Overwhelmed

My goodness!  In my search to learn all I can about quilting, I have become mind boggled. Literally! There are so many great blogs, tutorials, web sites and just plain fun information out there, that I have to limit myself - daily - on how much time I spend cruisin' my favorite sites!  I equate it to the 'olden days' when info was gathered by checking quilting books out from the library and reading them page to page, taking them back, checking out another one. Except in that process, I can go through it at a snail's pace if I want.  Here on the Internet, I click from here to there, back to here and then on to beyond, and before I know it, my brain is filled with so much info that I finally just crash. Lock  'er up and call it a day.

But it's all good! Over the past two months I have started to dream in quilting designs and pieced patterns. Color, tone and texture filter through my head as I shop. When I'm out for a walk, the juxtaposition of house colors against stark, bare, winter trees or warm pines and spruce brings to mind a fabric that I know must exist out there. Somewhere.

But then when I step into my sewing room to start a project, I become stymied. It's like I've hit a brick wall, because there are so many options, choices, plans, skill sets, possibilities - what to do, what to do?  So often times I do nothing. I play around with the fabrics I have, look at the pattern books. Go back to the computer and cruise again. It's really a vicious circle.

I have decided that, perhaps, it's really not my own personality flaw. I have never come before this dilemma before.  It's just that I am so excited by this new arena in my life but I don't have time to do it all.

Light bulb goes off - I need to create some order out of this chaos!

So this is what I'm going to work on this year.

• Depleting my stash
• Gathering examples of designs I love
• Picking designs which are out of my comfort zone
• Actually making them
• Learning to quilt on my soon-to-be-delivered long arm machine (insert squealing here!)
• Finish projects
• Turn my passion into a business without losing the passion that got me there in the first place!

Put order to chaos. That's all I need to do?

How about you? How are you handling your chaos?