I love to quilt. I really do. Lately I've been questioning myself about my quilting. I guess you could call it a mid-life quilt crisis. I decided to do some reading to see what was going on with me. I came across these two books and looked at the pictures of the beautiful quilts and decided to actually read the material, not just look at the patterns. Sarah's style is so different from my own, and I started to wonder if I have a style. Then I came across these words from her book "Quilting…from little things",
Why do you choose the fabrics you do?
Do your quilts look "the same" every time, or is every one different?
Do you usually choose the same style of fabrics for every quilt?
Do you often make quilts with only three or four fabrics in them or
do you cram so many fabrics in that you can't see the wood for the trees?
Do you love your quilts?
Do they make you happy?
Why do you make them in the first place?
Sarah raised some very good questions, meant to make you grow your quilting skills. First and foremost I quilt because I feel that the desire was given to me by God to create with my hands and this was the medium that made my heart sing. I am starting to realize that I have fallen into the quantity over quality syndrome. I often look to quick and easy patterns and skip over ones that take more time. I'm not saying I haven't enjoyed making those quilts or that there isn't a need for easy ones, because of course we know there is a need. But, for me, I'm finding with the increasing cost of fabric and my growing fabric stash that perhaps its time to rethink quilting. So my questions to myself are,
What style of quilting am I drawn to?
Is there a new skill I'd like to learn?
Is there a class locally or on Craftsy that I might enjoy?
What is missing in my stash and how can I better use my stash of fabrics?
How can I glorify God through creating quilts?
Why does choosing fabric combinations make me anxious?
What am I afraid of?
I have ufo's, quilt kits, block of the month, and a lot of fabric. I seem to always be looking for the next thing to fulfill my creative desires. When I took the "make do" pledge a couple of years ago I really did well. The most fulfilled I have been of late, quilting, is Lori's Row Along Quilt from her blog here. The quilt was challenging and hard at times and I learned a lot of new skills. I'm looking forward to hanging that one on my wall in my next home. There are things I would change about it, mostly my color choices but that's okay because I'm learning. After ten years of quilting, I'm still learning. I encourage you to ask yourself the questions above and to challenge yourself in whatever medium you create in. Step out of the box and you might just develop your art into what it was meant to be. I would love to know your thoughts.
Hugs,