adding up - why i quilt and what i've learned

after a summer of no quilting and living more deliberately, i think i have a new quilting motto:

if i only make one quilt a year, after twenty years i will have made twenty quilts.

and that's still a lot of quilts, even if it takes twenty years to get there.

 in the beginning of my quilting journey, i bought all the fabrics (and then some), all the patterns, many books, and just wanted to make everything. right away. sound familiar?

in her charming book make & love quilts, mary fons says,

"quilters are impatient people.
to a nonquilter this seems almost laughably wrong. aren't quilters gentle, steady folk who are content to stitch all afternoon in a rocking chair? . . . dedicated quilters are foot-tappers, forever on the lookout for ways to get quilts done more quickly and efficiently for one simple reason:
we want to make our next quilt as soon as possible."

all of which is ironic for a meticulous, time-consuming hobby. as soon as we start a quilt we want to be on to the next one, we can't wait to start another one and usually don't.

wow. that's a lot heavier than it looks. help!

having all those ideas burning in my brain or fabrics i'm just itching to cut into or looking at wips that have been around for a year or two leaves me weary, frustrated, and despairing sometimes. after all, one of my children still doesn't have his own quilt. can't i at least get that done?

the other day i paused in front of the fabric shelf in my bawthroom sewing space and looked at all the fabrics and patterns piled there, probably less than half my stash, and remembered all the quilts they were intended for. i said out loud, "there are anywhere from a dozen to twenty quilts waiting right here. and i'll probably never get them made." the mr. responded that was ok because i was focusing on the things that were most important and that was what i should be doing.

as i pondered this and my summer off over the next few days, i felt more relaxed than i usually would. at first when quilting was so new and difficult, it seemed i'd never get any done. i just didn't have the time. during the first two years of quilting, mostly due to a teeny, tiny addition to the family, i completed only two quilts (here and here), although i started three others (here, here, and here). i knew ladies who made a quilt a month and even some super-efficient quilters, like kelly of my quilt infatuation, who routinely churned out lovely quilts every single week on a regular basis. i felt like i'd be lucky to complete a few a year.

goodness, this is hot and sweaty work holding up this pile!

 well, i've been quilting for nearly five years now and guess what? i have quite a pile of quilts to show for it! if you visit my "quilts" page at the top of the blog, you'll find i've completed 10 full-sized quilts, 13 baby quilts, and a doll quilt. 12 of those quilts, pictured in this post, reside in our home. after gathering them all together to photograph today, and consequently staggering and sweating under the weight of them, i feel pretty good. i have made quilts. lots of them. sure, for every one complete there are 10 more i'm eager to make or most quilters have made 5 times as many. but i already have finished more than i think i could have envisioned 5 years ago.

and we haven't even talked about the quilts that are nearly done or somewhere in progress.

also, now that i know i will get quilts finished, at some rate or another, and that my skill set has improved, which facilitates speed of finish, i find i'm enjoying the process a whole lot more, that i want to slow down and experience it more.

quilts get made.

one stitch, block, top, day, month, year at a time.
they get done.

and my life is a lot more than quilts right now.
thank goodness!
that's a blessing, not an interruption of my hobby.

so, even if i only complete one quilt a year from now on, i'll still have plenty more quilts.

maybe even a gypsy wife someday.

linking up with amanda jean at crazy mom quilt's friday finishes
and sarah's can i get a whoop whoop