No, I didn’t get questions #5 & #6 answered. Perhaps I’ll go back at some point and answer them.
What do you do when you have no desire to sew?
Do you ever get bored with your fabric and look for a different direction?
My youngest nephew will be 8 this summer. It was when I made his baby quilt that the “Quilt Pox” really caught hold. Over the past 8 years there have been a few times when the last thing I wanted to do was quilt. I think once I went nearly 3 months without sitting down in front of my sewing machine! Fortunately the other times it wasn’t quite as long.
I finally figured out when the melancholy hit me. It was after I had a big finish, especially if I had spent several intense weeks at the sewing machine. At the time, I simply walked away from the sewing machine and then read and read and read and read some more. Reading is another favorite thing to do. I finally either ran out of books, or heard my sewing machine calling and resumed quilting.
Since that first dry spell, it’s happened a couple of more times, but no where near as intense. I recognized it for what it was — I wanted to READ. So, I did, but only two or three books, then I was able to get back into the sewing room.
It’s been a while since I’ve not spent at least some time each day either at the sewing machine, picking fabrics for my next project or playing in Electric Quilt, but I think the reason is because I’ve found Books on CD. I pop a CD into the player and can enjoy both of my interests — reading and sewing/quilting. That’s not to say I don’t read paper books, but I since I don’t feel deprived, I don’t spends weeks trying to catch up.
So, I guess the answer to the first question is to let yourself walk away if you need to and try to figure out why you don’t want to sew.
On to the second part of the question. Sometimes. I’m a scrappy quilter, so I don’t have a whole lot of yardage. It’s mostly FQs or what’s left from yardage. Generally the purchase of a FQ or two will get the sparkle back into my stash. I will say I don’t have a lot of batiks in my stash — until recently only one or two pieces. So, I went shopping in a friend’s stash and came home with two dozen batik FQs. Originally they were intended for a specific quilt, but I don’t know if that’s where they’ll end up. Regardless, they’ve added a new life to my stash.
See how others answered these two questions by following the links over at Ramblings of a Fabric and Yarn Obsessor.
Click here to see the answers to the questions I’ve answered.
I think you nailed it with the comment about giving yourself permission to go do something else if you need to. Even something you love can get stale if you don’t do other things that you love.
In 1997, after the death of my husband of 39 years I had no interest in sewing, like you I read, and read – all security blanket books, ones that I had read and enjoyed, ones I knew what the ending would be, all happy ever after. I continued to teach quilting at the Women’s Prison as a volunteer and when my friends invited me for a day stitching, I picked up my sewing bag, had a lovely day with them, and then returned the bag to my sewing room. Then one day I gave myself permission to put my sewing machine up on the dining room table, grabbed some baskets of scraps and started making quilts again. I haven’t stopped since!
Isn’t it funny how we all need to stop and look back to go on. I think that we all need to give ourselves permission to let the creativity start. often I find my self thinking I should be doing this or that instead of sewing. I wouldn’t do that at work or church why do I have such a hard time giving my self permission to create?
I think that it’s ok to wait out Not sewing