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.)