You Can Do This !
02-03-2014, 11:33 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Somewhere Out There
Posts: 376
You Can Do This !
I wanted to write this post for anyone who has ever told themselves ” I could never do THAT !” , when it came to anything quilting related, or heck, even anything period ! You see, last year was the first time I participated in Project Quilting. I had been quilting for all of 2 months, but it looked like alot of fun, so, head first I dove in, as usual. The first challenge I did was actually the second challenge. The challenge was Square in a Square … in a square !
[ATTACH=CONFIG]460464[/ATTACH]
You can see my entry and read more about ” LaLa here … Project Quilting Season 4 (I am the last one featured on that post , I was blogging as Feeding The Dogs then ).
That challenge had me in tears at first. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how I cut , or how I turned, LaLa outright refused to do what I wanted her to do, and I am ever so glad that she didn’t. You see, it was right around this time that I came across a blog post from 2011 at Piecemeal Quilts titled The Dumbing Down Of Quilting .
After reading that post, I felt like I was never going to make quilting work for me. I am not the most patient person by far, and while at times I am very detail oriented, it usually never lasts me the entire quilt. For days I was certain that I was never going to get better, and that maybe I was just not meant to be a quilter.
Quilting means being perfect right ? How many posts have we all read about ” how to achieve the perfect scant 1/4 inch ” or ” How to have perfect points every time ” ? Like a million right ? I know I have ! But you know what ? no matter how many blog posts I read, or tutorials I watch, or classes I take, I STILL, don’t get perfect anything all the time ! Yep, I have gotten better, but my seams are still nowhere near consistent, and my points are still not all pointy, and that’s okay ! You know why ? Because I love what I am doing !
That challenge from last season I linked to earlier, you know what ? I won a prize for that ! Yes, I know that the prizes are random drawing, but in that one instant, that one luck of the draw, I started to think ” Okay, maybe I CAN do this ! “
I went on to participate in all of last season. I went on to complete 39 quilts in 1 year last year ! LaLa ? She is very proudly hanging in my sisters house and my nieces adore her bright colors. I smile every time I see it hanging there, because it is a reminder to myself, that even though it is far from perfect, my sister and those girls don’t see that. To this day, I could tell you exactly all the ” mistakes” I have made in every single quilt I have made to date, ( I am up to #47 BTW ). Want to know how many of those mistakes anyone else has ever seen in them ? Less than a handful, and that was only when they were glaringly obvious !
In the past year, I have learned a great many things about quilting. I have also learned a great many things about myself, as a person, and as a quilter. Here are the highlights :
#1. Quilting is something I do because I enjoy doing it. If I start to let myself worry about being perfect all the time, and spending more time ripping than I do sewing, then it is no longer fun.
#2. Cute outshines perfect !
#3. The definition of applique is ” The art of covering up your mistakes with a ” design decision” . Some just need to be bigger than others !
#4. If at first you don’t succeed, make some more. Meaning, if you make that first block, and it is BAD, do it again ! Learn from what you did the first time, and try again. Forget about ripping it out, unless , well, its REALLY bad. Unless your mistake is HUGE, you can still use it ! Maybe not in THIS quilt, but once you get enough ” not quite right ” blocks piled up, you put them all together into a sampler quilt and donate it to your favorite charity, because trust me, all they are going to see is this amazing piece of work that you made, they are not going to notice anything else. Unless your favorite charity happens to be run by a bunch of snobby quilters, then pick someone elses favorite charity !
#5. Piece it big and trim it down ! Yes, this method requires more fabric than precision piecing, and yes, fabric is not the least expensive thing around. BUT ! It is far cheaper than a shrink, which is what you will need to pay for after messing up 3 blocks and realizing you don’t have enough fabric left to finish your quilt ! Plus, leftovers are what scrap quilts are made from !
#6. In moments of doubt, fake it ! Fake confidence can create true confidence. If you ACT like you know what your doing, you will start to believe that you do in fact, know what you are doing, at least sorta, and that is close enough ! If you go into a new project with the mindset that ” I am going to screw this up so bad ” then chances are you will. If you go into that same project with the mindset of ” We are going to rock this project ” , chances are, you will, and even if you don’t rock it all the way, you are going to pick up something new. And you will get better.
#7. Quilting is ART ! I know I said that one already, but this time it is for another reason. Think of quilting, as you would any fine art. Would you dare tell a painter, or a sculptor, or a performance artist that what they were doing was not being done ” the right way ” ? Of course not ! So why do we, as quilters, allow other people to dictate what is and is not ” the right way” when it comes to our art?
#8. Before you start any new project as yourself this ONE question. ” Is this quilt going to be entered into a show and/or gifted to a quilt judge?” If the answer to that is no, then have fun ! Don’t fret over the little stuff, ENJOY what you are doing ! Now, on the other hand, if the answer is YES to that question, then ask yourself a second question. ” Is the prize money for winning best in show in this contest enough to cover the cost of a shrink for the time it takes me to complete this quilt, as well as however long it takes me to get over my OCD issues afterwards ? ” If the answer to THIS question is no, than please see the appropriate action from the first question. If the answer to this question is yes, then, this is probably not your first rodeo, proceed as usual.
#9. Cotton batting + stipple quilting = awesome camouflage for almost every single crooked seam on the face of the planet ! Crinkly quilts hide TONS of mistakes !
#10. Again, I have to mention FAKING IT ! ” Oh, you noticed that one section of that one block was turned sideways ? I did that on purpose as a reminder that we should always look at things from a different angle” ! See how nice that sounds ?
So remember, YOU CAN DO THIS ! Even if you have to fake it !
[ATTACH=CONFIG]460464[/ATTACH]
You can see my entry and read more about ” LaLa here … Project Quilting Season 4 (I am the last one featured on that post , I was blogging as Feeding The Dogs then ).
That challenge had me in tears at first. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how I cut , or how I turned, LaLa outright refused to do what I wanted her to do, and I am ever so glad that she didn’t. You see, it was right around this time that I came across a blog post from 2011 at Piecemeal Quilts titled The Dumbing Down Of Quilting .
After reading that post, I felt like I was never going to make quilting work for me. I am not the most patient person by far, and while at times I am very detail oriented, it usually never lasts me the entire quilt. For days I was certain that I was never going to get better, and that maybe I was just not meant to be a quilter.
Quilting means being perfect right ? How many posts have we all read about ” how to achieve the perfect scant 1/4 inch ” or ” How to have perfect points every time ” ? Like a million right ? I know I have ! But you know what ? no matter how many blog posts I read, or tutorials I watch, or classes I take, I STILL, don’t get perfect anything all the time ! Yep, I have gotten better, but my seams are still nowhere near consistent, and my points are still not all pointy, and that’s okay ! You know why ? Because I love what I am doing !
That challenge from last season I linked to earlier, you know what ? I won a prize for that ! Yes, I know that the prizes are random drawing, but in that one instant, that one luck of the draw, I started to think ” Okay, maybe I CAN do this ! “
I went on to participate in all of last season. I went on to complete 39 quilts in 1 year last year ! LaLa ? She is very proudly hanging in my sisters house and my nieces adore her bright colors. I smile every time I see it hanging there, because it is a reminder to myself, that even though it is far from perfect, my sister and those girls don’t see that. To this day, I could tell you exactly all the ” mistakes” I have made in every single quilt I have made to date, ( I am up to #47 BTW ). Want to know how many of those mistakes anyone else has ever seen in them ? Less than a handful, and that was only when they were glaringly obvious !
In the past year, I have learned a great many things about quilting. I have also learned a great many things about myself, as a person, and as a quilter. Here are the highlights :
#1. Quilting is something I do because I enjoy doing it. If I start to let myself worry about being perfect all the time, and spending more time ripping than I do sewing, then it is no longer fun.
#2. Cute outshines perfect !
#3. The definition of applique is ” The art of covering up your mistakes with a ” design decision” . Some just need to be bigger than others !
#4. If at first you don’t succeed, make some more. Meaning, if you make that first block, and it is BAD, do it again ! Learn from what you did the first time, and try again. Forget about ripping it out, unless , well, its REALLY bad. Unless your mistake is HUGE, you can still use it ! Maybe not in THIS quilt, but once you get enough ” not quite right ” blocks piled up, you put them all together into a sampler quilt and donate it to your favorite charity, because trust me, all they are going to see is this amazing piece of work that you made, they are not going to notice anything else. Unless your favorite charity happens to be run by a bunch of snobby quilters, then pick someone elses favorite charity !
#5. Piece it big and trim it down ! Yes, this method requires more fabric than precision piecing, and yes, fabric is not the least expensive thing around. BUT ! It is far cheaper than a shrink, which is what you will need to pay for after messing up 3 blocks and realizing you don’t have enough fabric left to finish your quilt ! Plus, leftovers are what scrap quilts are made from !
#6. In moments of doubt, fake it ! Fake confidence can create true confidence. If you ACT like you know what your doing, you will start to believe that you do in fact, know what you are doing, at least sorta, and that is close enough ! If you go into a new project with the mindset that ” I am going to screw this up so bad ” then chances are you will. If you go into that same project with the mindset of ” We are going to rock this project ” , chances are, you will, and even if you don’t rock it all the way, you are going to pick up something new. And you will get better.
#7. Quilting is ART ! I know I said that one already, but this time it is for another reason. Think of quilting, as you would any fine art. Would you dare tell a painter, or a sculptor, or a performance artist that what they were doing was not being done ” the right way ” ? Of course not ! So why do we, as quilters, allow other people to dictate what is and is not ” the right way” when it comes to our art?
#8. Before you start any new project as yourself this ONE question. ” Is this quilt going to be entered into a show and/or gifted to a quilt judge?” If the answer to that is no, then have fun ! Don’t fret over the little stuff, ENJOY what you are doing ! Now, on the other hand, if the answer is YES to that question, then ask yourself a second question. ” Is the prize money for winning best in show in this contest enough to cover the cost of a shrink for the time it takes me to complete this quilt, as well as however long it takes me to get over my OCD issues afterwards ? ” If the answer to THIS question is no, than please see the appropriate action from the first question. If the answer to this question is yes, then, this is probably not your first rodeo, proceed as usual.
#9. Cotton batting + stipple quilting = awesome camouflage for almost every single crooked seam on the face of the planet ! Crinkly quilts hide TONS of mistakes !
#10. Again, I have to mention FAKING IT ! ” Oh, you noticed that one section of that one block was turned sideways ? I did that on purpose as a reminder that we should always look at things from a different angle” ! See how nice that sounds ?
So remember, YOU CAN DO THIS ! Even if you have to fake it !
02-03-2014, 11:52 PM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 609
Fantastic story and one we really should live by. None of are perfect in anything we do and there was only one in my opinion who was. I have made 1, yes only one quilt and only 4 different blocks. I tend to jump in head first and damn the torpedo's who threaten to blow me out of the water. I'm having a lot of fun learning to do new blocks and techniques. I've got books and paper and a sewing machine that can be hand cranked. If I loose electricity tomorrow/today due to the ice storm I will still be able to sew my blocks.
02-04-2014, 05:46 AM
#8
Power Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Southern USA
Posts: 15,912
One quilt I put a yo yo over each mistake. It was a very interesting quilt! My guild members clapped during show and tell. My granddaughter has the quilt and loves it. All quilters would be better quilters if they ignored the old biddy quilt police. Perfection is nice but not my goal. I have won several viewer's choice awards at local shows with my not so perfect quilts.
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