Shadow of Doubt

I don't like to talk about this much. But here's the lonely truth. Whenever I make anything, it never fails, there's always a moment in the process when I'm overcome with feelings of doubt about the whole thing. Does it look right? Did I mess it up? Am I making a mistake? Why don't I love it? Should I just scrap the whole thing?

If you've stopped by here within the last week, you probably know that making this quilt left me questioning my decisions at least once. That orange sashing... I don't know... I was SO wobbly about it. And to be truthful, the struggle didn't start with the sashing. This quilt top has been a struggle from the get-go (way back here), and continued to be a struggle to the end.

When I started it, I told myself I wanted to make a quilt top that was beautifully different. I made it as part of a free class so I knew that many people were going to be making a similar one. I decided I was going to push the colour envelope to ensure that my quilt was unique. However, sticking to my weird colour scheme came at a price. All year long as I made my monthly blocks, every time I added a new one to the pile, I was uncertain about the mix of colours, I was uncertain about whether the blocks would complement one another, I was uncertain about whether I could even use them in the same quilt. Month after month I disliked the mix. All that colour!... It wasn't until I had completed the 20th - and last - block that it came together for me. Creating the matrix of blocks (the first photo in this post) was what turned me around. I love that matrix. In that picture, I see the cohesive beauty of these quilt blocks. That matrix makes me glad I stuck to my odd little colour scheme.

And now, since our discussion and since I've attached the purple sashing, I feel better about the whole quilt top. My fears over colour have pretty much evaporated. I have YOU to thank for that.

But all of this uncertainty? It leaves me feeling weary. I wish I was confident for once. Because the truth is, I'm not. I wish I could get through one project without feeling like I don't know what I'm doing. Or should I just accept that if I'm hell bent on taking creative risks (even small colourful ones), then uncertainty will necessarily follow? Is that the key to getting beyond the shadow of this obstinately persistent doubt?

♥M

Previous posts about this quilt here, here, here, here, here, here, here.

I'm Sorry. I Should Have Listened To You.

And I thought: "Well... it matches some of those oranges so well... Maybe I'll just give it a go." And then before I knew it, I'd created this exquisitely hateful Halloween quilt! And I mean no disrespect to Halloween quilts. It's just that I never wanted this to be a Halloween quilt!!!

So I apologize to you. I apologize to you a LOT. You overwhelmingly chose purple. And I didn't listen.

So I will unpick THE WHOLE THING. I will consider having A SHOWER. I will get into something that's NOT made of FLANNEL. I will go out into the world amongst ACTUAL PEOPLE and find some PURPLE fabric. I will PURCHASE said fabric. Then, I will COME back. And I will START AGAIN.

STUPID Halloween quilt.

♥M

It's a Colour Crisis!

Alrighty... so here are all the blocks for the Craftsy Block-of-The-Month 2012. Yep that's the lot of them. Finally. Crazy how long it took me to finish them all. But hey, it's all good. Better late than never, as they say.

Given that they are a titch colourful, I'm in dire need of some expert help... Before I can go on, I need to figure out what what what colour I should use for the sashing. And, just in case you're not familiar with the term "sashing", it is that grid that the blocks sit inside. See what I mean?

It could go so many ways... The possibilities I'm toying with are:

Perfectly PURPLE:

A nice light GRAY:

Your basic BROWN:

Screamin' YELLer:

WHITE/GREY mix:

YELLOW/GREY mix:

And just plain WHITE:

What do you think? Ideas, thoughts, suggestions, comments? Let me have it. I'm all ears over here!

♥M

Previous posts about this quilt: here, here, here, here, here.

At Long Last, More Craftsy Blocks

Tacha Bruecher's Hexa Go-Go book giveaway is still going on HERE! Enter if you dare...

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Alrighty. Where was I?

Oh yeah. Behold! More of my Craftsy Blocks of The Month for June and July. Remember these? These are the blocks I've been knocking off bit by bit since January? I kinda got sidetracked with other stuff and fell behind on this monthly task. I still have August and September to catch up on. Hrm.

You know, at first I thought this vibrant colour scheme would be really fun, but now I'm not so sure. I'm committed to it now though, so I intend to finish up the year but I'm very very very very (times 2) skeptical about this quilt and how it will turn out... Sigh... I wish I could just believe...

On the bright side, I have found a new love! The Dresden. I adore adore adore both wheel and plate versions of this block, and promise to dedicate some serious playtime to it someday.

Have you ever tried making a Dresden plate? If not, I highly recommend trying a scrappy one. SO VERY PRETTY (and about 100 times better than the pictures too)!

♥M

Previous Block-of-The-Month blocks: January, February, March, April and May.

All Caught Up!

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been doing the homework for the free Craftsy Block of The Month course and I'm happy to report that I'm back on track, all caught up, and ready for show and tell! Above are the April Blocks, my new favourites. We first practiced our new English paper-piecing skills on the Hexi Stripe Block and were then challenged by our teacher to design our very own block using hexagons. Michele's Block is what I came up with. I enjoyed playing with the hexies immensely and highly recommend you give them a whirl if you haven't already. But fair warning: you may fall under their six-sided spell. After that, resistance is pretty much futile...

For May's assignment, we experimented with two varieties of log cabin blocks: a Modern and a Wonky. Both were a breeze to make and came together lickety-split.

Sigh... I'm still in hexagon mode however. I just want to keep making those colourful little hexies. I'm smitten, I tell you. I think only of my hex-quisite little hexies. Is anyone else afflicted with the hexie disease?

More BOM blocks here: January, February and March.

Have a great weekend (and happy Mother's Day to all you lovely moms)!

♥M

Catching Up On Craftsy BOMs

This here post should have been done back in March. Only, I didn't get around to making the blocks until a few days ago... I guess I've been busy or something? Who knows... Anyway, they late but they done. Yip yip.

Out of all the blocks in the free Craftsy BOM (Block of The Month) Course, these March foundation-pieced blocks are my favourite so far. I think it's because there's an element of magic and surprise to them. You never quite know how they'll turn out until the very end. And the result is just so fun. I can imagine whole scrappy quilts done in both these blocks.

My only two issues were: 1) lining up the Broken Spider Web Block in the end. I will have to unpick my final seam and give it a second go 'round, darn thing. And I'm not fond of unpicking. No sir. And 2) the Broken Spider Web makes A LOT of waste. I'm wondering if there's another (and equally simple) way of doing it? Take cover, I may have to put on my thinking cap for that one...

But, yay, I made a start on April's offerings which involve English paper-pieced hexagons. When I first saw that we were doing hexagons, I sighed heavily... I was under the impression that I'd find them tedious and difficult. But oh Boysie, was I wrong! In fact, I may well have found a new love... The little hexies are so cute and they're actually quite simple to make and put together. Not to mention that they are perfect for using scraps. I mean really, you silly Michele, what's NOT to like?

I'll post the April blocks soon I hope. Wish me well...

Oh and FIY, my completed January and February blocks are here and here, respectively. And FIY2, Catherine made a stunning string block quilt HERE and Mona completed a broken spider web quilt HERE. Aren't they beauties?

Have a lovely lovely day!

♥M

Craftsy's Block of The Month: February

I've completed the February blocks for Craftsy's free Block of the Month class. Do you remember my January blocks? Who knows if they'll all go together. Here's hoping... For this month we made two pretty blocks: a chunky chevron and a Balkan puzzle. I had some "issues" with both blocks. Eep.

First off, when I made the Balkan puzzle (the first time), it came out at 11-1/2 inches. It was supposed to be 12-1/2 inches. Grumble grumble. For my second attempt, I went wild and added 1/4 inch to the template. And it actually turned out the right size. Isn't that odd? Beats me... Anyway, I'm going to tuck my extra lovely Balkan puzzle block safely away and some day in the far distant future I'll attempt one of THESE. Oh my, oh my... Talk about making lemonade!

And secondly, when it came to sewing the rows together - see how there are four rows in each block? - I had a whale of a time matching points, even though I did the nesting seams trick, and pinned, and everything... Grumble grumble. Is there some sort of extra little secret to matching points that I'm failing to understand, or is it just something that comes with experience? I ripped out the final three seams twice each for each block. And they're still not perfect. Grumble grumble.

But oh well, I learn.

You have yourself a fine day. I'll be back soon!

♥M

Continuing Education

The only formal art education I have, I received from my high school art class. I've never taken a craft class or a sewing class. Like most people, I learn by doing. And, yes, I've done A LOT of doing. But I've thought recently that I should work on my skills, that I should try to get better at what I do. There's always room for improvement, right? To that end, I decided to join Craftsy. From what I can see, Craftsy is an on-line community that offers an assortment of on-line craft courses from talented designer/craftspeople at reasonable prices. Okay, I'm intrigued...

So I joined - it's free. But not only that. I also jumped right into their free on-line class which they call "Craftsy Block of the Month". Every month from January to October, students learn to make two new quilt blocks which they then combine into a quilt in the fall. Taking this class will be a good way for me to get my educational feet wet, I think. I will no doubt learn something new (like a bunch of new quilt blocks). I'll meet some crafty folk. Hopefully, I'll get a pretty quilt out of the deal. And, for future reference, it's a good way for me to judge the overall quality of Craftsy's classes and services.

I'm excited about it. I will keep you abreast of my progress, write a little about my Craftsy experiences, and post pictures of my blocks month by month. Above are my first two 12-1/2 inch blocks. They are supposed to be simple slashed blocks: a wonky pound sign and an asterisk. In theory, they're easy to make and get right, but mine for some reason, are FAR from perfect. But no worries. I'm learning, right?

Also, I'm working from my fabric stash so, as usual, it's going to be a scrappy thing. My chosen colour scheme is a somewhat out there but I wanted to try a little funkiness so I don't loose interest halfway through the year. We shall see how that goes.

I wonder what Amy (our teacher) has planned for February... Oh, see that? I'm already looking forward to next month's blocks. That's a good sign I think. Learning is supposed to be fun, right?

So far so good.

♥M


Note: See February blocks HERE.