As I work, I learn more and my hand gets steadier and more sure about the patterns I want to create. I keep thinking that the best quilt I will ever do will be the last one I create, and I wish I had saved this one (whatever it I'm working on at the time) to do as my last quilt. But such a wish is folly, because in my last days of quilting, whenever that will be, I certainly can't do all the quilts I want to quilt. I have to practice to get better. There's no short cut. Each quilt, then, is just practice for the next quilt - I just have to let it go, and that's the way it's gotta be.
Practice on muslin
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.
This flower was interesting to do. I enlisted Lauren's help in figuring out how to get the curved lines in place on a sheet of drawing paper. He introduced me (or maybe I should say reintroduced me, because there was a time in my life when I knew a little about such things) to a French curve, and so my petals are more or less symmetrical. My process was: Draw the flower on a piece of drawing paper, trace it to a piece of tissue wrapping paper, pin the paper to the muslin, and sew the outline through the paper to the fabric.
I was wondering if that was a permissible thing to do - sew through tissue paper. I find I keep looking for the rules of quilting, and then I immediately remind myself that the rules are whatever I want them to be. Even so, I was relieved when I later came upon a quilting book where the maker had used tracing paper and sewn over it.
Ah, creativity is hard to come by. I look for the recipe, the step-by-step instruction, the rules - and in the middle of my looking, I remember that I need to forget about all that and just go with the flow. That whole idea is funny to me because, historically, I always fail to follow the recipe exactly, yet I continue to look for it so I can disregard it.
Because I hate to waste things, this particular flower, which is about 14 inches in diameter, became one side of a zippered pouch - sort of a large purse. It was a handy little pouch in which to fold my clothes and stick in my carry on for a quick trip to the east coast. I've started new practice samples that will become potholders, just so I won't waste the effort.
Stitching in the ditch
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.
Some things I've learned while working on the pink quilt:
- Stitching in the ditch is a great way to go. This puts the quilt in a really
stable condition so I can remove many of the pins, and then work on any section
of the quilt that I want. The stitching is virtually invisible. This is the first time I've done that. Of course, this is just my third quilt, so almost everything is a first time. I got this idea from a book I browsed.
- It IS OK to sew over thin paper, but it's better to do it on large
or single motifs, not something small and repetitive. That would be a real
drag.
- My needle plate is a zig zag one. I would probably get better results
if I had a straight-stitch needle plate. My bobbin thread keeps popping to the
top.- Still concerning the bobbin thread coming to the top, it seems that
even the slightest change effects the float of the bobbin thread, whether it be
the speed at which I'm sewing, a glitch in the way the bobbin was wound, the
drag on the top thread. Yuck!- I'm never going to like the individual stitches, and I'm going to feel like a total failure; but when I look at the whole of the quilt, I am more satisfied. Quilting certainly keeps me humble! It must be good for the character. Quilting will forever keep me from thinking much of myself.
Everything is a new experience in quilting. The urge to give up and say I'll never be able to learn this craft is strong; but I find I just can't give up. I see improvement over time. Ah, if only I knew now what I'll know later. Wouldn't that be nice? Then every quilt could be my best one!
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