Current projects and thoughts on quilting as a hobby

Recently, I have been flipping between a few projects:

The oldest is a double wrench quilt that I have been working on since the summer, using Cotton + Steel S. S. Bluebird, mostly, but I admit I got tired of that endless sea of blue, and added some yellow prints, mostly also Cotton + Steel. It’s far too late, of course, to change, but I wish I had used a gold as the background from the beginning. I guess, technically, it is never really too late, but my interest in this project has dropped, so it is now only worked on as a break between projects, and survives in that it is laid out so that I can drag it to sew ins, and that if I have a moment, it is easy to pick up and work on. I definitely do not see myself ripping out 50 blocks to put in a different background fabric!

Doesn't the gold look awesome with the blue?

The next is the quilt I started at the class the A2MQG had with Amanda Jean of  crazy mom quilts. The pattern is Ring Me from No Scrap Left Behind. I pulled this out when I was sick of double wrenches. I had completed two blocks in the class and had many in pieces. I pieced many many more scrappy block borders, and brought the number of completed blocks up to 11. I also revised my layout to use only 42 blocks, rather than the 60 of the first plan! These involve a lot of piecing, trimming, and ironing, and repeating, and I need to be in a certain mood to work on it. I put it away last night, but hopefully not forever. Maybe it will come with me on the upcoming guild retreat.

I'm using this sweet print in three colorways from Momo's Just Wing It line as a center for my blocks.

I also have an Irish chain quilt in the works, in red, blue and yellow for a charity quilt. I’m feeling a little guilty because the blocks are really so close to being done! Certainly much closer than my other quilts are! I probably could have a top by the end of the weekend if I put my mind to it. But I just haven’t wanted to work on it.

I also have another Irish Chain, using all Heather Ross fabrics, which just needs to be quilted (well, and bound). I’m over halfway done with it, but I reached my limit on free motion about a week ago (or two weeks ago?), and moved back to piecing. My main problem with quilting is that it limits my ability to watch tv. While piecing requires less attention, so there is more opportunity to, cough, multitask. Also laying a quilt out on a table tends to attract the resident wildlife.

Quilting with a friend.

What I really want to do, though, is start new projects. I have three in mind. I may just toss over all my WIPs and move on. It’s hard to work on something that doesn’t really interest you, especially when interest is the only reason to work on a project, and it’s hard to keep a big project, like a quilt, interesting for as long as it takes to complete. But I’m not sure finishing uninteresting things is worth it. It’s a hobby, after all, not a how much you can get done competition. I'm not proposing abandoning them entirely, but letting them slide until the moment is right?