Thursday, June 19, 2008

Seeing With My Eyes Closed

No, this is not a 3 dimensional block. It's part of a pinwheel. The two pieces of brown stuck together and I happily chain stitched 10 of these. Another one of my classic boo boos! When I saw it I had to giggle.
Ellen of Growing Gills commented on my last post "Sewing With My Eyes Closed" and her words and this latest snafu prompted me to think about why I do what I do and how I go about doing it. I sat with my eyes closed and took a few moments to consider what she said. She used words like intention, joy, faith, beauty. In many ways she summed up why I love to quilt. The joy for me is in the process, the stops and starts, the bumps in the road, the successes, the learning, the sense of accomplishment in the creating and even in sewing bindings on twice. My work is far from perfect, but I try to learn from every project I attempt. Quilting is probably a pretty good metaphor for my life...Thanks Ellen for helping me "see".

17 comments:

Lady Beekeeper said...

VERY nicely put!

Pat at Bell Creek Quilts said...

I think, at one time or another, most quilters experience what you are going through. My latest finish-Double 4 Patch-has a block turned the wrong way. I call it 'my humility block'...upper right corner, 2nd block down (one of the big 4 patches) :0)

ellen said...

Thanks Jacquie.
Sewing snafus..I've had them too.

dutchcomfort said...

Love your words!

QuiltedSimple said...

You are so good at expressing what we all have felt.

Kris

Kim said...

We all have days like this, lol, I do most every time I sit down to sew! All part of the journey of quilting.

Unknown said...

Well said! I have had more than a few sessions with the seam ripper. . . =)

Anonymous said...

Well, if we lived closer I would teach you, but there are a few hundred miles in between us!

My best advice would be to find a yarn shop and ask them to teach you. That's what I did! I found that trying to learn from the books was unsuccessful because it's hard to learn a 3D craft with 2D artwork. Most shops are happy to teach you. :)

Thriftin and Craftin said...

Great post! In regards to the prior post, this happened to my binding in several places on the first big quilt I made for my dd. Such a bummer. Now I cut my binding 1/4" bigger and sew it on with a 1/2" seam allowance. It worked perfectly. Don't tell the quilt Gods, but I DON'T want to have to deal with binding like that ever again!

Carla

Tine said...

Oh yes, I noticed that comment too. It's good to have someone remind us of the good qualities, open our eyes, and put things in the right perspective....

Sara said...

Well said, I think it sums up how all of us feel at one point or another!

MichelleB said...

I love those fabrics! I can hardly wait to see what you're doing with it.

country mouse said...

Great post. I know I've had those days where no matter what I do those peices just don't do what they're supposed to. It's good to remember why we do what we do. I've learned to enjoy the process, and see every mistake as a learning experience. I have some REALLY not perfect blocks and such at my house, but everytime I see them they remind me of how far I've come and how much I've learned.

Love your fabric too. I've always been kind of a traditionist (is that a word? lol) but the more I see your work the more I am loving that mid centruy modern look :cD

Oiyi said...

When I find myself making mistakes like that, it's telling me to slow down and not rush things.

Kellie said...

Hi Jacquie! What a lovely comment you left on my blog you left me feeling all proud of myself! And then I pop over here and see all of your beautiful work!!!! I love it and you sew just like me ... with your eyes closed!!!!!! I just love this big blog world :)

Gina said...

Been there and done that. It's so annoying

love and hugs xxx

Anonymous said...

The fabrics for the quilting challenge are so beautiful! I love the bird fabric and I think it is going to be gorgeous!