So I have this issue.
With directions.
I always have. At first glance, directions are helpful. But by the time my creative mojo kicks in the directions become overwhelming (they speak only to my left brain, you see) and/or I bore with them. Inevitably, this leads to Direction Abandonment and I wing it. This tendency can lead either to creative bliss or a long string of discarded, incomplete projects.
I am still undecided as to which fork in the road The Quilt will take.
The Quilt. (or: my recipe for disaster).
- Begin with an amazing, inspiring (advanced?) quilt pattern and one thoroughly inexperienced quilter (zero quilting experience).
- Add a dash of historical mis-interpretation in the form of freeing self talk ("I bet quilters didn't use to use patterns at all!") and start cutting and stitching fabric willy-nilly.
- Fall in and out of love with the project over the course of three years.
- Get inspired to complete the project, and show fabric to son (who is no longer three, like he was when you made fabric selection).
- Listen to son politely reject robot quilt and suggests that perhaps it could be completed for his little sister.
- Consider making many, many hotpads from the stack of unfinished quilt squares, but realize that the list of robot themed kitchens in need of hotpads is fairly short.
- Commit to completing robot quilt for daughter and abandon bluebird-themed bedroom plans.
- Look at stack of 20 almost complete (random-sized) squares and wonder how on earth this thing is going to fit together.
- Create a pseudo-pattern from the chaos, and hope for the best.
I will pop in with progress reports over the coming weeks. Feel free to encourage my madness so I don't end up completing this quilt for a grandchild in twenty years.
Yes We Can finish what we started!
(the pattern that started it all is Ice Pops from Denyse Schmidt Quilts.)
Oh, Sister, I feel for you. Have been there many times before. Directions…blah. I (we- joint project, as it was for hubby’s bro & new sis-in-law) just finished our first Denyse Schmidt quilt on Dec. 26th. It was a wedding gift for them, due last June. Christmas was the Do or Die deadline. We didn’t die, but it was close. Dec. 26th found us both on my parents’ couch, hand sewing the binding before heading off to Andrew’s family gathering, where the gift was *finally* presented. Pure craziness. But, like childbirth, I imagine, the quilt-pain memory is short, because I’m dreaming of the next one’s I’ll make, for our beds this time. Pure craziness.
Picturing the two of you stitching away is too much! But I am assuming you actually followed the directions for that? Six months last, but you could see the finish line. What quilt was it (out of curiosity)?
i also am terrible with directions! i don’t like patterns and i never seem to stick to a recipe…likewise with mixed results. i’ve been knitting for 8 years…my new years resolution this year is to learn to read and follow a knitting pattern.:)
Laura, I have yet to follow a pattern or recipe, thus the abundance of single overside socks and mittens in my yarn stash! Good luck and happiness sticking with your resolution. 🙂
Oh yes. I don’t like directions, recipes, instructions, patterns. I wing it. Always! Usually turns out fine! 🙂