Quilts Japan and Patchwork Tsushin - both in Japanese. But the photography in the instructions is so amazingly detailed, you can usually figure out exactly what's required. At the very least, I find them incredibly inspirational. Older copies are sometimes available on eBay and I think eQuilter carries both. Pricey, but worth it.

Oooh, I'd forgotten about the Patchwork Tsushin mag! I've only seen it in a Japanese store in Portland, Oregon. Might be time for me to make another trip down there! And you're right - the illustrations are so well done you don't really need the words. :)

I'd love to be able to work faster. Probably not faster but have more time to sew. With only a few hours a week if I'm lucky, it takes awhile for me.

Is there some contest we don't know about------like who can make the most quilts? I enjoy the process especially now that I hand applique. I think some people work faster than others.

Well I do get in a hurry, but I don't know its how I want it to be. I like planning, picking fabrics and piecing but I work full time (55 to 60 hours a week) so what time I can find time to sew I want to make the most of it. Last week when I was off work for 9 days in a row (wow that was awesome)... I was sewing as fast as I could. I wanted to finish my quilt while I was off work. And I know what you mean about it being a little said when its done... but on to the next one :)

I know some people have deadlines for one reason or another, but I am not fast and could not handle a deadline. I had decades of a career with continual deadlines, so now is my time to relax and do things on MY schedule -- which is usually no schedule at all. Ah, retirement!

I do enjoy the process, even correcting mistakes--well, at least most of the time. However, about 1/2 way through one quilt, i get antsy and want to get it FINISHED--in my head, the next quilt is already calling.

I'm in a hurry because I don't want to die before I use up all my fabric!!! At 62 the clock is ticking.

I try to finish one project before I start another, but always in back of my mind is what is waiting for me and that I would like to get started so therefore I hurry too much and even though I do, I procrastinate and don't finish as soon as I would like to. Therefore, sometimes I do not really enjoy my project. I love to create and to hand quilt--there just aren't enough quilting hours in a day. (quilting hours=time I am able to sew)

Krystina--I am 81 and I know what you mean about the clock ticking. I hope I finish before I did, but sometimes I just get such a hot flash knowing that I have so many projects lined up while that old clock is ticking faster and faster. I love what you said--I'll have to think of it that way.