Quilters come with strings attached. This is a well-known witticism in the quilting world, but I think I see it differently than most. For me, my strings are the tools and accessories that are needed to create my art, the most important of which, right now, are those that are needed to set up my long-arm quilting setup.
I have all the parts, pieces and accessories that I have always used, and they are all in good condition. However, I haven’t had this thing set up in a couple of years, so I spend some time at online forums in order to reacquaint myself with it all. Guess what? There are so many new products out there and they include items for making quilts and machine embroidery! So many new items that I feel I must have!
At the top of my want it list are these great gizmos that make it quick and easy to attach the quilt, backing at batting to my quilt rollers. I’ve learned all I can about it, including watching several videos, and yet I still can’t make up my mind. What I now have is perfectly acceptable and not difficult to use, and part of me doesn’t see the need to upgrade, while the other part of me is yelling that I must purchase them now! This last voice is probably the one that will win, but still I resist.
I’m actually like this with most of my higher-end quilting supplies and machine embroidery tools. I can’t afford to buy all of the ones I want, so I have learned to prioritize by whether or not the item will actually be helpful to me. Sometimes the item I want most turns out to be lower on the list than something that is much more helpful. If I spent my money on the most wanted item, I may not have enough to get the ones I truly need.
It’s amazing how much this reflects life outside of embroidery or quilting. Isn’t this the same as how we budget for items like groceries, clothing, cars and more? Of course it is! My husband obviously doesn’t handle the household finances because he quite often just tells me to buy whatever it is that I want. It’s a lucky thing for our finances that he doesn’t have many wants, with an attitude like that!
Of course, when I have an interest in a new product, I find that I spend way too much time online trying to find more and more information on the item. This, in turn, has me stumbling upon even more items that I am interested in, and more items I need to research. While I enjoy a good bout of window shopping online, this time would be so much better spent in my sewing room, using the tools I already have and perfecting new techniques!
So, if you feel you aren’t getting as many of your projects done as you would like and can’t figure out where the time has gone, think about your online time. Even if you’re researching machine embroidery designs, looking for free embroidery downloads, or drooling over the newest gadgets for making quilts, you are not really participating in making your projects!
Like me, you may need to log off from time to time and check back into your sewing room and projects! Of course, there’s nothing saying you can’t let your dreams take flight with a bit of surfing the net!
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