Why are we always in a hurry?
 

I just read another post where someone was talking about how quickly they finished a quilt top. What's the hurry? I enjoy the process - the planning, shopping cutting, and sewing. I find making a quilt like reading a good book. I love for it all to come together, but there is something a little sad about it being over.

I feel the same way. It may be why I have so many tops waiting to be quilted. I love to keep revisiting them.
peace

Some of us are just classic overachievers. Most of the quilts I make are for Linus. They are simple and rarely pieced. I have set a quota for myself of 21 a month. Our Linus Chapter usually produces at least 600 quilts a month so I am not the only one keeping busy. I need an excuse to keep purchasing fabric. I feel guilty if I don't make use of it.

I completely agree with you. I know people who just do one quilt after another and as fast as possible. I used to think there was something wrong with me because I worked so slowly. I didn't retire to keep working on a speeded-up treadmill. One of the reasons I retired was to slow things down. It is enjoyment for me. It is not a speed contest.

I am definitely in the tortoise camp as opposed to the hare, slow and sure. I gravitate to more complex patterns with numerous intersecting seams like mariner's compass, NYB, etc. I also enjoy working with small pieces (patchwork that finishes to as little as 1/2" by 1"). The complexity requires a certain amount of precision that can't be rushed. Don't get me wrong, I love shortcut methods like strip piecing, rotary cutting and making numerous HST at once using a grid sewing method but I still have no desire to work at breakneck speed. Like you, I enjoy the process and I always have numerous projects going that require different techniques including handwork. I too can't understand what the big rush is. Even for charity quilts I don't see the point on trying to produce so many. It isn't like there is a huge shortage or overwhelming need, especially with so many charity quilters out there.

I too enjoy the process, and don't measure myself in terms of how fast I completed a project. I don't like to feel rushed wen this is something I do to relax.

Just because someone completes a lot of quilts, doesn't mean they are rushing the process. Maybe they love it so much, they just can't stop. I used to make 2-3 quilts as month. Never rushed, but I'd come home from work and quilt for 4 hours. Or quilt all day (12-14 hours) on a weekend, just because I love it so much and it's my relaxation time. Certainly gave me a rep for being Speedy Gonzales, but as I said, I never rushed a single step.

Now, I hardly get any quilts done - maybe 3-4 quilts in a year - because I've started longarming for others. That takes up all my quilting time now.

It's an addiction. The quicker one is done, the quicker the next one starts. Thanks for the reminder to slow it down. It's the process not the product.

I enjoy the process but also get bored when I'm on the same project and looking at the same fabric for too long. That's why I love the Jenny Doan-type projects. I can take pleasure in cutting precisely, lining up seams and points exactly and dealing with bias edges, and trying to get a consistent scant quarter inch seam. With the "quick and easy" techniques I can have an attractive, complex-looking finished project in a few weeks and improve my skills while doing it.

Usually people have deadlines to get the quilt done such as a birthday or a wedding or a holiday. That is what happens to me. When I was in competition with my quilts, I was literally sewing the binding to the back as my friend drove me to where I was to drop off the quilt. Never enough time in the day for me. :)

I'm not a rusher either. But I like to be able to have multiple things at different stages so I can do different things depending on my mood, or my energy or concentration level. After three-plus years I still like all phases of the process, but I am still a nervous wreck on the quilting, and I won't cut any fabric after 6PM!

I like to hurry and finish. I want to see the finished quilt. I have an advanced quilt in the making and I pick it up every now and then when I want to savor the process. Mostly it's fast piecing and simple patterns that I enjoy making.

True enough about deadlines, but I would love to know how many of you can actually hand sew in a moving vehicle????? I would arrive with a bloodstained quilt.

Oh wow! Good for you, Maniac!

At least she wasn't driving!

I think it is just a carryover from the rest of our lives--too much to do and too little time to do it. Now that I am retired I am trying to 'slow down and smell the roses' more, but my 'type A' personality just keeps creeping in!!!

Why did the Chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.
Why did the Quilter finish the quilt? To start another one!

(just kidding). I don't rush through, but I do like to set a goal and finish by that time.

Finishing a quilt quickly means I can move on to another quilt that's swirling around in my head. I guess I'm different in that I just want to finish, send the quilt on its merry way, and move on. I don't keep very many that I make, but I also haven't done any "heirloom quality" quilts. So I definitely enjoy the process more than the finished product.

I try to make myself slow down and enjoy the process. Tackling slightly more challenging projects helps. I tend to pass by things that seem too easy - unless I'm on a deadline for something quick. Don't like deadlines. Same thing with precuts - not nearly as much of a thought process involved, so these tend to go quickly

Sometimes when I start a quilt I just get anxious to see what it is going to look like in my colors and my setting with my choice of borders. I may finish one quilt quickly and feel a real sense of accomplishment, while another quilt I work on at the same time may take me months to complete. I do enjoy the whole process!

LOL!! Yes! Do OK til you hit that yard deep pothole and everything goes flying except the needle implants itself into your nail bed!!

I'm not super fast but keep on working once I start a quilt. What takes me so much time is deciding on what I'm going to make. I design most of the quilts I give away. I want the quilt to reflect the person's interests so it's a struggle to figure out what to use and where to put it. But once that part is over, I can get them done in a couple of weeks most of the time. Except the last one I made for my daughter. That super queen sized cathedral window was in my lap for a couple of years. Of course, I broke my arm and couldn't do a thing for 4 months while making that one.

I guess I'm bit of both. Sometimes I make one after another-usually baby quilts. It's stress relief for me, not that I'm trying to race. I just made a top in a matter of hours, I had the time, really wasn't trying to hurry.I will machine quilt it this weekend. Other times it will take me weeks to do the same top because I only get a few minutes here and there. It's also taken me a year or more to make a quilt-one that I hand quilt.

Just because someone (like me) works fast, does not mean we do not enjoy the process. I receive great pleasure giving my quilts away blessing others with my work. If I didn't enjoy the process, I wouldn't be doing it. I figure that I am good that I don't go too much over the speed limit on the roads but can go "pedal to the metal" on my sewing machine and not get in trouble!

I hand sew bindings all the time in the car. Obviously when I am NOT driving. Have only stabbed myself a couple of times but never got blood on the quilt!:)

I suppose not getting blood on the quilt was the important part~;)

I don't have a problem with people who like fast, easy quilts. I don't have a problem with people who like complicated, time-consuming quilts. What I DO have a problem with is that the American quilt magazine industry seems to cater only to the first quilter while ignoring the second quilter. I have pretty much dropped all of my subscriptions because of this. Occasionally I'll purchase a QNM, but other than that it's the foreign magazines that grab and hold my attention.

To each his own, I guess, but like you, taking 2 or 3 years to do a quilt is 2 or 3 years of enjoyment and supreme satisfaction when its done. Others have many family and friend members and give to charity so need to be able to assemble a quilt quickly. We are ALL quilters. :D

I'm not familiar with any foreign magazines. What are some of the names to look for?

Every quilt I've seen made by a Japanese quilter is a show stopper. Most all of them are hand appliqued. One Japanese entrant at Paducah told me that she had to make the quilt perfect or it would bring shame to her family. Her goal was to make the quilt as perfect as possible. She reached her goal and then some in my opinion. All the Japanese quilts were far and beyond speculator. It made me want to sew a crooked seam on purpose to take the images of the perfection out of my head. Nope, fast is the way for me to quilt and be happy.

Of the group of gals I quilt with (there are 6 of us) I am the slow sewer and quilter. It got to be an inside joke of the group but I didn't mind. And still don't. I have picked up my speed a bit but I try to enjoy the process and be in the moment when I am quilting.

Count me in on the tortoise team. I generally make complex patchwork and between that and the time I spend cogitating along the way most people have left me in the dust. Going slowly also fits my budget. Quilting is an expensive hobby.

Well let's see. Quiltmania is a good one, they have a French version, a Japanese version, and I think a British version, but I could be wrong. Australian Patchwork and Quilting is another good one. I usually have to go to B&N for them.

perfectionists tend to be slower, my aunt comments on my slow going quilts, but my seams look better than her fast quilts, and match up better so I don't mind going slow

Some people eat rapidly, some eat slowly...their bodies get nourishment either way.
Some people quilt rapidly, some quilt slowly...their souls get nourishment either way.
It all works out just fine. :)

I'm a prolific quilter, but I don't just do the fast-and-easy type quilts. Some of mine fall into the complex category. And I do some that involve a lot of hand stitching too. This is one I have in progress right now.. not finished, still need to figure out what I want to do with the drops:

Sorry... that didn't go through... trying again on the last post...

Some us work full time and we don't have the time to leisurely just "plan", shop around, sew/quilt. Quick and easy- instant gratification for me! I would LOVE to tackle something more detailed but it would end up a forever UFO.

Sandy

GORGEOUS! Not in my lifetime though.
sandy

My friends call me a prolific quilter. I don't do any handsewing because of arthritis in my hands, so everything is done by machine, even the quilting. I have a longarm, so I can see the entire project through, and really call it "My own". I am a perfectionist, but also a realist. You can't always get a "perfect point" or a "matching seam", but no one is going to notice it if I don't point it out to them. I can't stand UFOs, so I try to complete a project once I get it started, and when it is finished, I am excited to get on to the next one. I make a lot of charity quilts, and try to have several on hand in case there is some tragedy like a tornado or hurricane. I don't do terribly difficult designs, but I like to stretch myself past my comfort zone. I find quilting so much fun, I can't wait to see what I can accomplish next. So I really don't consider it "being in a hurry" to make one quilt after another.