The Why of Inspiration--this week.

 

Why do we look for inspiration?

The past few days, I searched for inspiration as an avoidance of sewing what I thought I should be doing.  It all started this weekend when I grew frustrated with a piece we will call Top A.   It was nearly assembled but I found it just lacked any charm for me.  It annoyed me and I threw it to the other side of the room.   

I have a bin full of scraps that would probably make one or two (or more) donation quilts but I can't seem to address that either.

I participate in a weekly list from bloggers called "To-Do-Tuesday" most of the bloggers know each other fairly well (via internet).  During these hectic times, we often do not achieve our goals and everyone is supportive and sweet to each other.

The pressure of should be doing is put completely on myself and I'm wondering if you do that as well. 

We all know that anxiety and frustration creates mistakes.  

Throwing Top A to the other side of the room was actually a way of preserving it for now.  I'm just now sure what to do with it.  I need to put it in a drawer until I can look at it with fresh eyes.

Sometimes you just have to pause and give yourself the kind of advice you would give a beginning quilter: 

 "Put the top away for now.  Be kind to yourself.  Remember this is supposed to be fun and an escape from the daily stresses."

At the beginning of the pandemic, one the things I resolved was to Keep it Simple.  A homemade quilt is a homemade quilt no matter how elaborate or basic the pattern ends up being.  Do what fulfills you right now.  

Some people like a really elaborate pattern to take their minds off of things.  I find that I make too many mistakes when I am stressed.  So I am keeping it simple.

No one has ever rejected these antique and vintage quilts because of the simplicity of the patterns: 

Fortunately, I have quilts that need binding so I focused on those projects instead.  I also spent most of the last few days surfing the internet and finding some new sites and patterns.  

Here are some websites I enjoyed:

The Crafty Quilter

The Creative Blog by Art Gallery Fabrics and the 

Fat Quarter Gang posts via that site.

I'm truly unsure of how much posting I'll be doing this week.  My husband's surgery is scheduled for tomorrow and hopefully he will feel some relief afterwards.  I'll post when I can with updates on our situation and I hope that you all remain safe and have a great week!