Fear

I’m entering two quilts in the quilt show. Neither of them is finished yet. The quilt show is in 6 weeks. Guess what I’m going to be doing?

“Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, but I LOVE ORANGE” is the first one… It needs a binding, label, and hanging sleeve. So not much more on that, really.

But THIS one, which I’ve titled “Rhapsody in Blue,” is a LOOOOOOONG way from being finished. I’ve been somewhat afraid to work on it again, because last time I worked on it, it consumed me. I didn’t really sleep for about a week, because I became so obsessed with the process. Then came the trip to Texas and I was away from the sewing machine for a while, so I lost momentum. But in a lot of ways, I’m a little nervous about getting back to it… I know it will completely absorb me, and I’ll daydream all the time that I’m NOT able to sit at the sewing machine and ponder the next thing I’m going to do to it.

I know some of you out there are going to think I’m a freak. But I can’t explain it. The euphoria that comes from working on something like this is at the same time exhilarating and daunting. This quilt is such a challenge for me because it’s unlike anything I have ever done before. I named it “Rhapsody in Blue” because that piece of music, which happens to be my all-time favorite piece of music, was also groundbreaking. This is not to say that my quilt will change the direction of quilting the way that Gershwin changed American music in 1924, but it sure is rockin’ my little world.

So. I need a pep talk. Mostly because I’m, once again, standing at the Jumping Off Place, afraid to jump off. But this quilt has to be finished essentially by my birthday, which is September 3. I am nowhere even CLOSE.