Quilting Confessions
 

I like the social aspect of quilting and have a hard time motivating myself to quilt when I'm by myself.

You?

I love to work with others, but quite a bit of time is generally taken up in looking at what everyone is doing, trading ideas and general chit-chat (not that there's anything wrong with that.) But when I'm alone, I get a lot more done. I always have a book on tape going on my MP3, so I'm multitasking but it's not distracting from my quilting.

Maybe a little of each is the answer?

I too love to work with others, but it has a price for me as well. The closest group I can find is an hour drive. That involves time and gas. I love the companionship but get tired of the money spent.

I am kind of the same way...that is why I often take a class at the LQS. I enjoy talking while we work. I do have a lovely sewing room upstairs at home but I miss being downstairs with DH. Just like right now..we are watching college basketball (I can only watch DVDs in my sewing room) although I really need to be upstairs sewing to finish up a couple of gifts.

I belong to a small group through our guild that is such a joy. We share our lives, go on road trips and just really enjoy each other. I also love to go to retreats-they are such fun.

I'm a solo quilter. No groups, no classes, no guilds or anything else like them in my corner of the world. We don't even have a church group of quilters here. A friend of mine is opening a quilt shop in a city that's about 4.5 hours drive from here and wants me to come down to help set up, teach classes etc. and I'd like to get involved somehow but I sure can't carry the burden of paying for all the gas, food, lodging etc. that it takes to make that trip frequently. For now I'm just going to piece all of her display quilts for the shop. We'll see what the future brings. Being retired, I have all the time in the world but I'm also on a pretty strict budget because of that.

I am not a social quilter .. too much talk .. not enough stitching. If a gathering to discuss patterns , fabric, methods etc I'm in .. but for the actual stitching ... much rather do it by myself !

I work alone. No groups for me unless I drive 50 miles each way. That cost too much money and takes too much time.

I'm just the opposite. I enjoy my time with quilting friends, but do my best work when I am alone in my sewing room. I turn on talk radio, or a talking book and get going. When I am with friends, I get too distracted. I guess I have a touch of ADD

I tend to get really motivated right after I've been to a 'sewing' day with my closest friends. We talk, we laugh and of course we eat and it really gets me pumped up. I go home and it's like I'm on a mission for a few days. Wish I could bottle some of it to use when I am particularly unmotivated.

I prefer to piece and quilt alone, but I'll bind with anybody, any time.

I'm also a lone self-taught quilter. I also listen to books on my phone as I work.

Yup. That's me. Love looking at fabric and planning what I want to do but getting started becomes the issue. Thought when I retired it would get better, but watch the grandchildren during the week and am too tired to tackle sewing or cutting in the evening. Hopefully when they get older and not need to so much attention I can get back to quilting.

When I first started to quilt, I often worked with a friend. That stopped, and for quite a while I found it hard to motivate myself to work alone. I looked for a group, but couldn't find a congenial one locally. I get more done on my own, but miss the company, encourgement and laughter of having a quilting buddy. Now I'm used to working solo, but this board and an email group I belong to make all the difference - it's wonderful to have people here to chat with and share ideas and advice with.

My mom and I have been going to a quilting class every week. I look forward to it, but admit to it being distracting. Quilters in general are so creative and always have interesting things to show and describe etc. It gets me excited about trying new things. The rest of the time, I really do prefer to quilt/sew on my own...in my own little world!

I am a lone quilter. I really value my solitude and that's when I get it. While I am out in my quilting room -- just me and the dogs. I am so lucky to have a large outbuilding and it's all mine to work in and be as messy as I need to be. I try to get out there every morning from 9-ish to noon. For the rest of the day, I try to be sociable and take care of what ever needs to be done for the household.

I also live to far away to join anykind of personal quilting group. I'm self taught and do most of my sewing alone.
I do have a sewing buddy that lives about 5 miles away and she gets over here once in a while and we'll sew for several days then she is working again and it might be 2 months before we get back together. When she is here 1/2 my days are taken up with helping her figure something out. But thats ok as I enjoy her company when she is here.

I enjoy the quilting cohorts, but I am mostly a solo quilter.

I love to socialize with other quilters, and I do that a lot, but I prefer to work alone. It's so difficult to take everything somewhere, set it up, contend with not having whatever I forgot, suffer through a cutting surface that is too low, an iron that must be shared, and a chair that's not comfortable, and then have to dismantle everything, cart it home, and put it away. It's much easier to work at home where I can (usually) find what I need right where I want it to be.

actually, I`m the opposite...prefer working by myself

I get a lot done quilting and stitching and talking, just don't have anyone most of the time to do it with, so I am also a solo quilter, sewer, beader.

I work alone too, no one close to quilt with, & don't care about belonging to a guild. There's one LQS here, but classes are all too easy, no challenge, geared toward beginners, I think. So, I just enjoy my studio time, & quilt. Works for me, most of the time, as I am not a groupie anyway. Glad to have these online groups & forums too, really helps ones like myself!...

Most of my quilting is done while I am alone. However I did meet a lady from the board who invited me to come sew with her and a few others at a LQS in a town about 40min drive away. It was absolutely the best decision I have made in years. We talk, we laugh, we quilt. I have made 7 new friends and have learned and taught new quilting techniques. These women are a blessing to me and worth the gas money.

Motivation is not a problem. I confess that I "bite off more than I can chew"....anyone else???

To really be productive, I must quilt alone. When I quilt in a group, whether it is large or small, I get distracted by the socializing, am less accurate in my stitching (and make mistakes more often!) but it is worth it for the fun and comraderie. When I am working against a deadline or needing to concentrate, I am alone in my sewing room with my music playing. I love that just as much as social quilting - and I get more done!

I don't seem to need others to enjoy quilting, but I do like bouncing ideas off of fellow quilters. I can do that here. :)

I'm the opposite, I like to sew anything by myself.
But I love the social aspect of talking about quilting.

we all sew by ourselves, but once a week, my two close quilting neighbors and i get together at 10, sew for a couple of hours, go to lunch and then return to sew some more till 3 or 4... EVERY THURSDAY..... this is such a treat... i love being retired and free to do this....

I love being with all my friends but I too never seem to be able to get anything completed. Like on retreats I'm always the one everyone comes to with problems with their machines or not understanding something. Wish I got paid for all that time somehow. I'm more productive by myself. I like to put on music and sew.

I love the thought of quilting with others and I used to belong to a quilting group which I loved. Now, I pretty much quilt by myself. I have a very dear friend, who used to work for me in my quilt shop, that I still quilt with occassionally. Quilt days with her usually revolve around me catering to her and her husband and basically doing step by step instruction on whatever she is working on. No, I'm not complaining, on those days I accept the fact that I'm not going to get much done, but, that is the reason I mostly quilt by myself now.

I usually prefer working alone. However, due to a situation beyond our control, we found out Monday that ours would be a homemade Christmas for our 6 adult children. Hubs jumped in yesterday and helped me start working on gifties for our kids. We had a blast together! At one point, we had 2 longarms and an embroidery machine all going at once. Looking forward to doing it again today!

I am the same way. The group motivates me to finish an otherwise UFO. And I love the ideas we give each other. Iam also happy to be in my warm cozy sewing room alone during the long cold winte nights.

I prefer to quilt by myself. Sorta of left-over from when I worked, as I usually worked by myself.

I have never had the chance to quilt with a friend or group.
Taking classes is way to expensive so always quilt alone.
The group I belong to dosnt quilt when we meet, just visit, talk quilting, and show and tell.

I meet the first Sat. of each month with a group of my friends, at the library. We sew all day from 9 to 4 and everyone brings food. We are all making the same quilt pattern but each of us is using our own fabric choices. Its amazing how different fabrics can change the look of a pattern. Anyway sometimes we take road trips and travel the area going to different Quilt Shops. I really enjoy our time together. Sometimes I dont get alot done but thats ok, I enjoy the fellowship of being with other quilters.

My wife and I work together and enjoy our time in the sewing room. We listen to music, talk, sing, or whatever comes to mind. Occasionally we actually finish something.

Darren

It is a joy for me to drive 90km to a group which is stimulating, friendly and productive as my local group is cliquey, negative and snobbishly selective. It is necessary and welcome part of keeping myself socially healthy and stops me from producing the "same old stuff" all of the time. The contact has forced me to greatly improve in my work and to enjoy every bit of it.

I think I may be doing much the same at some point, Jitkaau. In spite of living in a big city, I've never found a congenial group. One of them turns their noses up at people without a lot of experience, another that I tried only talked about children and grandkids (fine as one topic of conversation, but not as the only one!) and when I said that no, I didn't have a husband, no I didn't have any children, they acted like an alien had landed (which I suppose, from their point of view, was the case!), and a 3rd had an agenda of trying to get new members to go to their church. All I want is a group where I can trade ideas, learn, have companionship and fun - I think I may have to start one! Or I'm thinking of looking further afield, as you have, though with the price of petrol in the UK, that could get expensive. But I've heard about some nice groups within 20 miles or so, which wouldn't be too bad. Luckily, I also enjoy sewing alone, and get lots of stimulus and fun on this board.

Time around a quilting frame (a big one) with friends, stitching to finish someone else's quilt is pure joy, fellowship and work (if quilting can be called work) are a great combination.

I'm very much a solo person. My quilting is the same. I do belong to a Guild but I get more from the smaller group I attend. It's much more social. I look forward to going down to my studio and working as long as I like, every opportunity I have to do so. Sometimes I look up and 3 or 4 hours have passed.
MaryKatherine