How do you choose new project?
 

I have the fabric. Have the batting/backing. Have the books, magazines, print outs, Internet to choose from, 3 word docs full of inspiration and yet no idea which quilt to start next. I'm not someone who makes kits out of my fab/patterns. Last night started making HST with reckless abandon. I think I need someone to boss me around and tell me what to do.

Left to the imagination your quilt will be a masterpiece. Sometimes when I have difficulties I pick and choose different parts of quilts from Pinterest. I like to combine things. Sometimes it works well other times it’s a learning process. Keep on with the great work you started!

You make me smile because I am exactly in the same place. What's next.
I have done a lot of mindless sewing lately, sewing 4 patch, maverich stars, piano key strips. telling myself that I was taming my leftovers bits and pieces and that I would include them in future backs. I always do double-sided quilts like a 2 in 1 quilt.
I am glad to read that I am not alone. Thank you for your post!

I have so many I want to make that this isn’t a problem for me. Lol. I make “kits” so I won’t forget what I want to make. I have favorite designers and I buy their books. Also, I tend to lean toward reproduction fabrics..both 30’s and Civil War ...I love their scrappy look. I usually take a month or so each year and try to use up my scraps to make donation quilts.

Helou and Julienm1- Sounds like an improv quilt. Keep going with what you’re doing and when you get tired of that, do something else, then put all the pieces on your design wall and figure out how to fit them together. I’ve learned a lot and had a lot of fun making quilts that way over the years.

It’s also the kind of project that I gravitate to when I’m having trouble making up my mind on what quilt pattern I want to do next.

Rob

Julienm1, I had many 2.5" squares & strips left from several projects. I pulled out red & blue ones, then added pieces of white too small for regular background. I like RWB, because of family 'patriotic' birthdays. Younger daughter is July 4, son in law is May 30, actual Memorial Day (plus he's a veteran) & grandson June 6, D-Day. I cut all into squares & sewed 4-patches as leaders-enders. I finally ran out of those squares, after making 120 of them! I combined them into 16 patches & made stars around those. My quilt top is completed & I hope to piece the back & sandwich it tomorrow. It took me a while to decide how to use all those patches, then I found Donna Jordan's video on her Hopscotch table runner. I added stripes to one end of each block & put together 25 for the top. Each block is large & the top is huge. To me, anyway.
So keep sewing with that wild abandon & a pattern for them will present itself!

You are on your way. I like to say that the next pattern/quilt finds me. After completing one or if I just get bored with one, I just start sewing. There are so many options for HST's, happy sewing.

My goal about 7 yrs ago was to make a quilt for every couple, single person and child in my congregation plus a few for some special friends I left behind down in Florida. I asked them about their likes and dislikes, favorite colors and size quilt they might like if I did make them one. Made a list, wrote their names on pieces of paper and placed them into a basket. When I was ready for a new quilt I pulled out a name and that's who got the next quilt. Right now I'm working on 4 of the quilts mostly due to the fact I found a pattern that I felt was perfect for that couple or single person. When I was still going to quilt retreats before this pandemic hit us I'd pull a couple of the quilt projects out to work on them. I have a shelf I place my projects on with maybe several possible patterns to chose from, fabrics I'd been pulling from my stash I thought might work so when the time came I wouldn't have to do it then. I continue to add possible patterns and fabrics to that particular project until I'm ready to start, then I make my decision which one to use. Right now I have 8 projects on the shelf waiting their turn. Sometimes I'll see a pattern/project someone has made online and think to myself I want to try that so I'll push what I'm working on at the time and work on it. Think that's why I have so many UFOs in the mist but it keeps me interested and if I get tired working on one pattern I can stop and work on another until my interest returns to work on the discarded project.

When something strikes me in a certain way, that is where I get my inspiration. I will look at my stash and try to come up with something. I don't like real complicated patterns as I feel I will never use that quilt - too much work to make it. I'm not a spring chicken anymore so just don't want to "think" too much - just sew. Right now I am making my first T-shirt quilt, enjoying that as this is going to first Grandson who is graduating this spring. I am also making making a baby quilt for a niece' baby to come in May. Found a panel in my stash and am working just going with what I think will work, using fabric that I have. Am trying to use down my stash as I would like to use part of that closet for other things. I also have some books and patterns I haven't used yet so don't have to buy more. That is my story and I'm sticking to it.https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/wink.png

I guess I’m an odd ball...I am not an improv quilter by any means. I find a pattern and then try to pull fabric from my modest stash. I am however, trying to “kit” a few scrappy projects for the upcoming year.

Julienm1, it sounds like you are making good momentum on a project and can’t wait to see what you come up with.

I'm never at a loss for ideas. I get a lot of them right here and the few bloggers I follow. Right now I'm working on one from a blogger that is mainly reds and pinks- I don't work with red much and I'm having fun with it. I have nobody in mind for this one. Maybe me? :)
Since I cleaned my sewing room I've finished several projects that never got done. Probably b/c I couldn't find them!
I also have family still to make for. That's a long list!

I have a hobby of picking out fabric to coordinate into a quilt (off the sales tables) usually with no idea of the quilt I would make with it. This year I’m planning to use a couple of my collections for some BOMs. Let someone else tell me what to do with them. LOL

I never seem to have a problem with what project to start making. I always have tons of ideas in my head but as my grandchildren grow, I make quilts for them as they grow into teenagers and then college and adulthood. Good luck to you on your decision of your next quilt.

I have done this so many times in my quilting years that I can't count them any more. HST's are the best starting point for most quilts. One of my favorite quilts for HST's is the Depression Quilt Blocks they make a great quilt and I have made many of them. Nice and scrappy. Here is the link https://www.quilterscache.com/D/DepressionBlock.html .
Right now I am working on quilts using my Accuquilt system and the many dies I have not used yet. So the next one will be a pineapple quilt. I made a Pineapple Quilt about 25 years ago so this will be a good challenge for me to try this time around. I have enough to keep me busy for a couple years as I see it.
You are on the right track with the HST's I am sure you will come up with something good to share here in the near future.

I like the depression block and forgot about that. julie, just watch some quilting videos and you will get loads of ideas.

I have a terrible time deciding what to make next, because there is so much to choose from. Starting one thing means not starting something else. Help!

That ‘s why I have WIPs and UFOs- instead of choosing just one, I sometimes start two or three at the same time https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images...es/biggrin.png!

Rob

That's it. I have plenty of ideas, too many in fact. loll

google pictures of quilts and you will see a ton. Usually you can see something that catches your eye and clicking on it will lead you to the pattern

Toni...Google...that's how I ended up with 3 word doc full "copy/paste" pic. Not to mention three 3 ring binders of "Possible Future Quits", Quilts I Wanna Do", "Quits Done Once or Twice." (Oh my aching head)

I don't have a problem picking the "next" project. I have a problem staying on task with that project! I get side-tracked by the next shiny bauble that comes along. I then start working on that until something else comes along! I currently have 2 tops that need to be sandwiched and finished, 3 that I have started, and....another I started at 11:00 PM last night! I need to stop looking and focus on sewing!

I usually always have at least a few ideas when I start a new quilt.

Lots of good ideas. And some I've never thought of.
For several years, I've been downsizing my stash making comfort quilts. So when I find an interesting straight line/no triangle pattern, that becomes my next project and make 4-8 of them, until I run out of fabric that fits the project or get tired of the pattern.
The opposite works too, pull fabrics I want to work with and find a pattern that fits with the amount available of each fabric.