You can’t pick up a magazine lately without reading an article about the science of sleep and all it can do for us. After decades of the lack of sleep being some sort of ridiculous badge of honor we are rounding back to acknowledging that the human body needs sleep and for most of us that is 8 hours.
Yes there is the rare bird who needs less but for the most part those people have just gotten used to how life feels with not enough sleep and have learned to deal with it. It does not mean they are working at peak performance in their daily lives. In fact sleep deprivation has the same negative effect on people as a blood alcohol level of .05 percent ( which for those interested is the level to be legally drunk in Europe)
Don’t shoot the messenger! I know some people have serious sleep issues and for them I am sorry, being tired sucks and I totally encourage you to explore your options and the concepts of sleep hygiene.
I personally just came off of a serious streak of NOT ENOUGH SLEEP where it not only impacted my mood but my ability to function ( sew something wrong 4 times in a row anyone?) as well as my emotional state (it is possible to cry over not have any peanut butter it seems)
A lack of sleep has so many profound effects that one could type for days and miss their nap trying to get it all down on paper!
The VERY short list includes:
- Heart Issues
- weight gain
- poor testing performance
- impaired decision making at work
- negative effects of personal relationships and even impacts on marriage!
And I will add~
Lack of sleep makes for crappy quilting. Yes, possibly not the most important thing on the list but there it is nonetheless! A week of lost sleep had a profound effect on my ability to sew well. Hell I could not even think, it was crazy feeling.
It is not that I don’t get it. We love to sew and quilt and our days are busy so robbing Peter to pay Paul means that we steal our sewing time from the sandman. Which when done very occasionally can be ok, but done on a consistent basis tends to disrupt other parts of our lives in unpleasant ways. I know that personally I make way more mistakes both mis-stitching and mis-cutting when tired than I do any other time. This wasted time and material makes be grumpy and yet the societal drive to do more faster lives in the quilt world just as much as it does in the wider world.
Just checking out the front covers of a bevy of quilt magazines finds the following calls-to-action:
- Quilt in a DAY!
- Easy Weekend Quilts
- Sew-Fast Projects for the busy Quilter
Might I suggest it would be ok for us to slow down a bit and look at the concept of creating slower but perhaps even better quilts? Doing less and finding a slower type of enjoyment in making the things we love without the hurry-hurry pressure that seems to have taken over the industry. This idea of slower but better means that you can afford quilt-store quailty fabric since you are buying less. You can take the time to do complex blocks since you give yourself a nice long while to get a quilt done. You can enjoy the company of friends without it being a frenetic rush of who gets the most done.
Not an idea that everyone is going to embrace I know but for me it means more sleep, a nicer Maddie and better made quilts, so in my life I consider that a win.
If the idea of more sleep and slower stitching intrigues you take some time to check out the Slow Stitching Movement
and if you are looking to go even further I am currently grooving on the book-
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less <—click
and the website –
The Minimalists – A Great Website <—- click
Tell me… what are you thinking about your time when it comes to quilting?
I really like sleeping and a shortage of sleep makes a big difference in my functioning. I make quilts the slow, easy way. I’m not sure they are better, but those quilt in a day quilts sometimes takes me a year to finish!
I had to put a clock with a timer on it on my sewing machine. To A) make sure I was taking significant breaks to stretch and hydrate and B) to make sure I go to bed. If not, hours would pass like minutes and next thing ya know, I’m miserable. I cannot function without enough sleep, heck sometimes even whe I do get enough sleep. Now, sometimes, I still don’t sleep well but at least I’m trying. Even on the weekends, I try not to change it. I can certainly tell my sleepy goofs when quilting.
I’m a morning person with a day job, I have ADD on top of that so the “house rule” is I don’t do anything important after 8pm 😀
too many things – quilts, relationships, dinner – have gotten ruined by me persisting when I’m tired. :/
Yes it means limited quilt time for me through the week (2 hours a night, not all nights) but I am intensely focused then and not overtired. If I do feel too tired, I won’t push it or work on something non critical. That explains all the UFOs. 😀
I was kwazy quilter until I impaled my index finger in my sewing machine and had to tear it out from the side when the machine locked up.
I now measure out my time on the machine and have to tell myself “Step Away!”
I’ve gone with out much sleep meeting deadlines. It’s hard slog for sure. I’m about to do it again over the next few weeks between a little bit of travel and a lot of quilting that needs to be accomplished. I’ve screwed up a few times and it has had tough consequences for me. I try my best not to do it but sometimes it just happens!
I am tired of quick and easy! I need my brain to function well for the projects I have rolling around in my head! Great article Maddie!