Cure for the Creative BLAHS!!

Since I have been going thru a period of creative doldrums, I have focused on it a lot in the last 6 weeks.

SO…..last week I was reading a newsletter from Deb Messina of QuiltBlox.com, and she hit the nail on the head and gave some magnificent suggestions.

I encourage you to zip on over and have a creative read…..

WHEN YOUR CREATIVE MOJO PACKS ITS BAGS

I certainly appreciate her “spoilers” that no I HAVEN’T LOST IT!!

“Play with no pressure” is the idea that resonated most with me, and it is probably the hardest for me to think about. But, I want to try it. Do you have ideas for how I can get started?

How about you….

Did you glean a new idea to help you get your Mojo back??

Thanks Deb for sharing with us!!

Deb Messina…. http://www.quiltblox.com

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The Reboot quilt…..

Yesterday I wrote about needing to reboot my creativity and pulled a quilt that I had started at a retreat a while back.

My thought was to lay out the blocks in a diagonal set with large navy sashing between them…..

So I headed to the machine and started piecing the sets together…..

Then it was time to press…..and that is where the rot set in…..

As I looked at these gorgeous fabrics and colors, I started wondering if they would lose some of their impact by setting them on a diagonal.

I spread them out like a brick wall would be…..

….and decided that I really liked it!!

But what if I added “grout” to the top and bottom….

….and maybe turned it vertical…..

OKAY….now there are TOO many options!!!

I started making long strips and attaching them together…..

But this is going to be boring if that is ALL that I do.

So, what if I added the diagonal pieces to both sides?

I hopped onto Procreate and sketched out this idea…..

I kind of like it!!

I laid it up on the wall to see what I thought…..

…and that is when I realized that I won’t have enough of the Navy fabric!!

So now I am waiting for fabric to be delivered and honestly, have lost interest in the project again!!

It will go back in the box and re-emerge some other day.

BUT it did the job that was intended…..

Stay tuned for more!!

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Let’s Reboot!!!

I had a day in my studio but there was a problem!!

Firstly, as I mentioned last week, I was a bit bummed because I had just received TWO “no thank you’s” from major shows.

Secondly, this was the first time since December that I had been completely free to quilt!! Work had kept me busy thru April and when I had time to quilt in May, there were two SPECIFIC projects that I needed to work on.

Then we spent three weeks in Africa where all I did was gather more ideas and inspirations!!

So there I was…..ready to work but not sure how!!

I have two MAJOR projects that I want to finish in the next month or so. The first is Sadie…..

….and the second is to quilt this monster that I started in 2020…..

But I just wasn’t quite ready to start on such big projects!!

I had just watched a video from Karen Brown of “Just Get It Done Quilts” and she had talked about the idea of “rebooting”!! You can check out her video here….

She suggests starting with small things, like maybe folding fabric or tidying up.

I decided to follow her suggestions.

First I set my machine back up (my friend Marnie had house sat and needed a space for her machine so mine had been moved)…..