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It's been a long time since I posted anything because quite honestly I've been in a burnout stage. I just dont' want to quilt anything - I go by my machine and my stomach turns because I know I need to quilt but no creativity flows. What is your answer to burnout? I think in part because I work full time, my only time to quilt is evenings and weekends and I don't always want to give up that time entirely to quilting. Any suggestions????

Thanks

Sharon

The Country Stitcher

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I wonder if putting a practice piece on the machine, ready to sew.. have thread installed and threaded, and anything else you can do in bits and pieces, some you will have to again, when your mojo kicks in and you want to quilt.... NOW.. it will be mostly ready. prioritize your quilting and family/church/work time. how much time each day or week, and roughly scratch it out.. It will work when you are ready. until then, just walk away for some time off... good luck

Ritar

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i get quilter's block alot when i feel pressured. (it's the true artist in me :)) so what i do is take a day or two to do something i want to do, whether it's piecing or going into town and hitting the aquarium (i love the belugas) sometimes you need to get out of the house and do something that is non-quilty. it is one small perk of being your own boss- i schedule at least three days a months into my calender for this, corporate people get 'personal' days, why can't i?

another thing i did recently was my LQS has a quilt-in all day every friday. i took one personal day, packed up the feather weight, and went and sewed. the energy of being with other quilters that i normal don't hang with got me excited about quilting again and that mind set broke the block wall and i was good to go again.....

i know how you feel- i hope this helped.....

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Burn out hurts....but the best thing to do is what Shannon said...just go do something totally unquilty. If you have customer quilts finish up those and don't take any for a while, it may take awhile to get over the burn out, but it does go away, but you have to go play with other things for awhile. I was so burnt out it took 4 years to even want to see my machine so I really don't want you to get to that point.

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I love what Shannon suggested for you. She is absolutely right on! And when you are ready, I too find it very inspiring to meet with others of like minds, like a sewing/quilting group, or even just spending a day with a friend, stitching and having a great time, it's amazing how the bug bites you!

Take care, I'm thinking of you. :cool:

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Thanks all for your kind thoughts and words of widsom. I have turned down some customer quilts and am pretty much caught up...so now maybe I can put one of my own on and play! I even had thoughts of selling my machine, but maybe Bonnie's reply about 4-year burnout will make me rethink it.

Maybe seeing Dawn's winning quilt at the Iowa State Fair, will inspire me!

You all are great - thanks a million for your support!

Sharon

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Hi Sharon,

I think we all suffer from burn-out at one time or another. Several years ago, I was simply wearing too many hats and could feel myself sliding into a deep, dark hole right in the middle of a 3 day workshop I was teaching. I finished that class on adrenaline and remote control! I had to cancel the next scheduled class and decided to take a 3 month break. The 3 months turned into 1 1/2 years! Don't let yourself get to that point.

I've found that the secret to taking time away from the machine is to do it without guilt. Last Friday, the 13th, was my birthday and when my husband asked me what I wanted to do, I said "Nothing. I'm going to do exactly what I feel like doing at any given moment." It was my birthday, so I decided I should NOT feel guilty about taking time just for me.

I had the best day I've had in ............well.......forever! :) I got up when I woke up. At 10:30AM I was at my computer doing jigsaw puzzles, because that's what I felt like doing at that moment. My hubby called down and said "Can I take you to Planet Earth for lunch?" I almost said yes, but then realized, I'd only be saying yes to please the hubby. What I REALLY wanted for lunch was this: "No, thank you. I'd like YOU to make me a chicken ciabatta sandwich." I heard him laugh, as he was now catching on to exactly how this day was going to go. First of all, he had to go shopping for the chicken and ciabatta. :cool: Remember, NO GUILT! ;)

By noon, I had a lovely lunch handed to me, complete with crisp, red grapes and iced tea. By then I was sitting on the covered deck reading a book, alone!

After I ate the lunch, I FELT like playing a game of Five Crowns with hubby, which of course I won! After that, I FELT like having a nap, so I did. Then I watched Dr. Oz on TV.

For supper we had BBQ Pacific Salmon, new potato salad and peaches & cream corn on the cob, fresh from the fields. MY favorite ice cream for dessert. We also ate off the best dishes! Imagine that!

Then I went back to reading my book. By now hubby knew not to ask when I was coming to bed! LOL

It was the MOST fabulous day I've ever had, not because I got to do what I wanted to do, but because I consciously banished the guilt!

Here's a trick I learned from my sister. I always wondered how she got so many of her own quilts quilted. She said that as soon as she finishes piecing a top, it goes on a hanger with the backing AND binding prepared, right behind the last quilt that came in from a customer. When her quilt comes up in the line up, she quilts it. She considers herself her most important customer. SMART!

Here's hoping you feel better soon Sharon. Sometimes it's not so much physical exhaustion as it is mental. Change your self-talk from "I have to............" to "I want to.........", and you'll be amazed at the change in your whole attitude. We all need to learn how to put and KEEP the JOY in our lives.

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Darlene

How wonderful for you to be guilt free and do just exactly what you felt like doing all day. I am so glad that you told this story to everyone. It is just too seldom that we do take the time to give ourselves first consideration. I think as wives, mothers, grandmothers, daughters, daughter in laws, and the list goes on and on the family and friends ( not to mention to most clients) that are put in front of ourselves. It is just not part of our makeup to put ourself first, and rightfully so most of the time as we are caregivers. But what is left of ourselves to give if we give so much that it takes such a huge toll as to take away our joy of what we are supposed to love and enjoy so much. I posted my retreat pictures from this past weekend on the forum yesterday. This was a retreat that I have planned a whole year in advance. I look forward to it all year and inevitably something will come up at the last moment to interfere as that is just how my live goes. I do not, however, change my plans if it can be helped. I left a house full of company at home and even took an extra day off from work to stay for the entire retreat. It was wonderful, great thing is phone service is very spotty so not many sos calls get thru, no tv, wonderful food and if the weather had been better it would have been absolutely perfect. I really needed it and as usual as soon as you get back to reality there are problems and life in general to deal with, but the important thing is you can be refreshed and ready to face all that life has to throw at you once again. So go ahead and give yourself permission to be selfish with your time once in awhile and hopefully you will avoid total burnout!!

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Darlene, I love your "tips" for re - inpiration!

I was on a six month burn-out, had a special friend visit for a month (she is one of the few I trust on my longarm), we filled the month with creativity, classes at Quilt Hawaii on the Big Island, a maintenance class with Barb M. in Catherines (Coffeeland) wonderful studio; a fabric painting/dying class on the Northshore, a spectacular art festival in Haleiwa, lots of good good stuff! But what really got me going was - seeing her get so many of HER UFO's done and making full use of my machine. The week before she left, I was absolutely itching to get back on my machine, and when she left, I loaded one of my quilts and took off.

Take a creative sabatical - don't feel guilty - and then dust off your machine and load something special on!!

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You are very welcome! I've now decided that I'm going to have a birthday Sunday one day every month, and I'm going to treat my hubby to the same. What better gift could I give than a willing, generous heart, with NO expectations in return. How much better would all marriages be if we had this attitude every day? Too bad it takes so many years for us to finally figure it out!!! :o

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Sharon,

I so know how you feel but I'm not really burnt out with quilting more with life. LOL MIL moved in over 3 weeks ago and she keeps me busy and can be very demanding. My quilting is still my therapy and boy I hope it doesn't go away. To prevent myself from getting burned out with customer quilts I try to make sure to give myself quilting time too. Right now it is really hard because I'm just not getting any free time. As soon as MIL's place is cleaned out and my house is back in order I will be getting a little me time in...I hope. I am taking Darlene's advice now though because after I home from work, went to the grocery store for MIL. MIL wanted a shake which I did, then wanted to go for a walk and I guilted my mother into taking her, and after I put away the groceries I decided to take 30 minutes for me. I should be making dinner. MIL came in after her walk and just kept asking one thing after another. Then she says are you working or playing. I said working (OK so I'm working on me but she doesn't have to know that) so she went into the other room to watch a show and now she's laying down because she is tired. Hubby has mother duty tonight and I'm going to go work on this customer quilt.

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Darlene, Thank you for the words of inspiration. I'm not burned out with quilting but like others have said, life can burn you out. Have you ever considered a career in motivational speaking? You'd be good at it! :)

Sharon, I hope the burnout passes soon for you and you're back in the groove soon. Take care of you!

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Originally posted by WestieMom

Have you ever considered a career in motivational speaking? You'd be good at it! :)

Thanks for the compliment, but I do NOT need another hat to wear. ;) I'm busy getting rid of the ones I don't want, or that others have made me wear. The resentments build up to the point where you become unkind not only to yourself, but to the ones you love the most and that's just wrong!

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My solution to burnout? I went part time at work. Yeahhhh! I am so loving it. I have worked full time in the ER (usually with more than one job) for 27 years, and went to grad school some where in there. Kids are grown, I remarried (after 15 years), and finally burned out on everything. Then I started seriously quilting. So....I made time for it. I am very lucky that I was able to cut down to part time. I now work 2 12hr shifts a week. That leaves me 5 days a week to do what I want :D. Man, am I lucky or what?

Sorry, I don't think this gives you much insight, but man, it sure makes me realize how lucky I am.

Keep your chin up. Live is always changing. Be good to yourself.

Peggy

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I think Darlene is right about the Guilt being the big problem.

When I'm overwhelmed, by deadlines, too many customer quilts staring at me, or the kids & housework needing me desperately -- that's when the guilt and burnout get to me.

It gets old to lay my head on the pillow at night and go over all the things that should have gotten done today, but didn't. Ugh, the GUILT! The answer for me is "baby steps" whether I like it or not. AND giving myself some credit for what DID get done, not the guilt for what should have or didn't get done.

I have a super simple T-shirt quilt on the frame that should have been done weeks ago (seriously, the customer is dying of cancer and wants this done for her last grandchild since she won't be here for graduation -- can you say DEADLINE?). I walk through the room a million times a day, all summer, and say, I just can't get it done today I'm busy with ___________ fill in the blank (kids, housework, errands, work, outside chores, animals, etc.)

Well, yesterday I walked through there and said, Maybe I could get one pass done while the kids do their homework in the next room? And I did. Actually I did two passes. No, I didn't get it done and when I was going over the events of the day -- I didn't let the guilt for not finishing try to attack me. Instead I said to myself, Hey, you got two passes done -- one more than you hoped for, you're that much closer, and tomorrow just try to do one more pass.

For me, I just absolutely must find a way to banish the guilt, and give myself real credit for the babysteps that DID get done. That helps me not feel overwhelmed, which keeps me from going to the burnout place ;)

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thanks Darlene, another phrase a friend gave me is "don't should on yourself" I love it and try to remember it every day. hope you find something that works for you too Sharon. Another way to slow your work load is to give your prices a nudge upward!! That was mentioned in a business class I took. as ever dale

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While I'm not burned out; I'm feeling overwhelmed with a new full-time job, so I can identify with you. I'm a nurse, and we were taught in nursing school the importance of taking care of yourself so you are capable of taking care of others. This is also true in other areas of life--you need to be rested and emotionally healthy to function well, in work and "play." Take time for yourself, and some time off of quilting until you feel ready. Soon you will be excited to get back to it! Hope things are getting better for you already!

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