Monday, November 28, 2011

Design Wall Monday

Well, I finally have the top finished for the Buck a Block quilt started years ago.  This is the closest I’ve ever come to chucking the whole thing and pretending the project never existed.  I still love the fabrics used, but the rest, ick.

We’ve all heard the stories, sometimes attributed to the Amish, sometimes to Middle Eastern cultures, of humility blocks/rugs, whatever. The premise being that one must include a mistake in one’s work so as not to risk offending  God, since only God is able to make something perfect. The Amish have laughingly denied this is their thing, rightly pointing out the arrogance of thinking one’s work is so perfect that it is necessary to be purposely imperfect.

I must say I agree. This quilt doesn’t have a humility block, it is a humility QUILT. Not only did I not purposely include an error, I can’t even figure out exactly what went wrong in so many different places to cause the problems. Well, except for one error. As many times as I studied this quilt in person and in photos as I worked, I never spotted this  big one. Nope, that problem didn’t reveal itself until just now as I was looking at the photo to include in this post! No way am I ripping back that far now.

So, here it is, my Humble Rose quilt. 

can't get it right Rose quilt 002

Silver lining?  I just received the 2 disc DVD by Myrna Ficken “Beginning Longarm Quilting”. I’ve been using my robotic quilter for years, but have recently added features so that I can also do free motion. I was hoping for some instruction in doing free motion designs, but this is much more getting things right from the start=squaring, spotting problems, how to deal with problems. Who’d have thought I’d be able to use all these techniques in one quilt, and so soon!?  Best way to learn is to DO what you are shown. Hmmm, maybe that should be my story….made all these mistakes on purpose,  in order to try all the fixes Myrna teaches. Yeah…….I like that. 

Meanwhile, go over to Patchwork Times to see lots of great quilts that others are working on.

7 comments:

A Left-Handed Quilter said...

OK - you made me LOOK for it!! AND I had to click on the photo to super-size it because I couldn't see anything wrong with it AT ALL!! Top left cornerstone - right? Tell you what - if you hadn't said anything - I would have totally missed it!! Just for fun - check out mine - see if you can find the 12th block. ;)

http://alefthandedquilter.blogspot.com/2011/03/norikos-bear-paw-quilt.html

♪♪Melody♪♪ and Puddin said...

No one would ever have noticed. Your points are wonderful and that is usually what I check for. Hope you aren't always that hard on yourself. LOL

scraphappy said...

I think we are always our own worst critics. Yes, the cornerstones the corner do a shoefly turn, but it just adds a tiny bit of character. As for the rest, I'm sure it will look fine after it is quilted. Some of the quilts I liked the least while in progress I loved by the time the final stitch was taken in the binding. I always say that my favorite kind of quilt is the finished kind.

hobopals said...

I'm with left hand, I can't see the mistake and I enlarged the picture and studied it. I see optical illusions--it looks 3D to me.

Now I have to go for the top left cornerstone!!!

Pretty quilt, Gail.

Nancy said...

I'm back. Now, if I only knew where the top left cornerstone was or what it is, I would still probably not see an error. Looks warm and cozy to me. That's all that counts.

Went back to the days of Rich with the last post. (hobopals)

Unknown said...

I think your quilt looks terrific. Yes, we are our own worst critics! I think you should be proud!

straythreads said...

It looks wonderful Well done
ann