I've talked about how applique is not my cup of tea. It's probably because it's not an instant gratification activity, and I am ALL about the speed. I tackle things at 90 mph, I'm stubborn and I can have an alarming lack of patience. I'm so bad about patience that during a personnel development seminar at my former employer one of the guidelines I wrote for myself was "motion does not equal progress"!
Thus, I am fully capable of careening through a project without thinking things through. It's this type of behavior that created that dog of a quilt I pictured yesterday. Luckily, it doesn't happen often. All these things were in my head when I was writing about that ugly duckling quilt. I decided I needed a project that would make me slow down.
That's when I stumbled across the "Hearts-A-Flutter" BOM from SUZGUZ Designs (http://www.suzguzdesigns.com/). The blog JulieKQuilts (juliekquilts.blogspot.com - nice work, by the way!) posted a picture of her progress on the first block, and it looked like something even the applique-averse might tackle. Aha - said I. I can't tear into this project like a house a-fire because I WON'T HAVE THE PATTERNS YET!
When I received the first email, I decided that it looked like a good design for 30's fabrics, and I already had a stack of them in my stash. I only have to buy a couple of pink fat quarters and the background fabric. This is really a trying situation for a control freak, because I don't know what the rest of the months will look like, how much fabric I need, what the final layout will be, what size it will be. Torture! But I'll just have to wait. It won't kill me.
Maybe it will.
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3 comments:
You might be happier doing machine applique rather than by hand, perhaps? I love doing hand applique while watching TV at night, but machine applique can be every bit as beautiful, but much faster. Harriet Hargrave's book on machine applique is an excellent resource. There's another book (I forget the title but will come back with it) that uses freezer paper and a glue stick and the end result looks like hand applique! I can definitely do a machine applique block in just an hour or two (and you know how slow I am!).
Joan, Thanks, I'll look for the Hargrave book. Right now, I'm going to take my time and learn to love the process. You're so nice to not bring up my stinker quilt! I am going to rip the borders off and reuse them. No use wasting my cute bunny fabric on that mess!
I doubt you're slow - you're just not hyper!
Honestly, I don't think that quilt is a dog at all. I think if you add one more border - in a bright bold solid color from your blocks, it'll all come together. I think the blocks are so much bolder than the print, that the print gets lost a bit. One more bright solid "punch" will do it, I bet :) Just my two cents!
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