Friday, July 18, 2014

Learning can hurt

Learning can definitely hurt.  Your feelings!  Your confidence!  Your sense of creativity!  But it can make you grow....and this quilt has helped me grow in lots of ways.  Although there has been plenty of pain!

I'm so lucky to have mom22smartchix wanting to "invest" in my longarm improvement.  She kindly donated this homespun quilt top for me to "play" on and I decided that I would use each block as a "sampler" of stitches.   That seemed reasonable at first.  And a great "resource".  And it is.  But it hurts.
I chose to use 30wt thread -- which is HEAVY and shows every little glitch.  Basically, it's the thread that is used to topstitch jeans to give you an idea of what quilting with it was like.  I had just heard Angela Walters (who I deeply admire as a longarm expert) say that she didn't rip out stitches if things weren't perfect.  I chose that philosophy on this quilt.  Otherwise, I would have ripped out more than I put in.  Plus, ripping out stitches on solid homespuns is never a good idea.
I learned a lot.  I learned there are some fillers that I can do and want to do again. 
I learned there are some fillers that I am not ready to put on a quilt that I plan to give as a gift.
I learned that I don't know as many fillers as I thought I did.  But I made a few up.
I learned that skinny rectangles don't lend themselves to some stitches.
I learned that I should have been burying my stitches rather than backstitching.  They look like little nests.
But I learned!  And it was humbling.  And it was painful.  And it helped me grow as a longarmer.  

I hope you are learning (even if it creates a little "pain")!!!!

Jan


12 comments:

Judy@Quilt Paradigm said...

I think your quilting looks great! That burying thread lesson... I learn that one over and over again! LOL Such a pain but it looks so much better in the end.

I really really like that second filler, looks like it might go slow but I bet it added an amazing texture!

Nann said...

Your quilting looks great! Would you be interested in some more flimsies to practice on? I have a couple of possibilities.....

Carol said...

Wow. I think your quilting looks great. You could practice on one of my quilts anytime!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing the pain and journey part of your story. That is meaningful this morning.

Plum Cox said...

I'm not good at burying threads - but I agree, it does look better!

Your quilting looks great - but how lovely to make a sampler of your patterns like this!

Sharon said...

I think you are being too hard on yourself! Your quilting sure looks good in these photos! Burying the threads - have you tried Self Threading Needles by Clover? Makes it go so much faster!

Scrapatches said...

I learned by reading your post. Thanks for sharing ... :) pat

Vera said...

Looks great and what an encouraging post!

momiji said...

You did a wonderful job! I particularly like the leaves and the little curved allover pattern. You also made the feathers in the skinny rectangle work really well--you really accomplished a lot!

Run 'n Stitch said...

I agree that good learning comes from mistakes. They can be hard to take however. Your quilting is lovely. Thank you for sharing!

Unknown said...

Gorgeous work! Thank you so much for linking this up to The Creative Collection Link Party.

Anonymous said...

We are our worse critics! You see all the flaws we see all the beauty. You clearly have a talent for longarming so keep going...you never stop learning.