Here's the 3 latest. The one in the middle has been bleached.. (got washed today and I use bleach) The first one is the color that the blue marbled looks before bleach and the last one is one that I did last night albiet on bigger needles since I had used my other needles to show my friend how to knit and had a start on it for her.. :lol:

Tuesy... Those are Great!

I can't knit! nadda.. nope..Both hands won't work together! LOL!!

I go to the Fabric Store or Quilt Shop! Then, I spend $ !!

It puts me "in the Mood"..To sew or Quilt!

I need help too!!!!!!!!

I need help too!!!!!!!!

Thanks Tuesay! That is the same pattern that my Aunt taught me, only thing is I don't know if I remember the pattern anymore, I am sure I don't because it's been a couple of years now. I stopped knitting to start quilting and have been quilting ever since.

You did a good job on those, very consistent. I will have to get the pattern from my Aunt again sometime. Thank You Tuesay.

It gets expensive if you have to send the quilts out to be quilted (not counting the waiting list). I don't want, or really have the money to spend to have my quilts quilted and my machine has a hard time with the big quilts, so I quilt as I go and put the blocks together afterwards. This way I can use my fancy stitches and if I don't like the stitch after I get started can change for the next block.

*LOL*. Elly.. I know exactly what you mean. When I first learned how to knit, I would drop stitches like there was no tomorrow...

You're welcome. :-) Here's the pattern for ya.. Someone was kind enough to put it on the net. This is the one I learned from my Grandma.. and funny enough it's called Grandmother's Favorite Dishcloth.
http://www.groupepp.com/dishbout/kpa...rfavorite.html

:thumbup: Thank You so much!

It happens but not to me--not that I can remember. I have the opposite problem--I get cranky because I can't seem to have the time to sew. Summer is bad for that. I get inspired being around other quilters--and that happens (inspiration) more than I can keep up with. Hope it all comes back soon for you. Congrats on the new sewing machine! Just jump in and sew on it! I doubt it will break before you have classes. Let us know what works for you.

Now and then I get into a slump. I'll take a break and read some quilting novels, then I'll go through my stash, feel the fabric, think of what I could do with it. Next I go through my many patterns and pics of ideas I've downloaded on my computer. Generally after all that I'm ready to jump into a project. Sometimes at my guild meeting I'll see something from show n'tell that I really like and it will motivate me to start a new project. Notice I said start, did I mention finish??

Find a mystery quilt with all the directions posted. It helped me by having all the directions written out in steps. I didn't have to think ahead just follow until it was done. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the end result picture, but when broken down, you work step by step.

YA on the finishing a new project. We should do a count on how many UFOs we have.

That will happen periodically but I love to read and will read. It's also a good time to do some good house cleaning and after a week or so, I'm ready to get back to quilting. I also do computer crafting and work with photos. I'm never away from quilting for very long as I will miss it too much. As a hand quilter, I try to spend some time working on piecing a new project while handquilting on one. When the hand quilting is completed, the next one is usuallyready to sandwich and begin hand quilting. I quilt in panels and just try to keep a good rotation going. It's very rare that I'm between quilting projects.

Don't worry about your down time. That's a good time to look through your books and magazines and think about what you want to do. I too bought a new machine last fall and still keep the manual handy for reference but I'm settling in with it nicely and love piecing on it as it's a dream to sew on - Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.0.

shop for fabric!!!

this may sound silly to some.. but when I get in a slump I do someting that pumps a lot of oxygen into my system.. My favorite (though not always possible) is to put on some tapes and sing, LOUDLY.. warm up a bit.. and sing your heart out.. I don't think anyone can stay down too long when they get their blood pumping and their brain full of oxygenated blood.. If you don't like to sing, do some exercise, or even deep breathing.. Just get that oxygen in... It's amamzing what a bit of heavy breathing will do for your outlook!

Judy, I do that too! Sing, Sing, Sing. Of course, I wait till my husband goes to work, but my grandkids love it. They think I am silly. I also throw in a few happy dance moves. :)

I like your style!

It is funny you should say that because I have been singing in the shower lately. I haven't done that in over a year. I sang to my 3 year old today while I was putting him down for a nap. First he started by covering his ears, I think he was trying to be funny, then he put his hands down and settled in. That means he stuck his finger in his mouth and brought up his blankie to rub against his face. Is this the biggest compliment a singer can get or what?

Ahhh.. That is so sweet! I have a 3 year old granddaughter.. I sing this song to her..

I love you Little eyes..
I love you little eyes..
I love you in the spring and in the fall..
I love you little eyes..
I love you little eyes
I love you most of all!

(I think the real words are a bit different, instead of little eyes I think its a name.. but this is how I heard it when I was young.. so that is how I sing it).

Today we were in the car and she started singing that song to me.. nearly brought tears to my eyes.. Nothing is sweeter than a small child who loves you.

I agree. That is a good advice. I am afraid that if I pause I will forget what I had learned not to do. Then when I start up again I will have to relearn what I should have known already. Yeah I suffer from panic attacks too since I was a kid. I thought I was claustrophobic but I would have attacks in the open too.

I agree with you about how PND can sneak back up on you. That is why I am still in therapy. I have gotten better at recognizing when it is sneaking. This doesn't feel like a depression episode though. Maybe I recognized it before it fully snuck up on me.

Organizing the sewing room is a good one. I do that too. I used to put my fabrics away between projects. I have to admit I have shied away from that lately. I didn't want to stop. I got into the zone of finishing all my UFOs. But this time I definitely did not feel like doing that. I felt more like anything but cleaning up my sewing room.

I hope your knee feels better. I have a bad hip at age 37 and it is very annoying. I totally agree with you about reading. I get obsessive when I am reading. I like to read Jennifer Chiaverni, Emilie Richards, Debbie MacComber, and Janet Evanovich books too.

I think starting a new project is a good idea for me. Since I have finished all my UFOs, I can start on some more UFOs while I wait for my class date to get here.

I like your cutting therapy idea. Eventhoug I had finished my UFOs I was going to wait until I have them all quilted and binded. I still have more uncut kits. I think I can handle going through them and cut up the fabrics. That is a very good idea. Thanks.

When I picked up my machine the dealer spent one hour showing me how to use my machine. I am disappointed that I can't just do what you did with yours or like I did with all my other machines. This one has many special features. Even though I followed the instruction manual I still feel like I missed/skipped something. When I signed up for the class he said it might not be me that is having trouble. He said it might be my machine. They will check it when I come in for my class. I am not too upset about it. I know that once it is dialed in it will be a dream.

I agree with you on working on gifts. That is why 98% of the quilts I worked on are gifts. I give them away while I am perfecting my technique. Working on things for myself totally unmotivates me. I do force myself to make some stuff for myself here and there. It is hard because even I don't know what I want or would like. Plus it doesn't help that I have no confidence in my work to be good. When I make stuff for others I seemed to have unlimited amount of energy.

Hmmmmm. That is a good one. My quilting friend has been after me to sew some charity quilts for her church. It comes with a pack of square fabrics already cut. I just need to sew them together. That may be a good way to go. I know I can sew straight on my sewing machine. Thanks!

That is a very good idea!

That is a very good idea. I recently learned to play the piano. It was a life long dream of mine. I don't usually resort to my piano because I am not very good at sight reading. I know I am too hard on myself. I grew up admiring the classics. I should hit the keys for fun more often.

I really like your last line.

Another thing I found that has helped me get through some things I'd just rather skip is to set a timer for 15 min... do as much as I can in that time.. but when the timer goes off, I stop.. do something I rather do for some specified time, and then go at the 'chore' thing again.

What I've found is that I can get quite a lot done in the time I've set.. and I can keep at it because I know that timer will go off and I can move on to something else.. Seems like a big job in small bites isn't as overwhelming.

Hey those are the same dishclothes that I knit too. I stopped knitting them because I got burned out. Then I did hats and one of my sisters got me burned out by trying to turn me into a production machine. Those are really nice dishclothes. I use them too. I give some to my friends that love them too. I skip my sisters because they are not much of a fan of my homemade items.

I totally agree. I pop in a book on CD when I quilt. When the disc is done I stop and do something else. I have been listening to the "Twilight Saga" series because my DH got tired of hearing me listening to the same book CD over and over again. I now have all four and sometimes I would listen to one after another. Kind of like a little "Twilight" week feast. I can tell my DH is thinking about buying my some other books on CD. He is getting tired of them.

I do the same thing!! I love books on tape!! I check them out from our local public library.. They are the greatest thing since earphones came into being!!

Thea, did you read N.J.linda's suggestion on page 7? It sounded like a good thing to add. I am sorry for your husband. I almost lost my oldest son to drowning almost four years ago. It really changes your make up. Even though your son is 34, he is still your little boy. Quilts for men are hard to do. I should know. I have four boys with a husband that is picky about those things. Our list of baby boy names consist of two names. When the last pregnancy was another boy I screamed at the technician that she can't be serious. I don't have anymore boy names left. My baby girl name list was a mile long. Sabrina was on the top. I had been resorting to using names from my husband's family heritage. Lucky I could only have four otherwise I would have to try my side. My side of the family names does not sound good in English.

Moving yuck. Luck had it that I ended up pregnant the last two times we moved. Never again!

I am sorry that you had breast cancer. I hope you are well now. After feeling this way for weeks now I was thinking the same as you. I had never felt like this with quilting since I started four years ago. I was worried that I would have to give it up like I had to with my scrapbooking. I had to drop it because of post partum depression. The pictures were causing me stress. From what I have read this is a normal part of the quilting life. I still scrapbook once a month to keep myself from abandoning it permanently. If you and I could stay quilting it will come back again. Lots of people have posted some very good suggestions. I like that there are many ranges.

When I get in a quilting slump I first make a batch of chocolate chip cookies eat a few with a big glass of milk. Then I go to my sewing corner stand in the middle of it and click my quilted slippers and say.... Theres no place like quilting...there is no place like quilting!Heheheheh! :lol: