180 Degrees
After I shut DW down for the night, prior to leaving for guild, I was stuck with the "I don't have much to do tomorrow" conundrum. I like that word...conundrum.
After returning from guild, I now have plenty to do AND I was (shame on me) perusing through Pinterest this morning, and wow, found even more pins to look at later and possibly create.
This is what I started out with yesterday morning.
After an hour of paper piecing, decided that was enough of that for the day and moved to long-arming.
Here is a little peek at some of the detail going into what I worked on for the remainder of the day on DW.
It's a peek because I had already rolled the quilt before leaving last night to make sure I was ready to go this morning.
I watched something on Quilting Is My Therapy yesterday during lunch and it really hit me between the eyes. I mean right square in the face, slap me silly and brought me to my knees kind of lesson. It definitely merits repeating and I need to get this down in my studio somewhere. Maybe I'll have mom paint it around the walls or I can quilt it out or something, but here's what I learned yesterday:
Three Things Machine Quilters Should STOP Doing!
1) Stop comparing your worst to everyones best. Comparison is a thief of joy! Just enjoy the process of learning.
2) Stop pointing out your mistakes. Stop pointing out your mistakes. Stop pointing out your mistakes! Say, "Thank you, or I had fun doing it, or I'm so glad I was able to finish it."
3) Don't forget the purpose of the quilt. Don't look at a 2" quilted section with mistakes in it, but rather the whole quilt and its purpose.
And the final note to the lesson was this: A finished quilt is always better then a perfect quilting design!
While I hone my free-motion quilting (because the computer, other then doing a horizontal plumb line, has been O-F-F off) I'm picking up tricks and learning, and reading, and watching, and collaborating, and continuing to gain experience with all those tops I made for three straight years.
I offered advice to a fellow guild member last night about how to quilt her quilt. I need to stop opening my mouth because it just gets slapped when I do. I knew who the quilt was for, I knew the quilters set-up, and I knew about the amount of time the quilter wanted to put into it, and took that into consideration before throwing out any ideas. I was familiar with the top since I watched it's development through social media, and yet, once again, the "expert" quilter in the group was sought out to give the quilting advice that I'm nearly positive will be taken.
I'm not a professional and I'm not a show winner (okay, a few local shows, but I don't consider those "real"), but I have a brain and I have passion. Yesterday, after logging my last page into my spreadsheet, I have nearly 90 quilts out of DW to date. I'm learning more every day and I love to watch the quilt top (which is a work of art in of itself) turn into the quilting palette to really make the whole piece shine.
I shared this story because prior to sitting through my "lesson" from yesterday, would have gotten pretty bent out of shape about the comment thrown my way. I'm still "healing" from a few weeks ago when the quilting professional snapped at me in front of everybody because she thought she had to get snarky. But, I don't care what others think anymore. I don't care what they say anymore. I'm me I'm too old to change that and in my life I'm finally able to do what it is I LOVE to do.
I'm going to take my ideas and make them happen somehow, some way and if you like any (or all) of my ideas, Cool. If you don't, whatever. After yesterday, I'm actually pretty okay with that and just do not have the time to stress about it anymore.
Enough on this, it's time to get sewing and creating, learning and enjoying; simply living life!
After returning from guild, I now have plenty to do AND I was (shame on me) perusing through Pinterest this morning, and wow, found even more pins to look at later and possibly create.
This is what I started out with yesterday morning.
 |
| One of a few blocks I'm in the process of making |
Here is a little peek at some of the detail going into what I worked on for the remainder of the day on DW.
 |
| Leah calls this one "Escargot" |
I watched something on Quilting Is My Therapy yesterday during lunch and it really hit me between the eyes. I mean right square in the face, slap me silly and brought me to my knees kind of lesson. It definitely merits repeating and I need to get this down in my studio somewhere. Maybe I'll have mom paint it around the walls or I can quilt it out or something, but here's what I learned yesterday:
Three Things Machine Quilters Should STOP Doing!
1) Stop comparing your worst to everyones best. Comparison is a thief of joy! Just enjoy the process of learning.
2) Stop pointing out your mistakes. Stop pointing out your mistakes. Stop pointing out your mistakes! Say, "Thank you, or I had fun doing it, or I'm so glad I was able to finish it."
3) Don't forget the purpose of the quilt. Don't look at a 2" quilted section with mistakes in it, but rather the whole quilt and its purpose.
And the final note to the lesson was this: A finished quilt is always better then a perfect quilting design!
While I hone my free-motion quilting (because the computer, other then doing a horizontal plumb line, has been O-F-F off) I'm picking up tricks and learning, and reading, and watching, and collaborating, and continuing to gain experience with all those tops I made for three straight years.
I offered advice to a fellow guild member last night about how to quilt her quilt. I need to stop opening my mouth because it just gets slapped when I do. I knew who the quilt was for, I knew the quilters set-up, and I knew about the amount of time the quilter wanted to put into it, and took that into consideration before throwing out any ideas. I was familiar with the top since I watched it's development through social media, and yet, once again, the "expert" quilter in the group was sought out to give the quilting advice that I'm nearly positive will be taken.
I'm not a professional and I'm not a show winner (okay, a few local shows, but I don't consider those "real"), but I have a brain and I have passion. Yesterday, after logging my last page into my spreadsheet, I have nearly 90 quilts out of DW to date. I'm learning more every day and I love to watch the quilt top (which is a work of art in of itself) turn into the quilting palette to really make the whole piece shine.
I shared this story because prior to sitting through my "lesson" from yesterday, would have gotten pretty bent out of shape about the comment thrown my way. I'm still "healing" from a few weeks ago when the quilting professional snapped at me in front of everybody because she thought she had to get snarky. But, I don't care what others think anymore. I don't care what they say anymore. I'm me I'm too old to change that and in my life I'm finally able to do what it is I LOVE to do.
I'm going to take my ideas and make them happen somehow, some way and if you like any (or all) of my ideas, Cool. If you don't, whatever. After yesterday, I'm actually pretty okay with that and just do not have the time to stress about it anymore.
Enough on this, it's time to get sewing and creating, learning and enjoying; simply living life!
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