Sunday, August 18, 2019

Changing Thought Patterns


I've been thinking differently lately, as an experiment, or maybe because my mind has melted in the heat..


First of all, when I was making the Fuschia Fairy quilt, I didn't plan it out.  I thought of an idea, implemented it, and waited for the next idea to show up so I could implement it.  I embraced each idea as it came along and did it without thinking about other possibilities.

That is the same way I am quilting the Drunkard's Path quilt. Yes, I am still quilting that monstrosity of a lap quilt.  I think it is possible that I will wind up using a whole spool of light thread and a whole spool of dark thread when I am done. I am having fun, but it is slow progress, waiting for the next idea, and finding the motivation to quilt something warm in the summer.



The other change has been a thought I had about the nature of quilting.  When I think of daily or frequently occurring tasks as compared to projects, I tend of think of quilts as projects.  After all, when I paint a railing, the railing is painted and I won't have do it again, at least for a very long time. When I make a quilt, I wind up with a finished quilt and once it is made, it generally can't get undone.

The change is the shift of quilting from project category to recurring category. Since I enjoy the process of quilting, once a quilt is finished put away, the quilting isn't really done, because I will pick up another quilt to work on. Sure I will celebrate the completion, but I will move on quickly to the next quilt.


 My goals for the summer has to be working on completing projects, so that when the busy time at work happens again, the unfinished projects don't rear their ugly heads at me. I can rest assured that progress does get made when I am not as busy.  This doesn't mean I won't make quilts. After all, the recurring tasks do have to get done. It just means that I can't spend hours quilting, since I really need to be spending that time getting something done that will stay done.


All of this explains why the drunkard's path quilting is not finished, and the charity quilts have barely been started.

The current big project is to go through the bedrooms and touch every single thing to see if it sparks joy, and if it does, to give it a comfortable home. I've already done the downstairs, the master bedroom and the bathroom, so it is turn for the other bedrooms.  I had been debating about which other bedroom to start with, but each one seemed to become a bottleneck for the other, so now I have decided to work on both of them simultaneously as needed, while focusing on the sewing room. There are lots of things in there, and the progress is slow as I want to think through properly what to keep and where to put it, and decision making is tiring.

15 Minutes to Stitch: Week 33

These two weeks, as the days and weeks blur together, I have been working on quilting the ethnic drunkard path quilt, and have started my mini of the month and one of the charity quilts (the batik one). I have also been cleaning the sewing room.
 
15 Minute sessions of stitching this month: 14 out of 14
15 Minute sessions of stitching this year: 193 out of 230 sessions
Success Rate: 84%

Linked with:
15 Minutes to Stitch

7 comments:

Robin said...

I think it's hard sometimes to stay enthusiastic or feel inspired about a project when there is no free time to work on it. I hope you can make some good forward progress before you get busy at work.

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

Doing machine quilting gives you a lot of time for contemplation of many things. As long as you are enjoying it it is worthwhile doing.

I haven't taken the joy approach of going through things but have been reading about minimalism. I have been looking around where I an currently sitting and finding things to remove so that I am happier with my space.

Quiltdivajulie said...

I don't do the "spark joy" approach either - but we have been clearing out things we don't use for several years now (which is good because Little Man has things here now that we never thought we'd be able to have). I like Gwen Marston's thoughts on quilting - paraphrased "why should I hurry to finish something - so I can go dust or clean house? I love the process so I just keep making" (her words were much more succinct than mine).

Kyle said...

Enjoying your stitching time is just as important as keeping things organized. But maybe all your organizing will free up more time to stitch.

Kate said...

I think of quilting as my meditation, my repeated action each day that brings a bit of sanity. You've been making progress on projects and some times that's the absolutely best you can do. Enjoy the process. Happy stitching this week.

Tanya said...

Your quilting of the Drunkards Path is wonderful!

I've done the Spark Joy approach with my own clothing but haven't moved on to anything else though I know most of my closets could benefit...

Christina said...

Great job on finding time to stitch each day for the last two weeks! I love the individualize quilting you are doing within your drunkards path. It looks fantastic! I hope the touching items and seeing if they spark joy is going well.