What happened? Well, I got majorly burnt out. Two years ago, I was preparing to be the featured quilter in our local quilt show and I was quilting, quilting, quilting to have enough to showcase. Some of the projects I finished were intense! Like this Aviatrix quilt:
I burned the midnight oil, the candles at both ends, burned rubber, etc., and completely burned myself out. I could barely look at my studio and sewing machine afterward. Taking a break turned into a year-long hiatus before I made a few feeble attempts at getting back into things. At that point, I took a couple of classes to try to jump-start my inspiration and motivation, but only managed to finish one of the projects from one of the classes and almost completed another.
Then I thought, "Hey! Maybe making a quilt for someone else will get back my mojo." So, I took on this quilt:
I enjoyed making it, but I still didn't feel like I wanted to quilt regularly again - until now.
What fabulous project has woken me from my motivational hibernation, you ask? Would you believe it is a One Block Wonder? Yep, I'm going back to one of the first quilt design techniques I tried as a newish quilter. My quilt guild formed a One Block Wonder group last month and I couldn't resist. I went out and bought enough fabric to make 4 quilts and I've already cut up my first one!
By the way, can you imagine not even buying fabric for 2 years? My husband probably thought he got an unexpected raise from all the extra money in our accounts.
This time around, I'm experimenting with using a panel for my OBW. I got some fabulous tips and inspiration from Jackie O'Brien's website If These Threads Could Talk - gallery OH My! If you have time, please do check out her gallery. She is an instructor of the technique and is very generous with her tips, some of which I wish I read before I started cutting my first panel. There is also a new book out by the original author that shows how to do the technique, One-Block Wonder Panel Quilts
Here is a pic of my initial progress. I am so excited to see how it turns out!
Thanks for stopping by!
Jen
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