Thursday, September 7, 2017

Saturday Sampler


One of the local quilt shops hosts a Saturday Sampler program. You pay a discounted cost up-front, and then meet monthly to show off your completed block and receive instructions for the next month. If you keep up, there isn't an additional cost. If you don't complete your block in time, you pay a small fee to be reinstated. Unfortunately, I stalled out at the last month. In this particular year, the finished look was kept secret until the end. In the manner of a mystery quilt, I had hoped all the parts would make a sensible whole. Come the last month, we were given a much larger allotment to complete with a generous amount of appliqué, and I discovered that some of the blocks looked a bit misplaced since they didn't have the same background color. While it can be attributed to personal preference, it was enough to stall me out for some time as I fought to convince myself that the completion would be worth the effort even though I was unenthusiastic. A few years later, or perhaps half a decade if we're being honest, I had a revelation. I could repair the blocks that had some construction issues (Thankfully I've improved over that stretch of time.) and omit the ones that I didn't feel enhanced the overall effect. Even better, it would result in a smaller quilt--one I would feel more confident quilting.
You can see the quilt as designed on the shop's website. However, I'm much happier with my edited version. As far as the extensive incomplete appliqué, I decided I didn't feel like making it. Ha! I'm the master of my quilting destiny. I realized a finished quilt is much better than pieces for one that holds the potential to follow all the rules, but will never ever get finished.
I brought forth my trusted rainbow of Aurifil 50 wt cotton threads for the free-motion. The bobbin thread matched the light blue background, and I kept it the same color for the entire quilt. For the top thread, I roughly matched the fabric colors to emphasize the texture created.
The background quilting is a flower spiral, while my other designs are an assortment. The red squares have a design from Making Connections, which I'll be reviewing here on the 14th.
How about some zoomed in action?
Samplers really are great for trying out different free-motion designs.
I'm so glad I finally broke through the trepidation, let go of the inclination to do things exactly as prescribed, and wrapped this baby up.
What about you? Do you have any projects that you can't bring yourself to complete? What's holding you back? As the official mascot of UFOs, I promise I won't judge. Did you fall out of love, get busy with life, realize you were in over your head, or simply start something else for the sake of it?
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8 comments:

  1. Your shortened version is adorable. Plus it's finished. A win win.

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  2. Your version is beautiful!

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  3. Glad you had your breakthrough and finished, because this quilt is gorgeous! From the fabrics right down to the quilting. Having these types of breakthroughs are so freeing and lets face it, finishes always feel good.

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  4. Your version turned out beautiful. I love all the different quilting you did. You're right samplers are the perfect opportunity to try out new designs.

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  5. I think your solution is perfect, and even better: it's done! Congratulations! I honestly have done the something similar with blocks I had abandoned working on in the past. In my case I just didn't make and more and went for negative space to finish it off.

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  6. Nice save. It looks great as is.

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  7. AS usual, you are inspiring. I think it's wonderful that you left the Prescribed Quilt in the dust and made up your own version--it's terrific looking!

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  8. I love your version of the quilt! More coherent than the store sample. The use of the repeated green blocks on the diagonal give the illusion of garden lattice.

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