How Can I Get Out of My Slump?
 

Help! I can't get it together. Just seem to mees up or lose interest when making another quilt. Cannot figure out for the life of me a OBW. Thought about a Log Cabin, overwhelming thought of measureing and cutting all those strips!
Okay, so I tell myself, do something smaller and less demanding. Tablerunner? I can always use another right? I find some very pretty patterns but.... many small pieces, applique, time consuming.
I'm afraid to take a break, may never come back, although I reallt love to quilt! I'm not depressed, just seem to have run out of patience, and am making many silly mistakes.
I'ts been this way for weeks now. Maybe reorganize? What can get me inspired again? I really want to continue.
Barbara

I've gotten that way a few times. For me to get out of a slump I clean and reorginize my quilting room. That's what works for me. Hope this helps

Organize and get familiar with your stash by color, look at the print and color (green/blue vs gray/blue, etc). as you go. Start looking at books and magazines to see patterns you like, picking parts of this quilt and that quilt that you like that might work together as a quilt. Then start by looking in your stash for fabric that might work for that pattern. Even if you don't make one right away, you will get the mind thinking....

Some times this happens to me too. I find if after cleaning my sewing room and reoganizing my stash I'm still in a slump I just shut the door and walk away, find a good book and read for a few days, or weeks, go for long walks, work in the garden (shovel snow) depending time of year, sometimes just go out into the mountains for a few days. Maybe go visit a friend I havent seen in a long while. Maybe a unplaned road trip to visit that museum I have heard about. Eventually you will get back to sewing and wonder what the slump was all about. LOL Life is short! Enjoy every min. you can!

Maybe a simple 4 or 9 patch out of 5 inch squares?

Thank you all, it is nice to know that is not just me. I love quilting, but a liitle rest while reorganizing sounds like just what I need. Thank You Very Much!
Barbara

It's not just you...we all go through it. Sometimes it even happens in the middle of an overdue project...:). It'll get better, I promise!

It sounds like you have a plan, and that will certainly help. I enjoy reorganizing my stash, and then I hate to mess it up when I do get the quilting mood...I guess it is not meant to look neat for long. :)

Dina

If you have the means how about re-painting your sewing room and then maybe rearrange the room and organize again. Yes a big undertaking but sometimes just a new fresh start is all we need. Or how about taking a good friend or friends and make your own mini shop hop trip to a few quilt shops. I always seem to find looking at fabric and all the things they have done up in the new store a great way to get me in the mood again.

I think it must be that time of year. Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year have passed and the winter is not over. I have read on this forum, many of the readers are or have been in a slump, unmotivated, or in a funk. (Myself included) Someone mentioned that we are suppose to be having fun, and when it stops being fun, change your routine, take a break, etc. It will come back. Oganizing does help. Good luck. We're all here to help each other and learn from on another.

Take a break from sewing for a little while, or go make a pincushion or something like that, not even anything quilted. Try some art sewing or quilting, do something to break the chain of normal.

join the bd's Doll Quilt swap which is small and your making it for someone else...Very inspiring...and gets you thinking of doing something special for someone else.

I get over whelmed with life around here and can not get it all together. Thus the slump I am in right now. "One of these days" has been a long time in coming. Hopefully.............soon.

Barbara, I was feeling the same way, my sewing machine quit on me, I bought a new one, but still couldn't get in the mood to sew. My neighbor called me Saturday and wanted me to go to a new quilt shop for block of the month meeting. I went and being with all those quilters and seeing their drive worked. I am back to sewing and loving it. Good luck you will get it back.

I think, from reading all the work that went on here for Christmas gifts, that everyones' slump is the body trying to tell you it needs a good rest. Just my opinion.ha

Usually I get out of my slumps by doing something else or going on vacation where I cannot take my quilting. The minute I am no longer able to do it, I have a great desire. Guess I just want what I can't have.

I hate to suggest this but going to the fabric inspires me in soooooooooo many ways. He he he. I then go home and re-organize by fabric and supplies.

For me I don't do deadline, if I finish a quilt in a month or a year, it won't matter I work on it when in the mood. If I am not in the mood for 5 month so be it, You don't have to be constantly productive. Its supposed to be fun, so work on it at your own pace when you want.

I call it quilting ADD ( I just can't sit at the machine too long without getting up to do something else).
To cover all bases, I generally call it the winter blues. Not enough vitamin D and sunshine.

I try to think of my life as seasons....when I am able to do the things I love, I am thankful. When I am not able to the things I love, for whatever reason...I just try to think of it as a season...and I know it will come back.

Yep been there. I find that when I get that way I just need to back of the actual making and do some spring cleaning. Reorganizing. by the time I'm done cleaning, inspiration has hit me. I'd start out with something simple like a charm quilt, those are kinda hard to mess up and they look quite nice I think. Really if you don't feel like quilting don't. We all make mistakes when quilting. You just have to learn to either fix the mistake, hide the mistake, or wear it like a badge of honor. I do the later quite often.

I had Electric Quilt 6 and just upgraded to version 7. If I don't feel like sewing I create with the software by selecting blocks, creating quilts and auditioning different fabrics.

Chocolate? Tea?
Find a book, read, do some new things in the kitchen, page through one quilt book a day and look for the simplest pattern or the easiest beginner pattern. What ever you do, you can only go higher than you are now. Most of all, it's huma, normal and no reason for feeling guilty.

I'm part of a small group of 4 that get together for a 'sew' day once a month. That gets me motivated more than anything else. In between our sew days if I'm in a slump, I just call one of them or email to see what they've been working on. It's funny how the smallest thing like a little email just perks me up. I really hope you find something that works for you.

Thank You soooo much ladies! Its nice to know this is normal. I hate starting a project and not finishing it. Well, I am just going to get over that and jump the hurdle!. A bunch of little strips started from a log cable and some triangles for the OBW will be put out of my sight, and I will go through my stash and start on the "someday projects"
So, this morning I will hide the undone fabric cuts and just forget about them. These little devils are setting up a barrier and need to go! Thanks to everyone I realize I am just being to hard on myself, and need to start enjoying the art of quilting again. I'm on my way to reorganize and have a fresh and happy start. Thank You All So Much!
Barbara

I agree, sometimes a break will help. I am reorganizing my quilt room now. It has taken a while, but am almost done. I told my husband that it feels like a whole new room. I have gotten rid of things I know I will not use. Now I can not wait to get started again.

<<Thought about a Log Cabin, overwhelming thought of measureing and cutting all those strips!>>

Why do all that measuring? Just cut a bunch of 2 inch strips and do the Log Cabin Eleanor Burns style? Even faster, get a June Taylor Shape cut. I saw someone cut out a queen sized log cabin in about an hour and a half. Obviously, she's used it before, but other gals on this forum have also recommended it. I sometimes do a 'big patch' type quilt just to get something done that doesn't involve fiddly bits.

"fiddly bits" - that made me laugh. Is that a Minnesota/Midwestern saying? It is definitely a good description of small pieces of fabric!