The tally so far
I think my reluctance to work on my projects is due to something I discovered after I finished the string quilt. I have a folder on my computer that contains photos of the tops that I finish and, as I added the photo of the string quilt, I paused and thought, 'I wonder how many I have now...?'
Mereth says she has at least 130 tops, and that's it's fatal to start asking silly questions about whether you need to make more quilts. So long as we enjoy it, we're not hurting anyone or spending money we don't have, then it's perfectly fine to keep on. I agree with her, but I also want to devote more time to quilting in future.
It can be hard to fit our quilts in when the customer quilts have to take precedence, but I think I need to start loading a top of my own after Mereth has finished for the day. I can finish a panto in the evening, or get a custom quilt basted or ditch-stitched before the Statler is needed again. If I don't make the effort, then nothing will happen.
I also have a folder of my finished quilts, but I don't have a picture of each one, so that folder is incomplete. I went through that and realized that I don't have a lot of them anymore, they've been sold or donated. So the current count is 15 donated, 27 sold, and 50 still here.
I'm going to sort out my tops and work out what I want for each one.
Some will be heirloom quilts for the family:
Lady Of The Lake
Pink and Grey Mosaic
Showgrounds
Tumbling Blocks
(hand quilting for this one, because it's all hand pieced)
Others will be utility quilts. Some of the tops will be sold, some will be quilted and sold. I don't have any final figure in mind for how many I want to keep, but making some decisions now will help me feel better about having so much on hand. At least they're all stored nicely, just waiting for the next step, whenever that happens. Once the weather cools down, quilting will seem so much more attractive.
7 comments:
I hear this comment all the time about "not needing any more quilts"! But as you said if you enjoy doing a hobby, why stop? If you were a painter, would you stop painting because you did not have anywhere to hang more? I have lots of quilts that I want to make yet, but like you need to get to work on those waiting to be quilted, but the customers take priority here, (they pay the bills!)
All the quilts are beautiful!
I counted my tops the other day and had 21 -I have to say I feel much better about that number after reading your post. I’ve gone through a lot of changes in the last few years with more family responsibilities so I’m not finishing as many quilts as I used to but we bought the longarm back to live with us last January (it was in our vacation condo for a few years as we did a couple moves) and I have a goal of quilting one top each week I don’t travel. It worked well for me last year and I’m doing it again this year but for the most part, I don’t worry about having finished tops - if something were to happen to me today and I couldn’t quilt any longer I’d have another longarm quilter finish a few for family and donate the other tops to a charitable cause.
Many years ago I received some words of wisdom from a friend: quilt tops are much easier to store than finished quilts. I feel like I must find a home for my finished quilts, and it's not always my house, as I simply don't have the room.
I'm curious how you go about selling your quilts. Around here (California) its very difficult. Seems everyone wants a quilt, but they don't want to pay anything close to what they're worth.
Your "family heirloom " quilts are spectacular!
I think we are all guilty of having more quilts then we need, but I am positive they will all find a good home one day and that you cannot rush finding a good home for a rescue pet or a quilt.
I think if you enjoy quilting then by all means line the favorite quilts up and start quilting them. But I also agree with the comment that it is easier to store tops because they take up less space!
You make beautiful quilts. I agree with Mereth why not do what you love. I have too much fabric to think about stopping!
And I thought having a longarm was the answer to unquilted tops!
While I agree with your sister, 100 unfinished quilt tops would probably give me a heart attack!:) Big congrats on your quilting creds though! The great thing for you is that you truly can finish up quilt tops quickly when you want to, with the long arm machine available on a regular basis. I am just trying to learn the basics of machine quilting so I can finish a few a little faster than my normal hand quilting speed!
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