My children brag about me. I have to admit I find it rather gratifying that they do. But I am realistic enough to know, that my abilities are not quite what they believe they are, My children, however, just think I am being modest.
On Arianna's wedding day, I decorated the cake and then went to check on how the bridal party was doing getting ready. Arianna asked how the cake turned out. I replied something to the effect it's okay, it'll work. Arianna told me I wasn't instilling confidence in her. But Chrissy piped in saying, "Arianna you know how modest Mom is about her work. I am sure it is amazing." The guests thought it was amazing. Arianna and Victor loved it, so all is good. But I wish I was more adept at decorating so I could have done a truly amazing job. Maybe I am my own worse critic.
This past weekend, we had some acquaintances over for our Independence Day Celebrations. They are friends with my daughter TaKayren and her husband as well as a co worker of my husband. We were getting to know each other better and the topic of interests came up. The wife commented something about me being a really talented quilter. (TaKayren nodded in agreement) I said I enjoy quilting but a talented quilter would plan out her quilts and would be very precise. My quilts on the other hand just sort of evolve.
The old saying that "Failure to plan is a plan to fail" doesn't quite ring true for quilting and least not for me. Oh I know that if I carefully planned out each quilt, made sure I had all the materials, and tools I needed, and picked out every mistake/flaw, that I would make competition worthy quilts. I am just not that kind of quilter. For me, most quilts evolve as I make them.
An example of a quilt evolving is the one I am working on now, the HST quilt. I just planned to do some quick HST blocks and sew them all together. The blocks are all sewn and I was pressing them open (trying to use good pressing techniques of course) when I realized that they would be much cuter as four patch blocks with sashing and cornerstones. The number of squares that I have is divisible by four so this was definitely doable.
Now I needed sashing and cornerstone fabric. At first, I thought I would use white for the sashing but it just looked wrong next to the blocks. It was too white. Fortunately, I was able to get 2 mini-jelly rolls of the same solid fabric I used in the HST. Sashing using the solid fabric and then cornerstones from the print fabric would be really cute. But the print fabric I used has been discontinued so no print cornerstones. (consequence of sewing from your stash) I ended up buying a mini-charm pack of white fabric. With sashing and cornerstones taken care of it was back to pressing open of the squares.
Since the solid half of the HST are all the same color, I figured I would use four random prints per block. I am a big fan of randomness in any of my creations. I think it gives it a more natural feel. But I also realized that this would make layout a little tricky. The more I worked on pressing open the half square triangles, the more I realized that the print should be matching in all four patches of the block.
This change of plans was going to be a little trickier. I had no idea if the number of each of the different prints were divisible by four. So before I started trimming up the HSTs. I sorted them by print. Fortunately for me each print has either 8 or 12 squares. Both of which are divisible by four. So far the evolution is really coming together. I can see it in my mind quite clearly now.
I am about 2/3 of the way through trimming up the squares. I was planning to be done trimming them by this weekend but as usually life got in the way. The sashing and cornerstones should be here tomorrow. I am hoping that there will be enough of the sashing strips left over to do the binding. If not I am sure the plan will evolve once again.
I'm not saying this is the way I always make quilts. A few have been straight forward, followed a pattern and turn out great. But quite often the quilts evolve as I make them. I like to think that the quilt is talking to me as I work with it. I like to believe I am putting a bit of myself into the quilt.
Now if I had started out with a plan, I would have everything on had before starting. There would not have been two trips to the MSQC website to buy what I need. I would also know if I am going to have enough strips for binding or not. I defintely would know what size quilt it was going to be. (I am the queen of non standard sized quilts.) But I rather enjoy the creative evolution of each quilt. And the only problem with multiple visits to a website to buy supplies, is I end up buying more stuff than I need. But I will use it all eventually. (Or die trying)
How about you? Do you follow a plan to the letter? Do you have everything figured out in the beginning? Or do you sew by the seat of your pants?
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