If you are the least bit observant, you may have noticed that as life goes, so does quilting – or any other project you undertake. The beginning is exciting and challenging, the end is – hopefully – rewarding and satisfying, but the middle of a quilting project drags you down and hits you with every negative emotion known to man.
The middle of a quilting project is where you’ll discover evil “D” emotions:
- Discouragement
- Disappointment
- Depression
- Delusion
When your project looks like this – it’s hard to remember what it will look like in the end…
All of which usually leads us to ask, “Why am I even bothering with this?”
Quilters Have Great Need of Endurance
My friends we have need of endurance. I really hate that word, endurance, but it is as completely essential in quilting as it is in life. I’m thinking about this right now, because I’m in the middle of my mermaid quilt and I am SO DONE with it!
Unfortunately, the quilt is not done with me.
I’ve felt this way about a number of my projects – the dragon quilt comes to mind, as well as my Lily Quilt Disaster. At one point, I threw my lily quilt into a drawer and left it there for a year before I could stand to face it again.
The good news is most of my little fabric art adventures don’t generate this kind of hatred, but when the middle of a quilting project is dragging me down like an extra hundred pound weight, I shift into survival mode.
Tips for Surviving the Middle of a Quilting Project
As with most other aspects of our lives that demand endurance from our souls, it becomes easier to endure if you’ve got a few tricks up your sleeve. Some of these tips are practical, born from experience, and some of them are psychological tricks to buck you up.
Either way, it’s essential to have a plan for when the going gets rough, because, my creative brothers and sisters, it will get rough sooner or later.
Tip #1 – Start another project
Having another quilting project – a much smaller project – that will take only a few hours or days of your time is a great way to relieve the boredom and tedium to be found in the middle of a quilting project.
Potholders is one project that you can get very creative with and finish in the course of a morning or two. Being able to finish something, anything, will help you feel positive about your skills again and regenerate your enthusiasm.
Tip #2 – Big projects and hard deadlines don’t mix!
Never start a big project when you’re under any kind of deadline. If you want to give your brother a double wedding ring queen sized quilt for his wedding, for example, consider giving it to him on his second anniversary.
All the extra pressure will just exacerbate those negative “D” feelings that inevitably crop up in the middle of a quilting project, and those emotions make it even harder to finish on time.
Tip #3 – You’re not making the whole quilt, just this one section
I recently read that “a man, having one backside, cannot sit two horses.”
Beyond the hilarious visual image – this is actually quite true. You’re not sewing the whole quilt in one morning. All you’re doing is attaching this applique, or stripping this section, or cutting this strip of binding.
So try breaking your project up into manageable sections and only do one section at a time. That way, if you find yourself falling into the “middle of the quilting project doldrums” you can just leave it and sew something else in between.
This way, you won’t feel guilty about having an unfinished project because you planned it that way!
Tip #4 – Be a show off
Show the parts that you have finished to family or friends and bask in their praise. Oftentimes you’ll be seeing a mistake or problem in your quilt which a third party won’t even notice.
I recently showed a project of mine to Barb – it was a fractured panel center, and I had sewn all the horizontal strips upside down! She didn’t notice, and couldn’t see it when I pointed it out. All she saw was the gorgeous twisting colors.
These reactions will really help re-up your enthusiasm for the entire enterprise.
The first Seam Ripper Champion ever – Karyl’s Summer Lily Quilt – was a great example of horrific struggles through the middle of a quilting project that yielded amazing results! 
Tip #5 – Give yourself permission to go slowly
The more beautiful a quilt the harder it will be to get just right.
Keep reminding yourself that fabric art – versus just quilting – is much more involved and will automatically take a lot more time to complete. It’s much more important to do it right than it is to do it fast. So give yourself permission to be slow.
Tip #6 – Out of sight, out of pain
Put your project away for a while. Make sure it’s completely out of sight so that the nasty little guilt tripper that sits on your shoulder and whispers in your ear will have nothing to say.
Tip #7 – Take a long look back
Look back at some of the other difficult projects you’ve completed but thought you never would.
Years ago I made a double wedding ring quilt that my kids named ‘The Never-Ending Quilt’ because it took me so long. But now it has lived on our bed for 9 years already!
And if you’ve never made a quilting project before – look back on another hard moment of your life that you overcame with some patience and perseverance.
Just keep reminding yourself that this too shall end and it will be worth it! Remember – Patience is not only a virtue, it’s an essential in fabric art.
Special Announcement – Open Submissions!
Patience, endurance, perseverance, and hard-won successes are the driving forces behind our Seam Ripper Championships. Princess YellowBelly is all about sharing rough experiences, not-funny-at-the-time disasters, struggles with evil “D” emotions, and that all-consuming battle in the middle of a quilting project.
That way, you can overcome the next struggle more easily.
Right now we’re holding the first ever “open submissions” for our Seam Ripper Championships. That means you don’t have to be a member to submit your story of struggling with and overcoming fabric hardships.
But we’re only holding this open till the 23rd.
To find out more about this opportunity, read the submission guidelines, and send us your tale of tragedy and triumph, go to the Seam Ripper Championships page! I can’t wait to hear your story.