3 Simple Steps for Quilters: From Overwhelm to Inspiration

Are you struggling these days with finding joy in the day to day?

Is that impacting your creativity and inspiration?

You’re not alone…

I believe we can safely assume that every person is struggling to some extent with this very thing.

For me, spending too much time in ‘the real world’ has that effect. I don’t know for sure, but I am going to guess that I am not alone in that. So what are we going to do about it?

We are going to find that joy and inspiration again – and we are going to get creative!

As I look around my crafting area – I mean my family room- I see nothing but things that would on any other occasion give me inspiration and excitement. Can we talk about what I’ve seen the last couple of days?

Nothing.

My brain is on overload.

I feel as if I have lost any sense of direction. My thoughts are all over the board and I want to find some solid ground to stand on – and this is challenging when we have had our lives upended. This happens over the course of time to varying degrees – and usually learning to roll with those changes is the best bet.

I’ve been working for years on being Semper Gumby – a phrase my Marine hubs didn’t seem to appreciate as much as I did when I picked it up at Scouts a few years ago.

Oh well. You can’t win them all.

This morning, however, I woke up with the sense that now is the time for me to not be flexible as in easy to move, but rather more like the tree. Swaying with the breeze – or in this case what feels a bit like hurricane force winds – but not moving. I believe we are all being called to help each other out using our talents and our resources. Many of our local shops are currently closed, so I am choosing to use my talents and resources to hopefully help out my community- to give people something to hold.

To this end, I had my first cup of coffee wondering how I could help folks restore a sense of normalcy, and to seize this moment of opportunity to do what we do best – hang out in our craft or sewing room – I mean family room- and get in touch with our introvert selves.

Some of us have been training for this our whole lives! Really… one of my life goals has been handed to me – I can stay home and I don’t have to make up an excuse to do it??

Sigh of relief.

(For you extroverts – utilize social media, texting, phone calls, etc and get connected with your friends for virtual sew days. I had a cup of coffee with my mom and my grandma in two states and three cities today 😊)

Enter

 

…

 

Head space.

Yup.

I know I am not alone. So over the first cup (second cup is getting cold as I type) I decided to drop some of my favorite tips I’ve discovered over the years to help me get out of the unhelpful head space into the more enjoyable portion….

Here they are:

Turn Off the Noise

 

I mean it – turn off the noise. Especially the news. If you feel like you have to catch the news at least once per day – limit it. A person can only handle so much nonsense in the course of one day before your soul just sort of shrivels.

Turn it off.

 

Find a Quick Win

Even if it is doing the dishes, find a small task you can complete relatively quickly that doesn’t take much thought.

But then think anyway.

To keep with the dishes example – be mindful about them. Take a few moments to feel the warm water flowing over your hands.

Know that in order to have dishes, it meant you had food to prepare and to eat. Think about the people you have in your life who are there to use those dishes.

Or in my case make plans for the next time the the man-child (otherwise known as a teenager) drinks milk in a skinny glass and doesn’t rinse it out.

Focus on and be mindful of all that you have – but shut down the thoughts that will want to creep in about what may or may not follow in the near future.

 

Wait – my quick win is done and my head is still spinning. What now?

 

Well… find another quick win.

Again – move on to something you can finish.

I don’t recommend laundry unless of course you’re intending on only doing that one load.

That doesn’t have an end point in my house.

Maybe clean out the fridge or pantry.

The point with these quick wins is this – you can accomplish something (returning a sense of control) and you have a tangible or visible result. They don’t require a lot of thought to complete and they were on your to do list anyway. This has a way of making me feel like I accomplished something no matter how overwhelming things feel at that moment.

 

Reward Time!

 

Okay – on to the fun one. But first, pick some tunes. My playlist changes depending on the time and the situation, but when in search of inspiration my go to is Trans Siberian Orchestra – their non Christmas stuff, but in all fairness I will listen to Christmas whenever I want so….

However – their non Christmas collection is INCREDIBLE.

Now – on to the task at hand.

Take one quilt or craft related project you have been avoiding for some reason and tackle it.

Been meaning to organize your stash?

How about your collection of patterns?

What about your tools or your general sewing/craft area?

For the purposes of this I’m going with fabric collection.

As you go through your stash, take note of what you have. Really think about the colors as you go through them – my stash is loosely organized by color within the sizes. So as I went through them after determining approximate size, I clustered them together by color.

What does each piece of fabric remind you of? Maybe you love the ocean – that blue reminds you the color of the water off the Oregon coast? Or that purple crab you caught peeking out at you from in between the rocks?

Maybe that green is the deep green of the trees or the light green of the moss as the sunlight filters through the trees on the Oregon coast.

Yes. Yes I do have a thing for the Oregon coast.

Perhaps that turquoise is more like the ocean water in the Bahamas that reflected the sun and gave you and your friends in high school a major sunburn.

Maybe you were smarter as a teenager and reapplied sunscreen.

Perhaps the red reminds you of those roses you got from your love on Valentine’s Day?

Maybe it reminds you of your favorite lipstick.

Whatever the memory or connection, own it and let your mind wander to that place.

That place is where inspiration is born… That is where we need to spend some time.

Make sure you keep your Quilt It List handy – you may find yourself adding some things to it as you go along. Perhaps consider writing in a different color ink for this to see how many things you add today?

Don’t forget to take before and after photos of your project when you can – even if you don’t share with anyone they will let you see the changes. If you’re the sharing type then feel free to drop me a line so we can all share in your successes!

Let me know what you think – what things have you found helpful when you’re trying to shift your focus?

I am working on an easy project that I will hopefully have up in the next couple of days – so set aside your 5” squares and 2.5” strips. This could totally be a scrappy quilt, or you could make use of precuts if you have them. I will have all the details in the next post – though full disclosure, you won’t see the quilt in its final quilted state for awhile. I’m not able to quilt much right now since I quilt at a local shop.

Until then – turn the music up, sing along badly if you like, and keep quilting!