Set your quilting spirit free. Wake up and take a close look at your quilting life. Take charge and get quilting now! You have the power to overcome your quilting fears forever if you consider how important quilts are to you and everyone around you. Here are several excuses I have repeatedly encountered over the years, but they all seem petty compared to the joys of quilting.

"I'm not good at quilting." — Who is? I am considered a professional quilter, but I have my fears too. It's not easy to make prize winning quilts, but they all start out with worry and regret. Ultimately you work with your quilt for a while and eventually it begins to glow like the stars in the heavens above at twilight.

"I don't have time to quilt." — Well, who really does? Every day I have to squeeze a little more in, but every once in a while I reflect on my life and I cut back on some of my obligations. It is best to learn to overcome the couple seconds of stress to say "no," than it is to be stressed for weeks after agreeing to something you really had no interest in.

"I can handle the piecing, but I can't do the quilting." — WOW! Have you seen the quilting that most professional long-arm quilters do? They can take a quilt that you spend months working on and in just one day ruin it with a simple all-over stitch that thousands of other quilts have. After a while long-arm quilts begin to look like they were made in China. Try your hand at quilting and I am sure that your creativity will peak and you will see the magic of quilting, and the art of the quilt.

"I'm not materialistic, but I really love quilting for the fabric shopping." — I can come up with a million excuses to go fabric shopping, but what good is the material without the patchwork passion? Over the past 2 decades I've been quilting I have passed through several fabric phases—collecting, petting, piecing, and quilting. Collecting is the easy part, petting really is rewarding for the first few strokes, piecing requires skill and a humorous attitude, and quilting is the most rewarding because you start to see all of your hard work come together. No one wants a piece of a quilt, they want the whole quilt!

"The process of making a quilt is intimidating and overwhelming." — Waking up can be too, so how do you manage to wake up and get out of bed everyday? There aren't many things in the world that aren't overwhelming if you think about it. What are your plans for dinner tonight? This question can be paralyzing when you get down to it, but over time you have learned how to deal with it and it becomes second nature to you. Practice makes quilting easier and less intimidating.

"I quilt best on the 32nd and 33rd of the month." — It takes a moment to catch this one, but when I heard it I was dumbfounded. After thinking for a moment I realized that humor is a terrific way to hide our insecurities, but quilting is not a dragon, monster, or torture device. If you don't want to quilt, you shouldn't, but don't prance around calling yourself a quilter. Honesty can set you free.

"I love quilting, but I am afraid of UFOs." — Every quilter is familiar with a UFO, but once a new quilter got it all wrong. She thought that aliens might come out of the quilter's UFO and that she would be abducted. Her fear of aliens was greater than anyone could imagine. After talking her through the meaning she started to quilt and has successfully finished several quilts. I won't name her by name, but Jinny knows who she is.

Quilt with confidence! You have the power and creativity to make amazing quilts, so take the leap of faith and get sewing. Over time the needle in hand feels comforting, while allowing you to relax and seek refuge in the greatest art of all time — quilting.

THE LAMEST QUILTING EXCUSES

I didn't get a chance to sew last night due to a power outage.

My doctor told me not to quilt because I needed more relaxation time.

I ran out of thread.

Recently I found out that most of my fabric is cotton, and I am allergic to cotton.

My husband is so energy conscious that he made me a solar-powered sewing machine and it was cloudy yesterday.

I must be the only person in the world who gets car sickness when I sew.

No, I haven't started my quilt yet because I don't want to look too eager.