The Paradox of Choice

LeahDay

Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.

7 Responses

  1. elliek says:

    Sometimes a choice of few is so much better. As I get older the more I am unable to reach any sort of decision so well done on the mantra once the decision is made it's made. All your quilts look wonderful. Believe in yourself!

  2. Gemma Potts says:

    Oh Leah, thank you! I go through this storm of questions in my head when I think about having to quilt this dragon T shirt quilt for my nephew. I started FMQ for practice on a quilt I started 10 years ago ( purple, teach yourself how to quilt from a book project). I am still fiddling with it. It's where I audition and practice one of your designs. Then there's the Build a Block, where I practice what you teach. Then there's the T shirt quilt I am working on for a friend that is just being done in a diamond pattern with a walking foot because I have never done a whole queen sized quilt before and i am scared to death of messing it up. So I have worked on everything but FMQ the dragon because of fear over not being able to decide which of your many patterns to put where. So I am avoiding it and doing all these other things while the dragon sits in the UFO pile all pieced, batted and basted…..just waiting. It's all of the choices. It's mind boggling. It's terrifying. Maybe I will put a few in a hat and pick one. It's so good to know that you go through the same thing! Some people have such an artistic eye. Do they evolve their projects , or do they start with a vision that is complete? Maybe a little of both? I will follow your lead and just pick a pattern and go for it! No looking back. 🙂

  3. PattyAnne says:

    Omg. This is sooo like me! I need an intervention! Making decisions when confronted with MANY options is VERY HARD! Have you ever had the same problem when at the drug store picking up cough/cold meds?
    Anyway, I'm going to look up the book. Thanks for being honest.
    Patty

  4. Leah Day says:

    Here's my advice (cause I've been stuck like this too!) – pick the top 5 designs that come to mind that you can stitch nicely. They don't have to be perfect, but it will help if you have some experience quilting them. Make the list on a piece of paper and keep it next to your sewing machine. Now when you sit down to quilt the dragons you have only 5 choices. If that is still too many, roll a die or do ennie minnie miney mo.

    I now think the key to knowing what goes well is volume. The more you quilt, the more experience you have with designs, and the better you can see where things will fit nicely. I'm aiming to knock out 100 little art quilts – nothing huge or spectacular, but they are already changing my perspectives about color and design placement just from the experience of quilting two so far.

  5. Leah Day says:

    You should see me try to pick out hair spray! I tend to be VERY brand specific for this reason. Once I know something works, I never change brands / types until I absolutely can't find it anywhere. Call it OCD, but I hate shopping and I really hate having to pick between 100 different nearly identical products!

  6. Denise says:

    Everybody is different, and that's okay. I have an enormous fabric stash and have no problems choosing fabric from it for different projects. I would be enormously frustrated to the point of not being able to proceed if my choices were limited. I swim in a sea of choices and use my creativity to create beauty out of anarchy. I allow myself to make design changes at all stages of the process. Yes I have ripped apart many quilts to just replace a few pieces of fabric that weren't working for me.For me it is not a race, or a contest, it is a creative journey of self expression. As long as I am learning, and growing, and sharing, I am happy.

    I totally get that this process is different for everyone. Quilting should be fun. Do what makes you happy.

  7. For years I've done exactly what you're talking about here…in fact I vacillate and second-guess myself so much that I can literally feel my energy ebbing, sometimes to the point that my stomach gets upset. It's so ridiculous, and you are so right–too many choices only make things more difficult (which is why I deplore huge grocery stores). But one thing you said really struck me: "Rather than testing 100 different filler designs, I'm going to pick the 10 that jump in my head first." Recently I realized that what 'jumps in to our heads first' is actually our Creator-given INTUITION…and that if we just go with our intuition, life will be a lot simpler!! It was there all along; I just wasn't paying attention to it…or if it did get my attention, I doubted it. We really can be our worst enemies. So glad you are figuring out all these life lessons 30 years earlier than I did!!

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