What's Stopping You?

Have you ever had a time when no matter what you THINK you want to do, you're stymied? Blocked? Thwarted? I'm kind of there. The sad thing is what is stopping me is that my studio (sewing room, whatever you want to call it) is an utter disaster area and it is so bad (and I'm not exaggerating) I can't stand to be in there...

The floor is covered. I can't get to the thread cabinet for all the stuff which has fallen off the back of my sewing cabinet. The table set up as an ironing surface is, no kidding, piled three feet high.

So...I'm spending valuable quilting time picking up and sorting and throwing out....all because I did not live by the addage "If it is in your hand, put it in it's rightful place." Dumb.


Sometimes we let these curves get us because we are afraid to succeed...or that we don't think we really can so we throw up roadblocks and create self-fulfilling prophecies. Sometimes it is one of a myriad of other fears, demons or whatever.

I keep on thinking about something that another art quilter said to me about Natalya Aikens (ooh..is this quilter gossip???? Hmm). She said that Natalya is really busy and has very little time to create, but she goes into her studio and spends maybe a half an hour or so at a time and manages to carve out time and create lots in that small amount. Like many of us, Natalya wears many hats and is pulled in a variety of ways...but she does it.

Which makes me think. Her studio is probably set up so that when she leaves, she has things neat and tidy and all things set up preparatory for her return...the next step's tools and needs laid out. Perhaps she even writes herself a note as to what comes next..in a quilting journal. By doing this, she records her progress and creates a history of the project she's working on.

But I'm guessing. I think what I have described is what I'm going to try to do....as soon as I dig out the mess. Do take a look at the hotlink I put on Natalya's name. I don't know her at all, but her work is fantastic. So...think of it this way, we have some curves in the road, but eventually, it opens up to a straight shot...at least it does on this road.

(Horseshoe Bend Rd., Pleasant Hill, OH...yes, it IS a horse-shoe bend on the Stillwater River and it, like so many rivers in Ohio, is on a deeply cut area, so the road switches back in order to cross it).