One Step at A Time

I love to hike.
I see a big hill and I just have to see what is on the other side.

I start climbing up only to find out that what I was looking at was not really the “top” but I now see another horizon that I must reach to be able to see over to the other side.

It is a trick. I get to the top of that huge knoll and again find out that I must go further up or give up and go back down. Now the hiking is getting tough. I am tired, my legs are weary and it seems like such a long ways to go to reach my goal.

No giving up! It now becomes a challenge that must be conquered. Give it some more grit and get on with it. Take one step at a time. One weary footstep after another. Baby steps it seems. But they all add up.

I enjoy some of the sights on the way. Do those flowers look like… well… they sort of look like… never mind.

Unknown Flowers

Finally… oh this is so worth it!

The top!

Making a quilt can be the same way.

You fall in love with the pattern. Excitedly you pick out just the right fabric. You arrange the fabric and look longingly at it, awaiting the time until dinner is cooked or you are off work so that you can begin with eagerness the project that you fell in love with.

Hours later, after cutting out a zillion pieces of fabric you begin to feel overwhelmed. This project seems much bigger than you had imagined. Of course, the pattern you chose was for a wall hanging and you decided that it needed to be made into a king size bed quilt. After some more frustration of putting a block together the wrong way and having to rip it out, you set the project aside.

If you do manage to get the blocks done you are now faced with sewing them together into a top, and then the border and then the quilting. It seems overwhelming!
You may even lose your enthusiasm for the project you put it away so that you can’t see it anymore and you move on to something else, something smaller and easier. How many of those projects do you have?

I have some tips for you that might help you finish that project before it joins the closet of UFO’s.

Tips:
If I have a project that must be done and I have no joy for it anymore I do some of the following; adjust as needed to fit your project.

First – complete one block or step so that you have an example to look at as far as sewing steps and color placement.

Then;
1. Set a time limit each day. Even 15 minutes is enough. Work on those blocks for 15 minutes. No more, but make sure it is every day.

2. Use those blocks as fillers on another project. For example when I am sewing my rows together for another quilt or working on a simple project, I chain piece one of the dreaded blocks at the end of each row so that I don’t have to cut the threads in-between blocks. Some people use a scrap piece of fabric so that can keep chain piecing but why not sew on of those extra blocks. You will be surprised at how many of those dreaded blocks get completed. You always have your completed block to look at so that you can remember how to place your fabrics.

3. Put in a movie. I like watch or listen to a favorite movie or even a book on tape to make the time go by while doing mindless work of chain piecing. I get some of my best “reading” done while sewing.

4. Set a number of blocks or steps to complete each day. Instead of looking at the entire project, set a goal of doing step 1 to all of the blocks. Or maybe completing only 5 blocks today or set your own goal.

I did this with this quilt pattern.

Bright Star Quilt

It has a lot of paper piecing blocks. One day I might sew two side pieces onto each block. I would do all of the blocks, but only that step. Then the next day, sew another piece onto each block. Having a completed block to look at kept me from forgetting what I was doing and making a mistake.

5. The idea is to break it down into steps and only do that step. Only one at a time. If you keep thinking about all of the steps to completion you may get overwhelmed and never even start. Do a step and then put it away before it begins to drag you down.

If I were able to see some of the trails before I start hiking I might never get started, but I only see a little bit and it keeps me going.

What ideas do you have for getting those projects that have turned into drudgery completed?

Were going down there?

Heading down…

Downhill all the way