I have a mental block! I have all sorts of fabric and all sorts of patterns and ideas, I just cant "pick" what to do!! How odd is that! I feel like I cant make something that I just bought fabric to do when I have older projects that I havent started yet but have the fabric for... so I end up doing nothing! (well, I have a handquilting WIP and a quilt top WIP, so I am doing something, but I just really want to get started on the next project).

So... my question is, how do you pick what to do next??

honestly, If i don't already have something planned and ready to go. I close my eyes and feel around in my stash until I find the fabric that feels right. After I see it, it's just a matter of picking the coordinating pieces and what pattern fits.

"I will not have another unfinished project, I will not have another unfinished project, I will not have another unfinished project!"

That's my mantra for now....... I have a long list of things that need made, usually by a due date which helps, when I need to start something new I look at what's due next.


Cheryl

That part of my problem... I dont have anything that I HAVE to do... just a TON of things I WANT to do. :)

Maybe I wasn't clear, when I pick projects I want to do I give them a due date (usually 2 years if it's not going to be a gift). Then I work in order of due date.... think of it as a ranking system :). Of course right now i'm finishing projects I started before I got pregnant and got "forgotten." "I will not have another unfinished project!" :) good luck

I have sort of the same problem, but mine is that I have three that were intended for birthdays last year!
Two are even sandwiched and hand quilting started. The third just has the fabric selected and bagged so I don't use it for something else. And there is a fourth that I've gotten a few of the blocks done and can't seem to bring myself to go back and finish the rest.
Guess I will have to tell myself no new projects till at least some of these are done.

Sounds like you just need to take a break and do no quilting for at least a week. When you're hands are itching to get on the machine and start piecing, then you will be able to pick a project.

If that doesn't work, put the name of each project in a small bowl and pick one name out. That's the project to do. If you pick one out and say to yourself, "But I really wanted to do <name project>." Then make that you're second project.

Hope this helps.

Oh! I understand!

Idea... Maybe I will put together all the projects I have material for, name them, put the names in the hat and give myself a schedule? And no new fabric till at least half are done!! Feeling good about that!

There you go!

My deadlines are more like--leaving on a camping trip next week will prompt me to finish what I have promised the campers. Birthdays???can be late but not nice.

Last quilt I did for my grand daughter two weeks ago to take to preschool--now according to her "Lost in my room." Not much incentive there.

I try to finish each one as I go. anything left over will never get done.

Im a newbie and I want to make every pattern I see. lol. Sit back and think what pattern do I like the most. Pick a couple then do any minny minie moe catch a tiger by the toe. That would be fun and easy to pick one. Good luck.

My technique is really my DH's fault because he is such a wonderful enabler. So my technique is to do what I want to do and if I need new fabric for it, he takes me to get it. He tells me I have the rest of my life to finish the unfinished ones. Right now I am working on a small wall hanging for Mom's birthday in August. When I mention the large quilts waiting to be finished, My DH says to wait until winter because I seem happier doing the big stuff then when it's not so hot. His way works for me. :) :) :)

Here's a great solution ... write it down! When my mind goes bonkers from thinking of too many projects, I write it down in my quilting journal. That way, when the time comes to work on a new project, I'll go through the list of things I wrote down and then I can decide. If it's not written down, then it must have been a passing thought and not important enough to take into consideration. Also, I have a ba-zillion quilting books and magazines. I tape a note on the cover as to which one(s) I like so I don't have to page through the entire book or magazine again.

I have 12 projects written down! OMW!! I had no idea that I had accumulated so many projects.... I just cant ever pass anything up when I see something I like. I better stop looking and start some sewing!! This doesnt include the WIP and BOM I have going, or the Hand Quilting... I have some work to do!

For me, if it's a "for fun" quilt project, I'd write down several projects or patterns I want to try, put them in a hat and pick one!

If it's a gift, I do them in the order that I need to give them.

When I can't decide what project to do first, I just START one-any one. I find that I feel better after I start a project- I think just making a decision makes a difference! :D

I'm the wrong one to give advice on this..as I'm always doing 2 or 3 at a time..I never get bored that way..I have one on the board..one on the machine and designing one on graph paper..lol..what do I know..lol..!!

When I can't decide which to start on next, I work on blocks for a scrappy quilt. Just a mish-mosh of random fabrics done on hideous foundation fabrics. (The kind I have bought then later wondered "what was I thinking?") This has been going on for almost a decade. I can now put together a quilt the size of Oregon. Someday I will figure myself out.