When is the mojo coming back?

 

For some of us, the school bus and the familiar schedule that goes with it brings us back to deadlines and details that often leave for summer vacation in June. For others who are no longer bound to observe those summer rituals, fall comes in quietly, closer to the date on the calendar than the start of school. 

 

But how do you get the mojo - the to do list - the groove back?  Ten weeks is a long time to put things aside, and it's HARD to dive back in.

Sometimes that break can be liberating, allowing you to step back and take a look at what's still on the to do list. 

Can I re-arrange, remove (oh, the shock!), re-prioritize?

What about cooping with other quilters to have a stash busting kickoff to fall?

Try not only looking back at what was still left undone, but also look ahead to see what's coming up before the next hard deadline.  After all, lamenting about time lost isn't nearly as productive as planning ahead for what's the most meaningful way to spend your time.  Meaningful isn't necessarily measured in how many blocks made...

 



Along the way, I've walked this path enough to have learned a few things.

If you want to start a quilting project as a Holiday present, now you understand why there are Christmas in July sales.  Life got much more tranquil once I accepted that no matter how I tried, if the gift wasn't done by Thanksgiving, forget about it. Why was I the last one to get that memo?

Maybe others are different, but I can work successfully and productively at one project at a time. Everytime I try to tackle too many things at one, I get 'stuck' and paralyzed.  I think I've finally got it! (There is a major exception to that rule - when planning for a retreat, always bring more than one!).

I work best with a deadline. Put it on the calendar, and then back into what needs to be done.

Never, ever enter a quilt into a show if it's not done.  See item above.

Fall will come soon enough, then winter, then spring.  The cycle repeats.