Finally - A WIP. WIP it good!

Did you make a New Year's resolution? I sure as heck didn't. I could tell you that my lack of blogging was due to a resolution to unplug from social media, which sounds all noble and highfalutin, but that would be oh so untrue.

The reality is I was really just blahed out by quilting. There had been hints that this was coming, which I should've paid more attention to. So I set out to beat the blahs. I tried it all. I ogled fabric online. I went thru my stash for inspiration. I looked at my free download files of quilt patterns. (I have hundreds.) I looked at my quilting notes on my iphone. I looked at the UFO's. I went to fabric stores. I pulled bolts of lovely fabric, stared at them all, and tired to imagine what could be. Nope, nada, zip, zero, zilch. Nothing inspired.

And, I think that maybe that's ok. Quilting is an art. There is just no way I can imagine an artist being productive all the time. So I decided to take a break. And then I worried about my lack of production. I worried about the growing UFO's. I worried about what I was missing on all the quilty blogs. I worried my loyal readers (Hi Mom!) would never look at my little blog again.

I thought about all the textile artists whose work we admire, the painters, the sculptors, the musicians, the writers. This has to be normal, right? Once I gave myself permission for it to just "be", I stopped worrying about it. I let it go, and the nagging worries faded.

I didn't worry about the requisite 'holiday' quilt, (basted & rolled in a bundle on the floor, awaiting finish), projects for this person, projects for that person, that weren't always to my taste, but were something I imagined the intended recipient would like. I let it all go. Eventually, one thing kept popping back up into my head. Something that I'd really wanted to do, but all the other things got in the way first. It was my carrot project, the one at the end of the stick, where I'd tell myself I'll finish these first, then I'll do this one.

To heck with that! If I was getting my groove back, I was damn well going to get my groove on my terms. I had the pattern tutorial. I needed the right fabric, and there it was all along, in my stash, a little layer cake waiting for it's day in the sun.

Oh yeah, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. And it's the LED illumination on my Bernina, baby.


Linking up to Lee @ Freshly Pieced!