Step away from the sewing machine....

Many years ago I took coaching training from Jack Canfield. (Remember Chicken Soup for the Soul?) I learned a great success principle - a life concept called, "Clean up your messes".

The premise was that starting a project and not finishing it causes us undue stress.  We carry the "failure to complete" around with us in our subconscious and it makes us feel unsuccessful.

I know, I know, the project was not going well - so we stash it in a cupboard.  Push it back to the very back, behind the hidden M&Ms, Fracktals or chip bag we have hidden away for those OTHER stressful moments.  Maybe if we leave it there long enough we can forget how much we spent on it and how many hours we worked on it - only to have it look like..... well - let's just say it's not how we wanted it to look.

Wonky corners. Wobbly borders.  Colours that SUCK when put together.  Stuff it, stuff it, back under the mending that has been there for years, back, back, back to the very back corner.  Scrunch it up as small as you can!  GO AWAY you terrible project!  If we are lucky maybe we can find it several years from now and "DARN the mice got into it!"

All kidding aside - every one of us has those UFO's.  Unfinished Objects.  Projects that we started and for some reason or another we abandoned.  It really is OK.

But all those projects weigh on us mentally whether we know it or not.  SEW much STRESS.   So, there is a solution.  Clean up your messes.

Recently I had a quilt order come in for a specialty quilt.  A dragon.  In a garden.  Specific colours and quilting patterns.  I spent waaayyy too much time on it and when the top was almost completed - I realized it was far too big.  I had followed the pattern - but never really considered that it was going to be too big for a baby quilt.  This one I could not stash away.  And it could not remain unfinished.  I had a deadline.  Oh, what to do - what to do? Then I heard that inner voice say:

"STEP AWAY FROM THE SEWING MACHINE.  Yes.  Step away.  Take a break."  Take a walk.  Go outside. Call a friend.  Listen to your favourite song.  When all else fails - think about cleaning your house.  That should fix things!

We all run into issues once in a while when working on a project.  But stashing it away only causes us more stress. In the back of our mind we know it is unfinished.  A mess.  Instead of stashing, take a break.  Talk to a friend or someone who may have an idea or different perspective. Maybe even take it to a fellow quilter's home or studio and work on the issue together.  Clean up the mess - finish the project.  I cannot tell you how much better you will feel.  Success IS IN YOU.

Me?  I took two days to do other projects and then BAM - it hit me.  (In the middle of the night - of course.)  The solution on how to get the quilt to look as I expected came to me when I was no where near the sewing machine.  So, out came the "jack the ripper" and I started in on the alterations I needed to make to complete the project as I envisioned. 

​Success.  I dug down deep and found it.  Yes - it is in me.  (It's in you too!)

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