Everything these days seems to be to get things done quickly! Even quilting. Which I really don't understand. Don't we quilt because we enjoy it? Then why are we rushing through it? There are precut fabrics of every color, shape and size, there are books on how to quilt in a day, have a quilt by Monday and large block quilts. I believe the Modern Quilt movement is based on this. Get the top done quickly. But at least they take their time and do beautiful quilting on top of it.
Now don't get me wrong, I love all the new gadgets to make things easier for me. What would I do without my rotary cutter? And templates? I have plenty. But I am in no rush to collect quilt tops that sit around undone because the quilting part is what takes all the time. I had this revelation a couple of days ago. I am involved in Round Robins, Mystery quilts, and Bee Quilts. And I am just collecting quilts that I really didn't want in colors and styles I really don't like. I have 16 quilts in various states of "doneness" and a few of them I don't want to even look at, much less quilt them. So I have decided that I am not going to do the Round Robins or Mystery Quilts anymore. And I quit doing those block of the months last year. I am going to still do the Bee quilt, probably because I bought the fabric for it already. Its an applique quilt and its growing on me.
I sat down this weekend and worked on this applique block, and actually enjoyed the slow pace of the hand work. I have been thinking about getting into applique some, and even signed up for a class at the VA Quiltfest coming up in 2 weeks. Its a machine applique class that is suppose to look like handquilting. I can't wait for this class. My husband bought me a used Janome Horizon for Mothers day last year and I love sewing on it. So I will definately do some applique work on it. But the hand applique has a place too. And as I was doing this work, I thought about all the quilts I had done and that none of them are really anything special. I have one that is screaming for feather quilting on it. I am practicing my free motion quilting skills, but they are not ready for this quilt yet.
I want to start doing some quilts that are different, and take some time to complete. And will be fun to do and to have around. I want special quilts that I will be proud to pass down to my kids and have them fight over after I am gone, LOL. Right now I feel like its quantity not quality going on. I am going to change that about my quilting. I want to try some new techniques and things that maybe have not been done with quilts yet. I also want to try and make my own applique patterns.
We will see where this goes. But for now, its slow down and take it one day at a time. Enjoy the quilting process no matter what stage its in.
Happy Quilting
Lisa
