Making Room for the New Quilt

Is it ever acceptable to start a new quilt when you still haven’t finished the one you’ve been working on? I always feel very guilty buying fabric for a new project when I know there is another project lying in pieces all over my sewing table. However, there are some cases when it’s OK to set an in-progress project aside to start something new. Consider these:

• A gift-giving occasion has arisen – You never know, a baby shower could pop up at any moment. It is always defensible to set aside the old for the time being to start something new. After all, you are on a 9-month time limit and baby quilts are so cute and fun!
• I’m pulling out my hair – Your current project is just too difficult or demanding right now given everything else that’s on your plate (work, kids, the garden needs weeding again...). Now would be a good time to undertake something simpler and more relaxing.
• This is never getting finished – We all have that one project. The one we started with the best intentions. Its been years now and you no longer work on it. Yet it sits there in the corner mocking you. It’s time to let that one go. Rip it part and make it into something new or donate it and all its parts to someone else who can make good use of it. Try again with something else!

If you are feeling unmotivated or some other new sewing circumstances have arisen, it’s not a crime to set your current project aside. Working on something new might even generate the spark you need to get the old project finished. Imagine how good you’ll feel with two finished projects!

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Please join us here every other Wednesday for another fun, fiber-filled installment of By the Yard. You can read more By the Yard® comics at www.bytheyardcomics.com and check out the 5th annual By the Yard® Calendar for Quilters at www.bytheyardstore.com.