A Place of No

If you are a Real Housewives fan, you will probably get my reference to Bethenny Frankel and her “I come from a place of yes” mentality. I decided last week that I need to come from a place of “no” for a while when it comes to sewing.

Many quilters seem to thrive on project-oriented quilting. They work on one quilt from start to finish and they always have a recipient in mind. I don’t sew like that, and I don’t imagine that I ever will. The real enjoyment of the hobby for me comes from the process. Choosing the fabric, cutting, piecing, and even dreaming about a new quilt design are all equally enjoyable to me. I like the freedom to sew what I please when the mood strikes me. Sewing with obligation – for an Etsy shop, a craft show, a bee, a gift – takes away a lot of the joy for me. It makes my therapeutic hobby into something that I have to do, rather than something that I do to relax. That point has really been driven home for me since I had my son and my sewing time has been greatly reduced. I feel like I need to be more selfish with my free time now. So I decided this week that I am only sewing for myself for the rest of this year. This doesn’t mean that everything I make will be for me, but it does mean no deadlines and no obligations. Just making that decision has already been freeing. I’m working on projects I put aside years ago and I even whipped up a simple rag quilt in a couple of hours yesterday (I’ll share it once it comes out of the dryer).

I’m so enjoying my new freedom that maybe I’ll change my blog name to The Selfish Quilter with the tag line “Yes, I Made That and No, I Won’t Make One for You.” Ha.