So many decisions
 

How do you decide which quilt to make next? I have soooo many that I want to make. I have several that are already cut out and waiting. But then I see another. I need to quit my job and become a full time quilter!

I keep a list of quilts I'm going to make (and which I have fabric for), but I don't hesitate to deviate from that order as the mood strikes. I just start whichever one piques my interest at the moment.

Usually, I see a fabric I love and think....That would be perfect in X quilt pattern.

For art quilts, I start with the technique I want to do and go searching for inspiration on the net by searching images of something I'm interested in. I also save a LOT of things I see as I go along in general, so I've got sort of a library to look at.

Watson

Watson

In my quilt flash drive, I have photographs of future projects. I stare at them and then draw something up in my EQ5. I believe they just kind of jump and say "Do me next.'

Lately, I just do a test block. I have a number of UFO's that I cut the fabric for a whole quilt and then lost interest later on.

Oh I hear ya!!!!!! I have new fabrics and projects galore!!! There really is no method to MY madness :D

I try to do mine in the order of the event they are intended for, but one just jumped in line. Whoops! The good thing is that because it's an extra, I'm staying with it and getting it done.

I actually have a notebook, for all the good it does. Lists everything in process, even if “in process” is nothing beyond a concept. But that doesn’t stop other things from cutting in line.

All of my upcoming projects are stored in a plastic (hopefully bug and mouse proof) tote with a notecard telling me the project name. All fabric necessary for the project is in there except maybe the backing. When I want a new project I just grab whatever strikes me at the moment. Then I cut what I need and put the rest in my stash. I was fun to do on those long cold winter nights.

I have kits that I've created in a closet. I'm now working my way through those. After that I figure I'll make some scrappys. What pattern? I don't know!

I have been trying to use up scraps for so long, I can't remember how I use to decide.

All of the quilts that I have made so far, except 2 of them, have been for my grandchildren (and they just keep coming. now they are called great grandchildren). I do interrupt the family quilts for friends or family members who are ill. Now making three quilts, one each, for 3 young girls (3, 12 and 20) who's father died tragically in September. Have 2 finished and am working on the third. Interrupted that one to make me a dress to wear to my granddaughter's college graduation in May. I have 2 quilts with tops ready for sewing down appliques and I have the Two Fabric Bargello in red waiting to do JUST FOR ME!!! Better get to sewing as I am 80 and who knows how many years I have left to finish or make new quilts.

At the beginning of each year I make a list of goals which includes any UFO’s and new projects. Sometimes a new project is chosen to participate in a guild challenge like the Jen Kingwell Long Time Gone that our modern guild is doing this year. I think it is easy to get overloaded on ideas (because there are so many beautiful patterns) but for me I try to stay focused on one or two at a time so they don’t become UFO’s.

My friend puts a dryer sheet in each of her plastic project bags and actually keeps them in a storage shed. She's never had a curious mouse yet.

That's what I do too. along with the pattern, or a note on where to find it, if it's a pattern that may be used for other quilts. The fabric for my stash is in larger totes, separated by color.

Going by my UFO pile or asking my husband the answer would be - she just starts them all!
I quilt for fun so I just kind of pull out what I feel like doing on any given day and work on it. Quilts take a long time to finish that way.
They can be started by an inspiring fabric, a great pattern or a method that I want to learn.

I decided I wanted to make a quilt for each family, single and child in my congregation (small congregation) but whose 1st so I wrote each of their names on a piece of paper and threw them into a basket including mine. When I'm ready to start a new project I pull out a name and that's who I make the next quilt. I've gathered the info I need for each quilt......color, style, size so when I see a pattern or a fabric I think might work for that particular person/couple, I put it on the shelf with the rest of their project. When their name gets pulled, I usually have everything I need by that time. Of course, some projects get moved to the front like if there's a new baby in the group or someone's health is at risk. Those will come 1st.

Retirement---That's when you quit your job and quilt as much as you like! I waited for it all my life and intend to enjoy it the rest of my life. When I begin to think about my NEXT quilt, it's a process of a collection of ideas from a notebook that I keep, things I see, books I read, and certainty that particular fabrics are perfect for a quilt I am thinking about.

Make a list of quilts you either have cut out or purchased fabric for and see what pops out of the list as a "to do first". You may be surprised at what sounds like fun. It also helps determine what goes on the free table at guild. Monkey be gone.

This is how UFOs are born.

I hate to beak this news to you. Even after you stop working...you still will not have enough time.

A friend gave me this idea - write all the names of the quilts/projects you want to do and put them in a jar. Then draw one out and that is what you do. Cutting in line is allowed but this has really helped me to start working on projects that I have gathered fabric, pattern, thread, etc., for.

I've been stewing with this question myself lately. I have groups of fabric I have collected without specific projects in mind, so one of the challenges is to find an appropriate quilt to suit the fabric out of one of the gagillion quilts I've pinned on Pinterest. I get overwhelmed into immobility! Of the fabric I have, I get worried I'm not going to make the right choice and waste the fabric that I love. So stressful... On top of that I like to kinda design my own and am trying to learn EQ8, but it isn't happening fast enough to suit me. :( OH the trials! :D

this is me too......for all the good it does....LOL :D

I keep a couple boards on Pinterest.. One is All about stash... which is quilt ideas that I could make from my stash... Usually pretty scrappy, and colorful. The other is The Short List...which are the ones that I really want to make, have all the fabrics and patterns for, or are needed for a class project, graduation, or other occasion.
I often deviate, or have a squirrel moment where I jump onto a new idea without any consideration to The Short List, but that's the fun of quilting!

Staying at home doesn't work! I know this because I'm in the same predicament!! Now I have to make a quilt for someone else first, so I have a little more time to decide!

I keep a running list in a pretty journal that I assess monthly and revise goals if necessary. It really helps me focus. I do “interrupt” myself for baby quilts and guild or board challenges in which I have decided to participate. I have been retired since last June and while I can’t say the day doesn’t get away from me sometimes, I still sew for longer uninterrupted periods, and finish more projects, because I sew when I am more awake and the light is better.

Although I am a very organized and methodical person in my work life, when it comes to making quilts I tend to be highly distractable. My treat to myself is to hit the fabric store and buy myself a length of fabric. That may be the start of my next project that I have to start right now. Sometimes I'll see a quilt posted here and I think "I have that fabric - I could make that!" so I dig out the fabric and start that right away. Or I'll see an interesting color combination on Pinterest, or a kit on Craftsy and I have to do that right away. The UFO's proliferate.

I have a bucket list folder on my computer, various quilt books and magazines with flags sticking out of them, and a lot of ideas saved on Pinterest and I just browse them until something calls my name. Or, I see a fabric I love and try to figure out what to do with it. Or, if I need to make a particular kind or color of quilt for some reason I do some googling until something fits. Or, I get a blast from my own past and actually finish a UFO, often making slight changes that resolve whatever drove me away from the project originally. It's a decidedly whimsical process, and I like it that way.