Try something small and fun
 

Make up some poholders and try free motion. Don't be afraid, just play. If they aren't fantastic, at least they are useful. This will give you practice using the FM technique and getting used to the machine. Sometimes new machines are daunting on their own. If you can, get instruction with the use of your machine, if not, have a friend come and show you or at least lend moral support. Friends from a quilting guild are helpful. My daughter lives a long way from me and is trying to learn to sew/quilt at the same time. She is a real chicken and I have to sometimes talk her down out of the trees when she freaks out about things. Nothing is going to kill you if you don't chew on the sewing machine cord that is.
You are your own worst enemy at this point. Don't have analysis paralysis, just get on in there and sew. Things will look better after you have a project under your belt. The only one to give up on you is you.

I know how you feel-sometimes I feel as though I'm making mistakes the whole time, but I take a break and then go back to it.
Good Luck.

That is why I am just finishing UFO"S ! Take a few steps or days away from the pattern Have someone else read and explain it to you. We all have had times like these. Stick with it !

Feeling discouraged I think is normal. Especially if you are new to quilting. Don't give up. You might try completing a baby blanket or a wall hanging (something small) and donating it to a worthy cause. Knowing your contribution (no matter how small) will cheer someone up, bring a smile to those who see it, or just showing simple appreciation will make you feel a lot better and you will feel blessed.

I will weight in here and pass comment because I too have been feeling discouraged quilting wise recently. Have stopped buying magazines and most patterns because Over the past couple of years I have found that the patterns in them are often flawed. I don't know if this is due to poor proof reading/editing or poor instruction writing initially, only that parts of the pattern are either missing or do not follow through making them difficult to understand at times. More than once I have been following a pattern and will come across something, then as I am doing it will think - this doesn't seem right but that is what the pattern instructions say to do so will follow the instructions only to have to take the piece out eventually and rework it. You would think that I would have learn't my lesson after the first two or three times this happened but no! took several more times more before I decided I 'd had enough. This and deteriorating health is causing me to feel less than inspired these days. I've decided to take a step back and while I will still quilt I will not be doing anything large once I finish this quilt for my son that I started a year ago, (thank goodness it is nearly finished) I'll spend more time doing other things. In taking a break, hopefully I will discover some of the old spark again.

Everyone gets that feeling at times. Just pick up a good quilting magazine and read through it or take a walk. Do whatever you usually do to get in a good mood. Then when you come back to your quilting area things will be different.

Reading and understanding directions can be frustrating. Maybe you could find a quilting buddy, or quilt with someone, that could help you with this. Also, there are a lot of U-Tube tutorials on line that you could look up like flying geese, or the nine patch, or the 4 patch, or half square triangles, or whatever your directions is trying to tell you. As you learn all these different methods, it does get easier. Spend some time looking at these tutorials, and it will get easier. I don't follow directions very well I learn better if I see it done. Also some directions are hard to follow. I do study directions until I understand and I have miss cut lots of times only to find out I cut it wrong again. Do spend time with the directions until you can see it in your mind before you start cutting.

Discouraged
 

I don't know if you're a newbie like me or not but I was having the hardest time trying to get flying geese to come out right. I followed the directions to a T. It seemed a simple enough thing to do. It wasn't until I asked a question on this board that I found out a trick to doing it. patterns don't tell you everything.

Yes! I'm making a Ricky Tims design for a friend's little girl. Guess what,? Something's wrong and I can't seem to figure it out. I'm going to try one more thing and if that doesn't work, I'm going to get out my rotary cutter and cut off the mismatched pieces and work around it. I really want to get this thing finished so I can go on to other projects!

Wear support stockings often, and put your ironing board across the room so you have to get up to press the seams.

DogHouseMom, you sound just like me. I have to walk past my sewing room with cutting table in the middle of the room and I do the same thing. I put things that stump me on the table, and eventually I get around to figuring out what was bothering me about the project.

I agree totally with your comments!

I talked my friend and neighbor into doing a mystery quilt. We thought it was pretty simple. Week (month) 3 is triangles sewed onto diamonds. I thought I was following the picture exactly, but had diamonds going the long way. She told me to "just do it like this" and did not notice I had the diamond going the wrong way.

What does that have to do with this tread you ask? She has been sewing for 30 yrs. and assumed I saw what she saw.

Anyhow........ trying to put those 16 blocks together really aggravated me. I wondered why I was doing a mystery quilt. I wondered why she didn't give me the tip that the diamonds are cut on 3" diagonal. (My template was off, I had to re-do so much)

I am proud of me for sticking with it.

You will be happy to sew your quilt eventually. You may need to get away from it for a while.

If you haven't had a complete physical lately, get one. I don't mind the idea that you get discouraged -- we all do from time to time, especially when we are overwhelmed by everyday life. But this idea of having difficulty figuring out quilt patterns is something else altogether. You could have something as simple as Pernicious Anemia -- not enough Vitamin B12 absorption -- especially if you are getting older. Very common. It can really affect the way you think and retain information, and can also affect mood and depression. Or it could be your thyroid. Or lots of curable or at least manageable problems. Does not mean you are developing Alzheimers, although in severe cases, Pernicious Anemia can mimic mild Alzheimer's. Tell the doctor you have having trouble following written directions. Tell him/her how discouraged you feel. Get to the root of the problem! Sorry, I don't mean to sound like a Nurse Practitioner, but this has a medical feel to it, so do yourself a favor and get a check up. Can't hurt.

MacThayer is so right. I am embarassed and ashamed that I didn't catch on to this myself. I mentioned my own medical issues that cause me these problems but I failed to encourage you to get a checkup yourself. The key words are "in the last few months".
It is so true that most of us feel frustrated and discouraged at times, but any time you notice a real change like this, it is always best to check for a physical cause before blowing it off as "normal". For me it is normal because I have already had the medical exams and know the underlying causes.
Please let me add my voice of encouragement urging you to make an appointment with your doctor and have a complete checkup and stress to him these recent issues you are having.
Huggggggggs and smiless.......

I've had moments when I felt over challenged by a technique. I agree with others good to set it aside and go to a favorite quilt pattern in your fave fabrics. When you are ready to pick up what has you discouraged, if you have a LQS, take it there and they may have tips and tricks on how to overcome the hurdles. Or if you have friends within a guild, that's a great place to seek help. Don't give up, create what you enjoy. I wish you sunshine in your sewing room.

I had to share again that I understand your feelings. Applique and FMQ has me discouraged, yet both something I want to master.

I'm in the same place right now. I can't get back to sewing. What I did was sign up for a quilting class. There is no place like being with a group of women who love to quilt. There is always help available and many shortcut ideas. Good Luck!!

Jacque... yes, I also have trouble figuring out what to do... or if I can do it.. lol.. but sometimes it just takes a step back and wait until something pops into your head ! It will.. don't worry! By the way... I see you and I have the same name, too ! Where are you located? Is your name cut short for Jacqueline... ?mine is not... it is just Jacque..

I sometimes I feel this way about my house, my car, my furniture, and my clothes. Nothing seems right, just blah. I think it's just part of living to feel 'no use in trying' sometimes.

When I feel that way, I still make quilts, but do something really basic like 4 patches and 9 patches. Then go back to something that you were feeling discouraged about. If it is still a problem, maybe you can find someone to help you with it, ask at your LQS, post here what the problem is with it...and hopefully you will get past your discouragement, and get back in a groove again.

I'd imagine we can all relate to this happening at one time or another over our quilting lives. For the past 10 years I've found that I like to have two projects in the works - one that is complicated and one that is a simple pattern. The simple pattern for me is Linus quilts. I also do a lot of fmqing and that breaks up the piecing and complicated patterns. Try some different things - I do a lot of repurposing - jeans to tote bags, stuff like that - so will clear out all of the quilting and just do totes and other denim items from the jeans for a while. You'll figure it out - just don't give it up.

It usually takes me forever to decide on a pattern and fabric. Sometimes I have to make a block or two to satisfy myself. We just have too many choices!!!

Take a break from quilting and do somthing else, like pillowcase, cassarole carriers, iron travel bags, coffee cozies, or something small and simple.
Right now I have over flo of fabric, and sometimes don't know just what I want to do with it.

I believe at one time or the other everyone gets a little discouraged or frustrated. I just walk away for awhile, take a break for about an hour then go back to it, and it seems I can focus better on whatever the problem is.

I, too, go on sewing binges. I work on something until I've had my 'fix' and then I may not work on that particular project for a while or I'll not sew at all for a week or two. Don't get discouraged, walk away and wait until the time is right again. You'll know when it's time to start sewing agian. I have a king size, completely hand stitches Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt top that I just finihsed about 6 months ago. This is my very first hand quilting project and now I'm terrified because I have to, some how, get it sandwiched together with the backing and batting. I don't have anyone to help me and I have no space to spread it out. I'm so afraid that if I try to do this on my small dining room table that it's going to shift and be crooked or not turn out right after all the time it too me to hand stitch all of those hexagons together, there are over 3,000 hexagons. But, I wait patiently untill I can figure a way to get this done and I've gone on to other projects. I want to baste my hexagon quilt with needle and thread and that presents another problem, how to get that done, I know it's going to take me about 3 days to do just that. But, I'm patiently waiting until I can figure that out as well. I might go to my local rec. center and ask if I can use one of their rooms and push a few of those big tables together. I have bad knees and I can't crawl on the floor like I used to when I was younger. So, just hang in there and wait patiently but don't give up. Like you said, you have too much time and money invested to give up. And besides, I don't know about you, but for me, quilting has been a major stress reliever for me in the past 7 months. I've been through some major health and family problems and if I didn't have something to take my mind off of the other things in my life, I think I could have easily lost my marbles. lol Good luck. Step back, take a rest and see how it goes.

I think everyone gets like that sometimes. I get together with a few friends on a weekly basis for a morning of sewing. We have a great time together and really help each other with patterns, ideas, and encourage each other all the time. I would suggest getting a few friends together and starting a small group... its good for the soul :)

As you can see we've all been there I got into a slump just before Christmas due to depression and medical issues so I wasn't near my machine until just week. There's no point in us forcing ourselves to work on something because we will just make mistakes and be even more frustrated. Like the other's have said "just walk away" sometimes we just need to recharge and get the creative juices flowing again.

This post cracked me up because it is so honest and like me. I've put more projects in the Goodwill bags than I care to think about because they just seemed icky to me after doing them. It is usually smaller projects this happens to.

To your original question about discouragement, we've all been there so you are not alone. It is impossible for me to work on pink fabric and enjoy myself. I absolutely hate the color pink, in any shade, so when I have to do something in that color, I hate the project from cutting to finish and after that, I either go back to crocheting for a few weeks or stop all together. (I am so bad with pink, I get rid of any flowers in my garden of that color. A childhood trauma? LOLLLLLLLL, I didn't have any!!) We are all so different, so don't worry about these lapses.