Building a Quilt

 I think we all want the finished product.  That quilt that knocked our socks off and made us buy the pattern or take the class is what we want and we really don't think a whole lot initially about the steps it will take to wrap the finished product around us and give us warmth.

For me it is like reading a well written and engaging book.  Do you roll your eyes at those readers who read the last chapter first and know that's not how you read a book.  Roll your eyes at me then because I can be one of those-here's why.  Sometimes, I engage in a book and the characters are being developed along with the plot and I don't get them and so an inkling of frustration sets in and to alleviate that I read the last chapter and I get it.  Now I can go back and delve into the characters and understand what is happening as a result of their personality, circumstance, etc. and the book is now more enjoyable for me because I can get lost in the characters and plot without being frustrated.  When the ending comes sometimes I am still surprised by how it all wrapped up.  

A beautiful quilt can do that for me too.  Sometimes I jump right in before I have a good handle on the steps involved in creating the masterpiece.  The seam ripper gets used, blocks end up in the trash and thread and scraps are all over the floor. Authors have an ending in mind or where they want the book to go and they create the scenarios and emotions to get you there.  They have to pay attention to all the nuts and bolts of being a good writer, like grammar and sentence structure and so on.  We as quilters need to do the same thing.  We need to know about how to get an accurate 1/4" seam, pressing, cutting, etc. but the creation and the end result is all you.  It's yours and yours alone.

Read your pattern all the way through.  Every last word and picture.

Ask yourself how you can make it your own.

Do I have techniques I'd rather use than how they did it.

Gather your equipment in one place

Create your masterpiece

Steep the tea, wrap yourself in your masterpiece and read a good book.  No judgement if you read the ending first.😀

What has always been is not necessarily always best.

Blessings,

Dee