PHASES

Sitting here in the living room attempting all means I can to get rid of this major, almost migraine headache I am reminded of a few things. 1- this too shall pass. 2 - I have lots of quilting and longarming to get done. 3 - I also have quiet hand sewing to get done. 

And this brought me to thinking of the phases of quilting. There are many. And there are different ways to interpret 'phases'. 

One could be the phases we all go through in our quilting life. These include one extreme of wanting (or in some cases needing) to be quilting ALL the time and putting everything else in our lives on hold while we hide in our quilting space and quilt. 

The other phase of that is wanting to quilt, knowing there are quilt projects to work on, but you don't have time to quilt. You may be busy doing other things such as during the summer when there are so many other things pulling you away from quilting. You still spend any spare moment you have to at least look through magazines, books, videos on the computer. You are as active as you can be on quilting forums and facebook pages. But even this free time may not be as much as you would like. You do see an end to what is pulling you away and know that quilting will get back into your life. 

Yet another phase is when you have quilt projects waiting, the time to quilt is there as nothing in life is pulling you away from it, but your get up and go has gotten up and is GONE!  You deal with it in silence for a while. Friends or even family may even think that your quilting hobby has gone away as some of your other hobbies have gone and wonder what your next hobby will be. You go to your quilting space and look around. You sit at your machine. You pull out some fabric or a pattern. You may even attempt to cut fabric out and start stitching. The enthusiasm you once had doesn't come back. 

In the case of the third phase - wait it out. Personally I find those times are when I have forgotten to take my B-12 and vitamins on a regular basis. Once I start those up again I have the energy and desire to quilt. Others may find that joining a guild or other quilting group helps. Finding a friend who quilts, or going to quilt shows may help.  Head to a quilt shop for inspiration.   Some people have gone months or even years without quilting and then get back into it full force. So don't despair. 

Other 'phases' of the world of quilting may mean the progress of your quilt or quilts. Many quilters have several quilts going at one time, each at a different 'phase' or step. I have .....many. Some are for customers and even those are in various phases; some are my own. 
I decided this morning while suffering this headache that having more than one quilt going at a time at various phases is a good thing!  At the moment there is no way my head will tolerate the sounds of the longarm machine in operation. Not even sure how it will deal with the domestic machine going. Soooo I am blessed in having a binding to sew onto a large quilt that has to be done for a customer and this will give the the time to get it done.  

For those who wonder if or why we quilters never finish one before we start a new one... this is one reason.  A good reason!  Hey, works for me!   

So whatever phase you are in with your quilting process: whether it be the stages your quilts are in, or the desire to quilt as a whole, I wish you the best. 

If I can be of any help to encourage you along feel free to let me know. I love to help others who share this world of quilting. I never knew it would become so much a major part of my life when it started. 

Til next time....

Keep the needles stitching, 

the creativity flowing 

and the passion blooming!  

Phyllis

Oh, BTW - the picture above is the machine I started quilting with and the table is where it all began. The wall hanging peaking there is my first quilt.