Dealing with Setbacks

I have a long and consistent history of NOT dealing with setbacks. My sewing room shelves are full of projects which ran into any of a variety of roadblocks. Instead of dealing with them, I just put them away; a setback presents a bigger problem than I am willing to face, apparently.

One such project is a quilt I was making in '06 for my daughter-in-law, and now she's not my d-i-l anymore. What do I do with that UFO? I stopped working on it because I sewed about 80 2-piece units together backwards, so rather than begin the stitch removal process, I just packed it away -- out of sight, out of mind.

Another is one that I was hand-piecing. I really enjoy handwork, but I ran out of one of the fabrics (it is a 2-color quilt). I put the project away until I was able to locate more fabric. After a lengthy search, I did find the fabric I needed, but by that time, I'd forgotten the measurements of the pieces I needed. So, I continued to ignore it. I did eventually work on it, but then some other bump in the road popped up. I have so many blocks finished on this project, it is really a crime that I haven't made myself finish it. I will, I will. I promise!

So the current project, the Patchwork Snowflake, has presented some roadblocks, and I am forcing myself to keep my focus on finishing it anyway! I am determined to do it. The problem that was most challenging was that I was short by about 1/4 yard on the blue paisley used in the pieced blocks. I went through the trash and sewed some tiny discarded scraps together in order to get the final 3 blocks made. Her are a couple of photos of the "creative" piecing.

I hated the very thought of doing all this crazy salvaging of scraps, and I could so easily have chucked the whole thing into a storage tub. Whatever made me work through the adversity? I think it was the satisfaction of being able to see it through to the finish. Plus, this quilt represents the first new project of retirement. I spent the first 5 months of retirment focused on finishing UFOs. At the end of October, I began this and I was so excited to be doing it! It's a landmark quilt for me, and it has to be completed. If I don't, I set myself up for wasting my freedom! Don't want that, do I?

I am so close to having the top entirely pieced. Hopefully, tomorrow's post will feature a picture of the completed top. I have not decided on border fabrics yet. That presents a potential setback, but I think I am going to be able to overcome it.