Why I Am Lazy and Stingy

It’s December 11th as I write this and I need a Christmas gift by December 14th. I happen to have a quilt loaded on my Q’Nique midarm. I thought it would be done with it by now, but who wants to bet I’ll be sewing the binding late into the night on December 13th. Because that’s how I roll, but that’s not how I WANT to roll.

Last weekend I attended a surprise birthday party for a dear friend. I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for it, and it was out of town so there was travel involved, but I had a quilt sitting on the shelf, ready to go, for a birthday gift. Lawd’s sake, that almost never happens for me but that’s the quilter I want to be. I would like to have a closet full of quilts ready for baby showers, weddings, birthday presents, etc.

There are two huge obstacles in my path…

One, I hate giving away quilts. I feel awful admitting that, but I do. I spend SO much time creating them, it’s almost like giving away a child. I mean, some of them took longer to make than my kids did. I started my current work-in-progress in January 2016 so that’s a five-year project. A toddler, if you will. And who wants to give away their toddler? Not me!

The second hurdle is that I’m a procrastinator. Given a hard date and a quilt to make as a gift, I almost never make my deadline. I usually find one excuse after another. My kid needs an emergency appendectomy, I HAVE to clean under the refrigerator, there’s a hurricane on the way. Something!

So there you have it…I’m a lazy grinch. I’ve given away about nine quilts to my favorite family members and close, close friends. That’s it. Not a great record considering I’ve been making about 12 quilts a year for the last few years. I have friends who give away loads of quilts and I feel so small next to them.

I would like to do better. That’s why my goal for 2021 is to make a few extra quilts to put in my gift closet. Wish me luck in my noble quest.

How about you? Are you a quilting Santa or Grinch?