retired teacher

Bag Lady, Clinton is quite aways away I have relatives there also. To distant to keep track of

starlight

I work fulltime so usually have to save my quilting for the weekends.

mpeters1200

I'm another that works full time. My weekday evenings are dedicated to my children. My DH recently went back to work, and he works most evenings late. By the time my kids are in bed it's too late to piece, so that's when I quilt for an hour or so. At least one hour each night, though I currently do not have one in the frame. Piecing-wise, I sew all day both Saturday and Sunday. I pause to move the laundry from one place to another and get some groceries. Then about 2 hours Saturday and Sunday nights at the frame, again when I have a quilt in it.

Jo Mama

Sometimes I really miss the Cascades because there's nothing higher around here than an overpass but I LOVE the sunshine and the beach. I bet you get four seasons a year there. It must be very pretty.

IrishNY

Yes, RT, I sometimes get quilt burnout and take some time off. Usually it's during times that are really hectic at work and I am just too tired.

Lucille A

i retired 10 years ago, and I, too, and busier than I have ever been. I do not know how I ever had time to work!!!!!

grammypatty7

I suspect most of us need a change of pace once in awhile. I just took 10 days off from anything quilt related and relaxed and read but yesterday am back working on the next let of the round robin I'm in. When I quilt, I focus on it so totally that yes, I do need to give myself a break on occasion. If I can keep some hand quilting available, the breaks are few but right now, everything is machine work and from that, I will take a break. Have 3 projects in progress and all will be completed by fall at the latest and by then I'll probably have another one started. LOL.

Joyce Ann

Hi I quilt every night after dinner for a couple of hours. It's quiet and hopefully the phone won't ring. I'm working on a disappearing 9 patch for my granddaughter's 16th birthday. Karen I see you have started pp. I also pp and I love it. I love the way everything comes out perfect. Have you been on caroldoak. com She has some free patterns on her site and also has a yahoo group that she runs. I belong to that and it's a lot of fun. Just finished some swaps. Joyce Ann

puck116

[quote=grammypatty7]I'm working on a quilt for my son and having a hard time with it so I took time off, read two books, and still I think I will work on another quilt for the time being. When I am feeling more creative I'll get back to his quilt. It is all batiks and very contemporary which out of my norm.

grammypatty7

[quote=puck116]there is nothing wrong with that. Maybe you need a bit more time to wrap your brain around his quilt. I think that's part of my problem with my youngest granddaughter's twin quilt. The most challenging part is completed as quilt as you go in panels. Now all I have to do is add the border and quilt it. The border is even cut and most of it is sewn together so just have to cut the baking and batting to fit and sew onto the quilt. There is no reason for my procrastinating and it's a beautiful quilt. One that just might be good enough to put into our upcoming quilt show as so far, I can only find one thing wrong on the quilt. I wanted to miter corners on the sashing around one of the blocks and it's a tad off which I didn't realize until I put the blocks together. It was fine until I sewed it to the other blocks. Have no clue what went wrong but it isn't glaring but would definitely be noticed by a judge. Not a big deal to me though as I don't mind having an error on my grandchildren's quilt as it's my way of saying we strive for perfection but sometimes fall short so we make it work the best we can and still turn out a beautiful quilt. I know the argument if you have a brain surgeon, you don't want him to accept imperfection but quilting is NOT brain surgery. Like anything there are exceptions to the rules. When you're ready, you'll get back to the quilt so don't worry about it. If you don't feel like working on it, it won't contain the love and joy you want to put inside that quilt. One day, you'll become motivated and will finish and if you don't, then you don't. I've done a couple of quilts that I had to force myself to do just because. It was frustrating and I felt badly about it but when I gave the quilt to the recipient, they knew nothing of my struggles and the joy, love and appreciation on their faces and in their eyes made all the difference. Since then it's been easier. We have relocated from IL to FL so we don't see or hear from the grandchildren very often. We hear from our daughter and her children frequently and it's a joy for me to work on their quilts. We don't hear from our son and family and it's frustrating and as a result, I had to force myself to make quilts for his children because I don't know them well enough to know if they'll be appreciated and it doesn't help that I know my daughter in law, who places very high value on my quilts, won't let them have them until they are adults. My daughter's children are living with my quilts daily and yes will wear them out but they have a bond with me that just isn't there with my son's children. I need that bond to be able to quilt for them but I have made them gorgeous quilts and they do love them. I know my little one 7 will be thrilled to get hers as she's the last to get hers and just maybe, she'll be the one to get through to her Mom that it's ok to use Grammy's quilts. My daughter and daughter in law even have had arguments over the issue and I had to step in and took the stand that both are right. My personal philosophy is that quilts she be used and treasured. Well, my daughter in law honors me by treasuring my quilts and wanting to preserve them - you sure can't find fault with that either and it's wonderful that she loves me enough to treasure my quilts. She may be right too. Her children will each leave home as a young adult with one of my quilts whereas unless I can get several more made, my daughter's children's quilt may be worn out by then. We have 7 grandchildren ages 7 - 17. For the next few years, I plan to make as many quilts as time and energy allow and will keep them here and they will be divided up eventually. If I run into health issues or time allows, will label each quilt at some point but I want to make sure there are enough on hand for each person to get 1 more.

Go ahead and work on another quilt and see if you can't sandwich some time on your son's quilt in there too and soon it will be done.