

I, too, applaud you. Another thing to look into are hickory nuts. You can embroider the centers and whipstitch the nuts together. There is a lot of info posted here on them. Best of luck!