Quilt Guilt

The other day, one of the quilty bloggers I follow had a post apologizing for the lengthy gap since her last post.  She felt really bad about it.  I won't mention her name or blog, because she's not alone - I'm sure you've all read similar posts.  I responded, as did several others, telling her that we're glad to see her back and that she shouldn't feel bad.

Then, I was listening to a podcast.  I can't even remember the person who was being interviewed, but she was talking about how she had some kind of activity on her website to encourage her readers to quilt every day.  She said, "Maybe you can't make a quilt every day, but surely you can make a block every day."  My first thought was, "Make a quilt every day?  Who the heck does that?"  Then, I wondered about her choice of words.  "Surely, you can make a block every day."   Those are guilt inducing words!  Your dental hygienist uses the same language - "Surely you can spare 5 minutes to floss each day."  

Surely, nothing!  This is my HOBBY!  Don't try to guilt me into making a block every day, or even touching my sewing machine every day.  If I don't want to do it, why should I have to?

I had the same conversation with myself (yes, I talk to myself) after listening to another podcast where they were talking about creativity.  One of the speakers said that quilters should always challenge themselves to do more difficult projects.  Why??  If someone is happy putting big squares together or making quilts that don't require any points to match, what ever is wrong with that?  It is their hobby - they do it to relax and refresh themselves.  Why should they feel guilty if they choose to do easy quilts?

I feel guilty at the drop of a hat.  Sometimes it is helpful - yes, I do floss my teeth every day - but mostly, it is just stress inducing.  I feel guilty that I don't quilt very fast - my poor son graduated 2 years ago, and still has not received his quilt!  I feel guilty about the amount of fabric in my stash, and worry that I will never use it.  I feel guilty when I wander around a quilt store soaking in the quilty goodness and don't buy anything.  So I do buy - and then I feel guilty about adding to my stash!  I feel guilty that my house needs new curtains - but I keep putting them off because I would rather quilt.  (I could go buy curtains, but then I would feel guilty that I bought something that I could easily have made!)

So many things to feel guilty about.  Every now and then, I have to step back and tell myself to take a deep breath and let go all of the guilt!

What gives you quilt guilt?  What do you do to get rid of it?