I have gone to my stash and picked out material for a baby or children's quilt to donate...sometimes sewing for others takes the stress and pressure away from doing a "creative" or "challenging" quilt. I know we love the challenge and hunt for a fun new project.

This is why I keep some hand sewing around all the time. Whether it is embroidery or my Grandmother's Flower Garden. There are just some times when I don't feel like setting at the machine and sewing! Sometimes I have to MUCH time to sew and I get board with it. Then there are weeks like this when I really really want to sew but my sewing machine is packed up so I can't! Thank goodness the move is almost here and I will be able to unpack my machines and sew again!

You want to sew because the machine is packed up! That's just like me and driving...I never want to go anywhere (unless it's to a fabric store) until my car is in the shop or I have loaned it to someone! :lol:

Sometimes I just need a "little" visit to the LQS. I have a system. Look over stash, look over looseleaf notebook with saved patterns and try to just pick up one piece to compliment something(s) already on the shelves.

For several years, I've been cutting out pix of quilts from catalogs and stuffing them in a big plastic zipper bag. There's usually a backlog of quilts I want to make, so I rarely get to a point where I need to look for inspiration, BUT if I do, that's the first place I look. I've accumulated hundreds of pictures and it's not very organized, but I don't care. I also have lots of magazines, but not many quilts in them that I like except a few prize winners that are waaaaaaaay beyond my skill level and always will be. And of course, there are quilt patterns stored in my computer ... the free PDF downloads.

Browse through your pix and your fabrics and you'll probably find inspiration.

I find when I am working on a quilt that my mind goes nutso and I start planning what I am going to do next. Then when the quilt is done and ready for the quilter's shop I am all ready to start on the next one. My break comes in when I fix the boxes that I have thrown my colors into. I separate the scraps from the larger pieces of fabric, throw the scraps into labeled baggies and they all go into a box. I found the neatest block to make from Quilter's Cache - 12". It is called Depression and it is a perfect block for the scraps. I think I will make a table runner next. That'll get rid of a lot of the scraps. All the patches are either light or dark, all different, whatever. So I always know what is next. I just put the sewing machine back in the case for a while and let it rest. It has been the busiest. Oh yah! I give it a good cleaning before it goes on vacation. Edie

Tale a short drive with your camera and then you can do a landscape quilt = go to an old building and look at their floors - alot of designs are out there! Use our world for inspiration.

I keep a list of quilts that I want to make as well as a list of UFOs. I rarely get to my "to do" list because there's always a quilt that I see that I want to make, but in the rare occasions when I'm "stuck" I look at my list and then go to my stash. I have pre-bundled fabrics for future quilts, and have about 30 of these bundles just waiting for a pattern! I have soooo many books and patterns I've taken from magazines that I can always find something I'm just dying to make. If all else fails, I'll go through my UFOs and just seeing them makes me anxious to get one out and start working on it again. But there are times when I just don't feel like sewing, so I'll take a break and do some knitting, or gardening, or read, or just watch tv.

It's the middle of spring here everywhere I look is inspiration. Take a walk maybe you too will see something inspiring.

WOW lots of great suggetions. I love the swaps, and maybe after the May Doll Quilt I'll take a little break. I have several ideas for other quilts (besides the swaps), but just can't seem to get myself in gear.

Quilting is a form of tension release for me. Each day after work I spend an hour secluded in the room sewing etc. However for the last week it has just been moving fabric from place to place -leafing through books - nothing with a purpose. Instead of releasing tension, I'm getting all tense.

Maybe I'll take a few days off and not even enter the room and give both my brain and eyes a rest. (I can always finish up some cross stitching projects)

At least I know I'm not alone when it comes to a block and I won't worry to hard about it.