This is going to take longer than I thought.

Let’s start off with something happy….  I got one of the wedding quilts quilted!  Yahoo!!  Next is to get it trimmed and then bound.  I’m pretty excited but then I remembered that I didn’t make the binding yet…  Ah well, it won’t take too long.   Here it is!

I’m sure they will love it.  I’m sure you noticed that I didn’t put a lot of quilting into it.  I struggled with how to quilt it.  The thread I had in mind is called Karnak by Superior Threads.  It is a teal and brown variegated cotton thread.  It was perfect.  However, If I did a lot of dense quilting then it would start to affect the design and I didn’t have a teal to just do the background. Instead I took the easy way and did an open all over pattern that wouldn’t take over the blocks or the secondary circles that appear.  It might not be the best choice, but I’m okay with it.

I did get a start on the black and white squares and I thought that the best place to begin would be to fix the two that aren’t quite the right size.

Here we go getting things taken apart so they can go back together again.  This is the part that takes the longest.  Definitely not my favorite part.  I also didn’t go as far as taking apart each individual  smaller square.  Perhaps I should have, but I really wasn’t sure how good my cutting was or what methods I used to assemble the blocks.  So, I went the quick and dirty route to just get it to a similar size.  We aren’t going to want to examine these blocks too closely…..

As you can see it’s still not even close to perfect.  However, it’s workable and that was really the goal.  (remember perfectionism isn’t my friend…)

You my notice that there is a little sticker on my ruler. I’m not sure if I have ever mentioned this before, but I have little koi stickers that is on all of my stuff.  I did that on purpose.  The reason?  It makes it easier to find my supplies when I bring them to retreat or classes.  Inez has lady bugs.  Some of the others put their name on them.  I think another of us have stars.  If you can’t see it, here is a closer look.  They are just simple little stickers that I found and thought they were fun but they do make it easy to identify my things in a group sewing setting.

Now there is just one more to tackle this week along with making binding and finding some brights to border out the blocks.  Perhaps I can even get as far as getting the blocks trimmed and ready for the bordering.  Here’s to hoping!

Why perfectionism doesn’t suit me.

It’s true, as much as I would like it to, perfectionism doesn’t suit me.  I’m far too human and I’m reminded of that when I pull out some of my older UFO’s.

First though, I finally got my troublesome block tamed. At least as much as I am going to be able to tame it.  Here it is, after I attempted to press it into submission.  I still love it, but man it was not cooperating.

I really wasn’t sure what to do to make it lie flat…I had taken it apart once before and if you are familiar with paper piecing you know that you have limited attempts before the paper falls apart (or you have to use tape to reinforce the stitching lines).  I was hesitant to start tearing it apart again, but I figure this would be the last time that I would tear it apart and that one way or another it was going to work.  So, once again I took the pie pieces apart and pinned the heck out of them.  I almost wondered if I didn’t use enough pins….

I managed to get the pieces all put together but to my chagrin it still didn’t lie flat.  So, again I tried to press it into submission and finally said forget it and put the outside pieces on, pressed it again and called it a day.  I think that once the paper comes out it may lie better, but for now the block is complete and I am ready to move on to the next one…

I was actually feeling pretty good about getting this to the end stage that I thought I would choose another UFO to tackle.  I’m procrastinating a bit on the two wedding quilts I have yet to complete.  Although I do have one of the completed ones on the long arm ready to be quilted this week.  Yea!

As I looked through my UFO’s (after all I have a lot to choose from!) I came across this one which I thought would be easy.  I thought that I had more blocks to complete and that would be an easy thing to do.  Once I got it out I discovered that the blocks were all completed and I have to decide on a setting for them.  The fun thing about these blocks is that each block came with block border suggestions.  Apparently when I first put things together I was game for the first two to try the suggestions.

This was the first one.  It was a block of the month at a local quilt shop that was done in black and white fabrics. Of the two that I completed, this is the one that I like best.

This is the second one.

It’s a little busy and I don’t really care for it.  Then I took a look at the rest of the suggestions and I realized that none of them would be terribly easy.  The bad thing is that there are no measurements or instructions for the borders so they would each have to be drafted and I just wasn’t feeling up to the task.  Instead, I thought it might make more sense to choose one border treatment and use it on each of the blocks.  I went with the first one.  I looks simple, but if you look closer you can see that it also uses partial seams which I will have to go with to keep things uniform.  It won’t be too difficult to do.  I just need to get those fun little pinwheels taken off and get the blocks measured and trimmed.  I think there will be a couple that will need a little work…they look a bit on the wonky side.  Don’t worry, the pinwheels will surely find their way into a doll quilt or something.

Then I am entertaining the thought of putting a little black in between the blocks (after the border).  But I think I’m getting ahead of myself.  There are a lot of things to do first.  I can tell that as I get ready to square up these blocks that some of the points are going to disappear.

I briefly entertained the thought of taking apart better than half of the blocks and then I came to my senses.  Of course it isn’t perfect.  I started this quilt years ago – at least 10.  I’ve learned some things since then.  My technique has improved quite a bit since then.  To take it apart at this point seems somehow wrong.  Looking at it I am reminded that I am human and imperfect.  That’s not a bad thing.  It helps me to remember that everyone makes mistakes and it also helps to drive me forward and improve as I go.  My goal is not to be perfect.  That goal is far too lofty and stressful.  I am much more content to keep my sights lower by trying harder and learning new things.  That is much less stressful and far more manageable.