It can happen to the best quilter. You are sick of the quilt you are working on, or worse yet, you could be sick of quilting altogether! What’s a dedicated quilter to do? You converted the entire downstairs to support this all-consuming passion, spent more on a sewing machine than you did on your last car and now you are ready to put your entire stash up on eBay? Do not panic, you are probably suffering from quilting fatigue. There is hope.
Before you leave your sewing machine by the curb, consider other options. Try another outlet for your creativity. When I’m exhausted from measuring, cutting, hunching over, and pushing yards and yards of fabric through the machine, I find relief from other simpler endeavors. My go-to fiber relief valve is crochet. Crochet is basically the opposite of quilting: it simply involves a funny looking stick and some fuzzy string. You can do it anywhere, specifically, on the couch while knee deep in a good binge watch. You can bring it with you. You can even do it in the car! You don’t have to worry about complementary colors or matching corners. You don’t even have to worry about making something square. You could literally just go round and round in circles until you run out of yarn or maintain your composure, whichever ever comes first.
After a little bit of stitch, I can always return to my considerably more complicated quilting projects with renewed perspective. I can appreciate the colors, the prints, the diversity of shapes, the piecing, and the reward of making a really big project. If crochet isn’t your thing, you can experiment with other hobbies. Baking, painting or beading, to name a few, although I don’t recommend scrap booking because that’s just a big black hole you will never return from. Many times, your side projects can help inspire new quilting projects. Recently, I crocheted an entire chattering of baby chickens then felt inspired to quilt a flock of chicken potholders as holiday gifts.
Taking a break from your quilt can sometimes be the best thing you can do to help get it finished! What do YOU do when you need a break from quilting?
