Getting Stuck on a Quilting project

For a variety of reasons, I get stuck on a project.  Right now I am stuck because the piece of fabric I bought for the border is too dark of a teal color.  I could charge ahead and install that piece but it would ruin the flow of the piece, so I am waiting.  The quilt is lying on my design "wall", aka the floor of my sewing room.  I want to leave it out so that I don't forget to finish it and so that I am sure to buy the right color teal the next time.

While I sorted my fabric yesterday, I also put a few piles of fabric down, with the pattern on top for my next few projects.  They are not stuck, they are just not started yet.

Truth be told, some of my works in progress are not really stuck, they are just stalled in that phase of production, and sometimes are too low in the pile to actually see them.  When I sort my fabric I happen upon these little surprised, "Oh, I remember that project, I wonder if I have the pattern?, and I wonder if I know what I am doing next?, and I wonder if I really ever want to finish this one?"

I actually am being patient with myself in this stuckness.  If I plunge ahead, I will put in the wrong piece and will be upset with myself.  If I wait long enough the right piece will emerge from the universe.

For now, I walk into my sewing room and there are piles of projects laid out, and works in progress lying in the design "wall".

Oh the fun of being a textile artist, and of having the right space in which to have chaos that sometimes get converted into order.

I Quilt when there is a weather disaster

Today as we await the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, I sat down at my machine to put a border on my latest project.  For the quilters in the audience, I am attempting a Flying Geese pattern in the border of a Yellow Brick Road pattern.

As I sat sewing today, I realized that at least two other memorable quilting projects have happened during a weather emergency.  It is not surprising that I am inside and therefore think of quilting.  It must be my comfort "food".  Oh, I eat my comfort food as well.

The first quilt I recalled was one I called "Shattered Comfort" since it was a quilt that I made after 911, when the images on the TV were just too much to handle.  I listened but did not watch.  This hangs in George and Judy's house.

 

The second one was the original quilted jacket.  I had bought the kit and pattern in early December of either 2000 or 2001, and a few weeks later we had a major snowstorm.  Out came the pattern and fabric and I am pretty sure I finished the jacket in a few days.  The original is on the left and Judy's New Year's Eve jacket is on the right.

The lesson I am taking from this is make sure there is an unfinished project at all times, in case there is a natural disaster.  BTW, that is not the only reason to have unfinished projects.  My preference in Myers Briggs is P, and we usually have a stack of projects which are 90% complete.

Off the work on this latest natural disaster quilting project and listen to the wind outside while sewing in the comfort of our house, as long as the electricity is still on.

Creativity Happens so I Let it

I have been gradually cleaning up the sewing/guest/study room since I retired. Mostly I have tried to set it up so I can sew there and not take over the kitchen and living room with my projects. For about two weeks I have been sewing in there but yesterday I HAD to move out to move out to the kitchen table and island. I was at a point in the project where I was diverging and auditioning fabrics. I needed the space and the sun light. I threw fabrics out on the counter and for about an hour lay one next to another. I finally narrowed down the fabrics and put the others away. There are times when I cannot be confined to my small sewing room and it would definitely squelch my creativity.

I am back in the sewing room now but I just needed that time and space to create. I also leave projects out on the same kitchen counter when they are nearly done, to see if I like them. I casually glance at them and rearrange, or I get comfortable with how they look and then complete the project. I need the space to leave them out to finish the creation, and it needs to be a space that I pass frequently.

I think my sewing room is too dark and too contained. I dream of my ideal living room which would have a corner where I could leave things out and not clutter the shared living space. My creativity corner.

BTW what I leave out is not clutter but creativity.


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