Two of my boys are picky eaters. Really picky. My husband is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. I used to enjoy cooking "fancy stuff" and experimenting with new things (nugget of wisdom...grapefruit juice is not good for marinades) but it's hard to enjoy making a meal when there is no one but you to enjoy it. Harder still, when your failures are met with grumbling or silence. It has become easier just to throw in some chicken fingers...or a frozen pizza...or a hot dog. A sure bet. These are things that will be gobbled up and enjoyed by those around me, though I don't enjoy them much myself. I put the likes of my family over my enjoyment of cooking and now I just tell everyone I hate to cook.
I've been thinking lately about my quilting funk and why it's just not as fun as it was even a few months ago. I've been thinking it's going the way of cooking. My enjoyment is leaving me because I am doing patterns I *think* other people will like or I know how to write...not something that is new, different, or personally challenging. Now don't get me wrong...even for a person who will eat anything, it's nice to have pizza or chicken fingers to fill your belly SOMETIMES...just like it's nice to have a charm square quilt or a strip quilt just to have something to do with your hands. But when it comes down to what I want my grandchildren to see with my name on it, I want more. I want to spice things up. It might be an abject failure the likes of which have not been seen since my grapefruit chicken, but I want to make something challenging and unexpected. I want to make a masterpiece...one day. It might take years and a bunch of not-quite-right quilts to get there...but I want to shove aside that part of me that needs a finish or feels guilty for neglecting this blog which took so long build to make something I am proud to label with my name for the generations to come. It might mean I never write another pattern. It might mean I make 1 quilt a year instead of 20...which in turn might mean this blog crashes and burns. Right now I don't know, but it's just something where I am going to be brave and stretch myself...even if it means a lot of ugly quilts along the way.
So here is to the 12 and up menu! Anybody know what's good?
I've been thinking lately about my quilting funk and why it's just not as fun as it was even a few months ago. I've been thinking it's going the way of cooking. My enjoyment is leaving me because I am doing patterns I *think* other people will like or I know how to write...not something that is new, different, or personally challenging. Now don't get me wrong...even for a person who will eat anything, it's nice to have pizza or chicken fingers to fill your belly SOMETIMES...just like it's nice to have a charm square quilt or a strip quilt just to have something to do with your hands. But when it comes down to what I want my grandchildren to see with my name on it, I want more. I want to spice things up. It might be an abject failure the likes of which have not been seen since my grapefruit chicken, but I want to make something challenging and unexpected. I want to make a masterpiece...one day. It might take years and a bunch of not-quite-right quilts to get there...but I want to shove aside that part of me that needs a finish or feels guilty for neglecting this blog which took so long build to make something I am proud to label with my name for the generations to come. It might mean I never write another pattern. It might mean I make 1 quilt a year instead of 20...which in turn might mean this blog crashes and burns. Right now I don't know, but it's just something where I am going to be brave and stretch myself...even if it means a lot of ugly quilts along the way.
So here is to the 12 and up menu! Anybody know what's good?
Ah, I know EXACTLY what you mean. I was recently on a retreat and everyone around me were finishing things and ringing the finsh bell and I spent 3 days making 10 blocks. I finially got so frustrated I cut open a layer cake and made a full size quilt the other two days. Sometimes you need that immediate gratification but other times you want to look at what you made and be wow'ed. I think I am moving into that "I don't care how long it takes to finish" phase too. Misery loves company? LOL!
ReplyDeleteI think it's easy to get caught up in quilting for an audience. I have loved your patterns and have several MBS projects bookmarked. Do what you love. And I hear you about food. Sometimes I cook something just for me, and then make food for the family. It makes me happy.
ReplyDeleteI am there with you. Sometimes it helps to try and master something traditional....I've never made a feathered star, mariners compass, or New York Beauty. They would definitely be a challenge. Sometimes it is fun to pick a crazy fabric line and try to create something out of it.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes down to it....I'd rather my decendents know who I am and see me reflected in their fathers then have a beautiful something that I made. But, I will probably never know.
I know exactly what you mean! When things that we love become no fun, something has to change. Quilt for yourself and enjoy it! The patterns will come... and probably easier once you take the pressure off yourself.
ReplyDeleteJennifer :)
I think you are super amazing and talented and I love to see all the creative things that you come up with. But do it for you. That's what people love about you.....it is yours, not just a repeat of the same ole same ole in the latest trendy fabric release...... I would rather enjoy the journey of the grapefruit chicken (because your antics are as much fun as your patterns!) than I had have a sausage pizza instead of pepperoni. :)
ReplyDeleteI heart you MLB!
me, too and what Sunnie said!
DeleteGood for you! Don't make patterns for US! It's your time and your resources.
ReplyDeleteMy (no-longer) private daydream is to one day, before I die of extreeeeeme old age, make a queen size quilt consisting of all different sizes and slight variations of mariners compass blocks...in jewel-toned batiks. It's a dream because I have yet to manage piecing even ONE that will lie perfectly flat. Still, that's what a challenge is all about, right? LOL!
ReplyDeleteI feel every word of that second paragraph, and am only at the point of printing the first pattern! I guess because I've been blogging for four years, trying to build the blog and the followers, and sometimes that means catering to the masses. I have a very strong desire to make those masterpiece quilts...
ReplyDeleteOh, I think up the maddest ideas for quilts, you really don't want tips from me lol All I will say though, is look at unusual shapes that occur in nature, have a play with something that isn't a regular shape, and have fun (take it from the woman that just tortuously pieced nearly 200 QSTs - ugh!)
ReplyDeleteFollow your heart and do what makes you happy! If something doesn't turn out right, it can be a donation quilt and you can start over with a better idea. Go for it, make yourself happy and create something you and your grandkids will be proud of!
ReplyDeleteDid you ask for a suggestion? Have you sen the "Dear Jane" quilts? I have ordered the book (pattern) and the templates.,,, I plan on living a long time.. ha!
ReplyDeleteI, too was going to suggest a Dear Jane!! I have done several blocks and am working on it! But it is not a get it done today kid of quilt!
ReplyDeleteHey on the kid front have you try Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food By Jessica Seinfeld! Works for kids big and little! I have a picky littel guy, too!!
Sometimes we have to do what we have to do, sometimes we get to do what we want to do, and sometimes we get to choose. It may be time for you to make yourself happy--both in cooking and quiltmaking. I'd recommend cooking what you like and passing around the bottle of vitamins for the picky people--and I wish I'd thought of that 10 years ago (although there were times I did tell my kids ever so sweetly, "Don't worry about it, honey. No kid every died from missing one meal.")
ReplyDeleteI too make quilts hoping they will long out-live me. (Back in the dark ages 30+ years ago, when guys would ask me why I made quilts, I'd say, "Because men build houses and most of them get torn down in 60 years. Quilts last longer than that.")