Why Can't I Finish That Project?

The snow and the quilting of my latest quilt have conspired to keep me housebound.  I have not left my house since Tuesday night.  Today is Saturday.  I finished this quilt top in the Fall and I want to take it off my "To Do"  list. I really love it, so what's the problem?

What keeps us from finishing a project?  If we ignore time constraints, I think it is degree of difficulty, lack of direction, not enough knowledge and fear. This applies to many things in life.  In this case, it applies to my quilt top and it includes all of the above reasons. The easy things are what we do first.  It makes me feel so good  to accomplish items on my "To Do" list.  I even put little boxes in front of each item and put a big check mark there when I am done.  I tick off the easy things, 1-2-3 and then it gets harder and harder to go down the list.

Lee Cleland wrote a book called Quilting Makes the Quilt.  I have to say that the antithesis of that saying is that quilting can ruin a quilt. This is my biggest fear.  I gave up hand quilting years and years ago.  It just takes too darn long.  Many people who are not quilters think that quilting with a sewing machine is cheating and it makes the quilting a  piece of cake.  I can't tell you how many times I've heard "Is it hand quilted?"  I am here to tell you that quilting by machine is a skill unto itself.  It certainly does reduce the amount of time required, but it is in no way easy.

Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) adds another dimension.  It is like doodling with your sewing machine.  You put on a special foot, drop your feed dogs and away you go.  There are no rules and there are no lines to follow.  Your hands move the quilt and your foot controls the speed. Picking a doodle to quilt that complements your fabric design is another difficult step.   When the quilting is going well, it's like a beautiful dance.  When it is not going so well, you can make quite a mess.  It is stressful to say the least.  So there is the potential to ruin a beautiful quilt top that you have spent days/weeks sewing.  Procrastinate?  You bet.

And I am blogging because?