Most of the time, I just want to be in my sewing room. And I don’t do any quilting or sewing for my job or business. Sewing for me is just simply necessary. I’ve tried in the past to create a business around my hobby, and as soon as I do, I start to shut down that part of my life.

Sewing and quilting for me is like the release valve on my Instant Pot pressure cooker. I can remember when my boys were little, if I needed to improve my attitude after a long day, I would go make something. Anything, really. And, if I was too tired to think, I would press strips of fabric, or pick up scraps on my floor and sew them to a square and make a hotpad, or sometimes I would just simply sit and spin around on my sewing chair.

But going back to why it’s not my business; what’s that about?

You know, I think part of it is because it means so much to me to have that time, and people who figure I can “whip something up” for them, undervalue my time and skills. And at almost age 54, I’ve finally learned how to set a few boundaries on my time. I won’t say I am great at it, but I am learning. I can’t even count the number of projects I’ve agreed to, when I absolutely had zero interest in them, but said yes, because 1. I knew I could do it, and 2. I didn’t know how to say No.

And then, what happens? I despise the time I work on the project and I get irritable. Sure, when I deliver the work, the person is pleased and I honestly think, they think that it probably just took me a few minutes.

Bottom line. I don’t need people to come up with projects that I could do for them, because I have so many in my head that I want to get to, for the sheer pleasure of creating. That’s the bottom line.

Now, it’s not just sewing projects that I get asked to do. But, I want to share next, one strategy that helped me immensely this past year, in saying ‘No,’ without guilt or having to come up with an explanation.

Next on the blog..