Originally Posted by rryder

Yes, sometimes I just don’t want to do anything that I’ve already started (even if I just started it 2 hours ago). When that happens, rather than starting an official project, I grab some fabric and PLay. I might just sit and stitch some of my machine’s decorative stitches on a scrap of fabric and batting, or I might FMQ “scribbles” all over some scrap fabric sandwiches. I might look in a book or on-line to find a technique that I’ve never tried before and play with it... the point is to PLAY. Playing with my fabrics, threads, machines, fabric paints, etc. without having any purpose in mind often helps me learn new techniques that later on get incorporated into projects. I find that letting loose and just playing also helps me recharge when I’m not feeling creative. A bonus is that sometimes the scraps I’m playing with turn out to be nice art pieces, other times they end up being samples that I can refer back to.

When I’m playing I ask myself “what if” questions like “what would happen if I tried to combine these two decorative stitches”. or “what if I did some quilting on some fabric and then painted it with fabric paints or with my inktense pencils.

you might want to check out the National quilter’s circle— specifically the techniques taught by Heather Thomas, even if you don’t like her very non-traditional approach to quilt making, you may find that there are some techniques you would enjoy trying that could be incorporated into your quiltmaking practice. Another thing you may want to try is doing some pattern free quiltmaking— Joe Cunningham teaches a good introduction on Craftsy (called Pattern Free Quiltmaking) with some tricks to help you set some boundaries or rules to help guide your exploration into pattern free quilt making. It’s a good class for folks who are used to using patterns but want to get their feet wet doing some improvisational quilting.

Rob

Originally Posted by Jane Quilter

When I get Blah and unisnspired I go to pinterest and click around and enjoy what others have done. Or I start cleaning the sewing room, ironing and folding and sorting fabric and scraps. It seems a clean room says "let's make something" to me. If nothing pops to mind, I may just cut scraps into 2 1/2" squares, or 2" strips. If that doesn't kick it, I make something for someone else....like a baby quilt or a QOV quilt or a shelter quilt and think about others. And before you know it, the blahs have passed, and you are on your way again with soring creativity.

Originally Posted by AngelaS

We have found when creativity wanes here..... we need to take more vitamin D. It's been cooler, gray and dreary here recently and without sunshine, we don't have enough D. Try taking 1000iu per 30lbs of body weight every day for a couple weeks and see if you feel inspired again.

Originally Posted by Karamarie

I will sit down with a good book and lose myself in it. That is what I do when I lose interest in things. It helps me.

Originally Posted by Kitsie

Yes, I was getting bored with doing many of the same blocks for large quilts so I changed to doing samplers and now to doing 6" blocks that I find free on many sites. These are send to a Canadian group to make into quilts for the needy. I've done over 120 now! All different! Never bored anymore!