Feeling Sluggish

For some reason I can't explain spring is slow in coming this year, both generally and personally. Usually spring gives me a giant burst of energy, a longing to be outside working in the garden or even doing some spring cleaning. This year the leaves are at least two weeks behind where they would normally be, and I am feeling pretty blah about the whole spring thing.

I feel a bit of a bottleneck in my quilting life as well, and I have figured out what it is. It's the quilting. I can piece quilts and applique quilts. I can design quilts and plan quilts. Goodness knows I can buy stuff for quilts, but I can't quilt them. I used to think it was because I didn't have a quilting machine. It's hard to wrestle a queen-size quilt through my sewing machine, so I didn't do it very often. I thought if I got a quilter, all my problems would be solved. As is so often the case in life, one problem solved brings other unforeseen problems to light. My problem now is not a lack of a machine with which to quilt, or even that the machine doesn't do a good job. The problem, I hestitate to admit, is me.

I am paralyzed. I have no idea how to quilt my quilts. Or if I have an idea, I can't execute it because my machine quilting skills are, well, pathetic. I have a quilt on the quilter right now. It's been there for a month with about 20 square inches quilted. I don't like how it looks, and I haven't gotten around to ripping out the stitches, so there it sits.

I know the answer to this dilemma is to practice, practice, practice, but I just can't seem to make the time or find the time to do it. What I want is to be able to quilt like Linda Taylor or Diane Gaudynski with no practice. Don't we all? What I need to remember is that they quilt like the quilting angels they are because they paid the price for it. They WORKED at it. I think because I can imagine beautiful quilting in my head that I should just be able to do it without training any of my muscles to know how to do it. Bad thinking.

So I vow today that I will begin to take my quilting seriously. I will put on a practice piece and PPP. I will not despair when my feathers look like unintelligible blobs. I will just keep trying when my stitch length varies from 1/4 inch long to infinitesimal. I will actually quilt something besides loops and stars, which I can do pretty well and therefore do way too much. I will not expect perfection or even proficiency or even passability for quite some time.

Ah, I feel better already! So let's go mow the lawn, maybe wash some windows, and how about some McTavishing?