How Many Quilts is too Many?

If you've been following me for a while you will know I'm a fast sewist. I joke that it's my super power and it really can come in handy, but like every super power comes great responsibility. I make a lot of quilts. The other night my husband asked me how many quilts we have in the house as I was squaring up a quilt for binding.

A stack of my freshly quilted and bound Mirrored Quilts on my cutting table. Image credit: Megan Saenz

I have recently gone through my house, curious myself, and counted all of my finished quilts. There were 55 of them at the time (this is not counting all of the quilts I've gifted and sold). My husband, the very practical engineer, asked me, "What is your plan?" Plan? I told him, "I'm an artist and quilts are my art. Making and designing them brings me joy. My plan is to keep making them until the day I die."

The royal mouse family that lives on my fabric shelves. I'm like a modern day Cinderella. Image credit: Megan Saenz

This didn't sit well with him. He pointed out that I turn out about a quilt a week. This time next year we're likely to have at least 100 quilts in the house. Maybe I should try making something else? For a moment I felt bad about this realization. I picked up the pieces of my next quilt project that I had already cut out, placed them on a tray and tucked it away. My husband isn't the first person to point this out to me recently. My other loved ones think I'm equally talented as I am crazy, and it's exhausting to constantly hear, "Wow, you're so talented and your work is amazing, but when are you going to stop?"

I let myself sit with these feelings for a little bit, looking at my collection of fabrics that I LOVE and can't wait to cut into. All of the promising future projects on my shelves which I look at and see joy, and others look at and see a problem. Then I decided. This brings me joy, happiness, fulfillment and that's all that matters. My statement that I'm an artist and quilts are my art and they bring me joy is still true. 

Me, excited to share my latest quilt pattern, Mirrored, with the quilting community. Image credit: Megan Saenz

Others can not define my happiness and I know I'm not the first person to experience these feelings. I want other creatives to know that you can never make too much of your own art, until you personally feel you're done exploring that medium. Only you can be the judge of how many quilts are too many. Keep doing the thing that makes you happy and create the beauty you wish to see in the world.

You can find my Mirrored Quilt pattern HERE!