If you haven't been following along with Jill's Year of the PIGs posts, you're missing some great blog posts and responses about how people get PIGs, sewing areas, etc. I keep meaning to post an answer to Jill's questions, then forget about it/get busy and don't get around to it. Today, both kids are having play dates here, so I have some time where I need to be visible but not terribly involved in what's going on - the perfect time for a blog post.
This month, Jill asked: What part (or parts) of the process of making a quilt are your least favorite? The part (or parts) that you just dread and that make you throw your projects back into the dark recesses of your stash closet? Have you found any tricks to break the cycle of being held up on the parts that aren't your favorite?
I've been thinking about the answer to these questions and I think that it has changed for me over the past few years. In the beginning, getting a quilt ready for binding (including making the binding) was what did me in every time. I would get a quilt back from the quilter, put it nicely in my sewing room, then let it sit for ages before I'd pull it out, square it up, and make and attach the binding. I didn't mind the hand sewing piece - it was all the stuff that had to come before that. In order to break myself of that, I think there are two things that I've changed. First, I now make the binding when I finish the top. I find that when I finish the top is the time I am just about most excited about the quilt, so I have the energy to make the binding. I've also gotten a lot more experienced at making and attaching binding and making the ends meet, with the help of a little reference book my mom gave me when I was a new quilter (posted about here) that has a fantastic page on ending your binding. Second, I now put the finished quilts right on my cutting table when I finish quilting them so that I have to pay attention to them before I dig into something else. Sometimes this doesn't work, but most of the time it does.
So now, probably the thing that makes me turn a project that I am actively working on into a UFO is just boredom...or maybe not boredom, but interest in something new. It seems that I have sooo many things that I want to make that I just want to get going on the next thing, even when I am not finished with the last thing. That's why I have so many items to work on for the UFO challenges I am participating in this year! I usually do feel really good when I finish something up, but as soon as I do...the desire to start something else comes back! I suppose I will always have to walk that fine line between too much in progress and too much to do, but I don't mind so much....that approach will work for me until I run out of floor space and storage room!
This month, Jill asked: What part (or parts) of the process of making a quilt are your least favorite? The part (or parts) that you just dread and that make you throw your projects back into the dark recesses of your stash closet? Have you found any tricks to break the cycle of being held up on the parts that aren't your favorite?
I've been thinking about the answer to these questions and I think that it has changed for me over the past few years. In the beginning, getting a quilt ready for binding (including making the binding) was what did me in every time. I would get a quilt back from the quilter, put it nicely in my sewing room, then let it sit for ages before I'd pull it out, square it up, and make and attach the binding. I didn't mind the hand sewing piece - it was all the stuff that had to come before that. In order to break myself of that, I think there are two things that I've changed. First, I now make the binding when I finish the top. I find that when I finish the top is the time I am just about most excited about the quilt, so I have the energy to make the binding. I've also gotten a lot more experienced at making and attaching binding and making the ends meet, with the help of a little reference book my mom gave me when I was a new quilter (posted about here) that has a fantastic page on ending your binding. Second, I now put the finished quilts right on my cutting table when I finish quilting them so that I have to pay attention to them before I dig into something else. Sometimes this doesn't work, but most of the time it does.
So now, probably the thing that makes me turn a project that I am actively working on into a UFO is just boredom...or maybe not boredom, but interest in something new. It seems that I have sooo many things that I want to make that I just want to get going on the next thing, even when I am not finished with the last thing. That's why I have so many items to work on for the UFO challenges I am participating in this year! I usually do feel really good when I finish something up, but as soon as I do...the desire to start something else comes back! I suppose I will always have to walk that fine line between too much in progress and too much to do, but I don't mind so much....that approach will work for me until I run out of floor space and storage room!
Comments
Love my longarm lady: she squares the quilts for me!