Last January, I told myself I would finish my king-sized maple leaf quilt “Forest Floor” in 2024, and it actually happened. I had to take breaks, overcome frustrations, and troubleshoot problems, but I actually got it done. That success convinced me that I should pick a project for 2025. After much consideration, I’ve chosen “The Gift of Sensitivity,” my diorama based on the fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea.”
While big pieces, like the bed and mattresses are made, I still have a lot of work to do. I need a room for the bed, which means walls and a floor and accessories.
I am simultaneously excited and scared to work on this project.
Reasons I’ve decided to tackle this now:
- I adore it. When I step back and look at it without thinking about what needs doing, I find myself grinning. All those brightly colored fairy-tale mattresses and the “gilded” bed frame warm my heart.
- I keep watching miniaturists on YouTube and thinking “That looks really fun. I should make more miniatures!”
- I’ve been decluttering and re-organizing my studio. This project takes up more storage space than any other project I have. Finishing it would free up some valuable shelf space and storage bins.
- This project is old. I started sewing mattresses in 2009, and worked on it in random bursts since. Sixteen years is long enough.
Reasons why I haven’t finished it before now:
- Many of the things I need to do are new to me. Building walls, making a fake stone finish, even figuring out how to keep the mattresses from toppling off the bed frame are all things I have never done before. I know I can learn, but when you don’t know what you’re doing, starting is hard.
- It’s gigantic. Enormous. Elephantine! The more I look at it, the more I regret choosing a 1:12 scale for it. I originally intended to make a doll for it, so I was afraid of making things too small. Now that I have abandoned the doll, I really wish it were 1:48 or even smaller. The bed with all the mattresses is 32 inches tall! Changing scale now would mean scrapping everything I’ve done, so I’m sticking with it, but this gargantuan miniature is going to take a while to make.
- I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it when it’s done. As I’ve mentioned (see #2), it’s going to be big. It will need a special location, roomy enough to house it, easy to access so people can admire it, and simultaneously out of reach of the cats. I’ve decided I can figure this out when I get there.
Since the reasons to finish outnumber the reasons I haven’t, it’s time to get to work. Expect lots of updates along the way.
Have you ever been overwhelmed by a project halfway through?
