Anyone who understands psychology knows that it is much easier for anyone to answer a question that has just two possible choice answers. In other words, do not ask your child or spouse “What do you want for breakfast?” Instead, say something like this: “Would you like cold cereal with blueberries or a bagel with cream cheese?” By limiting choices available, it streamlines the answer and zeroes in on a target.

In relating this premise to the greater world of quilting, it seems that today, particularly with all of the Internet patterns, fabrics and publications available, one can get bogged down when trying to make decisions. Often I am asked for advice in sorting out which quilt book is the best for a beginner, which pattern book is most helpful in identifying traditional block names, and which magazine is the one best to choose if one has only the financial means to buy one or two subscriptions.

The truth of the matter is an overload of everything today in the quilting world. Choosing just one blog to follow, one fabric line to purchase, or one time period of quilting from which to reproduce selected patterns is like being a kid in a penny candy shop asked to select just one piece of candy when he’d like to bring home the whole shop! Don’t get me wrong! It is wonderful to have such a wide variety of options but the choices can be mindboggling!

Never before has quilting taken a place so prominent worldwide nor been such a lucrative pursuit for so many individuals and corporations.

Traditionally, quilts have been created for fundraisers. Many organizations today solicit quilts for raffles and many quilt guilds rely on funds raised by group-made quilts to finance their monthly programs. One thing is clear. None of us can support every “good cause” among a sea of good efforts.

In my own personal life as a quilter, I find that I have collected fabrics, books, magazines and patterns for close to 30 years now. If I had ten more lifetimes, I would not complete all of the possible projects I already have lined up. And then, of course, as I progressed in skill levels from a beginner to an advanced level quilter, instead of relying on established patterns, I wanted to design my own. Sometimes, it is difficult to think about making a quilt at all due to increasing arthritis and intermittent hand numbness. The golden years would be so, if physical ailments did not color one’s day with constant pain. Yet, I try to continue to be as creative as time permits and as physical abilities allow but with limitations that make quilting difficult, choosing a worthy project becomes even more of a daunting task.

These days, I like to think “small” and make quilts that I know I’ll have an opportunity to finish. Struggling with making large bed quilts from start to finish is not even on my radar at the moment. In the meantime, my plan is to poke away and try to finish some of the needlework and quilt projects I have already started. I wonder how many people who have been quilting for awhile now are in the same “boat.”

Patricia Cummings

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 18th, 2011 at 4:16 am and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.