I don’t know about you, but when I am coping with stress or difficult times, my sewing output goes way up. As in WAY WAY up. It’s not that I especially spend more time at the sewing machine, it’s just that I switch into stress-induced Full Production Mode. Do you know what I mean? I batch sew multiple projects and it’s pedal-to-the-metal. I’m all about getting things D.O.N.E., done.
I haven’t really figured out why production sewing in difficult times is so therapeutic, but it has always been that way for me and I have heard that it is true for many others as well. One of my favorite quilts, the pink and orange beauty to the right, was made when my Dad was in and out of the hospital all summer. The whole quilt, start to finish only took a couple of weeks, which is really fast for me.
My favorite technique when I am in Full Production Mode is to batch sew as much as possible. I will cut out 3, 4 or even 5 quilts and sew them all at once. Or, as is the case this (apparently stressful) month, I’ll cut out 1 or 2 new quilts but also dig into my stash of unfinished-but-already-cut-out-quilts and add those to the mix.
Right now I’ve got four quilts going.
Quilt #1
This is kind of an improv-from-the-scrap-squares project where I am trying to use up an excess of yellow and going for kind of an autumnal feel.
Quilt #2
A quilt for my daughter that we’re calling “Pinksplosion”—it has pink, pink, pink and pink. It’s just big nine-patches. This one is on the design wall now.
Quilt #3
I’m not usually one for purple, but a friend was making a civil-war-era inspired single Irish chain she saw at a museum and I had to join in!
Quilt #4
This one is for my son. Green is his favorite color. I had to talk him into the black background, but it is going to turn out soooo well, I’m glad he went along with me.
At any rate, I was thinking about how I always gravitate toward sewing when things are tough, and the line, “When the going gets tough…” kept running through my head. Then it hit me: When the going gets tough, the tough get sewing!
Well, at least I do.
Naturally I had to make an art print in the style of the Keep Calm poster rage, plus a second more modern one for fun.
So, without further ado, I present to you:
Get Sewing
by Angela May Waller
The 8×10 size is available for FREE to download in the Simple Creative Home Notebook. Just sign up for access and you can download and print these and many other fun things for free including sewing and quilting patterns and DIY project checklists!
Now I’m off to deal with the aftermath of this much production sewing. Yikes! I have one messy sewing space!!
What about you? How do you cope with tough times?
