It's Okay to Change Your Mind

I'm so glad that this worked out!  It's done, every row has been finished with stitch in the ditch (SID) and I've tidied up the edges.  I learned a lot with this quilt. 

 I know that next time I spend this much time on a quilt, I want it perfect before I start, so if I decide to show it, I can.  I also learned that I will do all my SID with Superior's monopoly rather than thick Omni.  What was I thinking??  Haha!  

My daughter learned that she will speak up next time and suggest I go a different route if she thinks something isn't quite right.  The S.  She knew it was going to get lost, and make it look a bit off, but didn't say anything.  Didn't want to hurt my feelings, I think.  I wished she would have!  It would have saved a lot of time.  

Oh well!  It's done now and I've already forgotten the pain.  

Thanks for looking!!

Liking it Much Better Now

So after I removed all the quilting I didn't like, I began to enjoy myself.  I'm not worried about how this will look now, I'm sure it will be good enough.  This is not for a show, it's not for a paying customer (it's for my daughter), so I can do what I want.  I've chosen some fun fills, and also some time-consuming semi-fun ones.  You know how that goes, right?  You start on a dense area, fun for the first hour, but then you begin to lose interest and by the time you're on the home stretch, you're absolutely sick of it!  Kind of like winter snow, right?  You love the first snowfall but are sick of it by February or March!

I was driving home from my daughter's house on Wednesday evening and I stopped to take this picture.  Not a lot of color, but I thought it was pretty.

And this is a picture of what most of central (where I live) and eastern Montana looks like.  The Yellowstone River is down below the rims.  

I Have a Problem

But I don't know how to solve it.   I have really been trying to challenge myself with my quilting and design skills.  That means I am taking risks, big risks.  For example, enlarging a letter, in this instance, an S, drawing it on the quilt top, stitching it out, not once, not twice, but three times, filling it in with fills, and then. Yep, you guessed it, I am ripping it out.  I'm skinning again.  Ugh!  

Why can't I decide before I do it?  I need to remember that taking quilty risks is not for me, that is for the Jodi Robinsons, the Angela Walters, the Sharon Schambers.  Why can't I stitch out a sample like Deborah Poole who stitches out her wholecloths completely before she does the real thing. Why am I never happy with what I do unless I am copying someone else?  

I've read a couple books on design and creativity and taking risks, and copying.  I'm working on trusting my instinct.  I think the S was a good idea, but I don't think the fills worked.  And it definitely didn't work with the designs stitched around the S.  

Here is the S.  Yes, it is there.  Look closer.  I know, it gets lost.

This looks good, but not in the S, and not on this quilt.

I like this.  I will do more of this.

I have much more to say along this topic, but it will have to wait.  I have a bit more to skin, and then I want to get back to the stitching.  

Please tell me I'm not alone.  And please encourage me to start doing more along the lines of improv, Sherri Lynn Wood style, or Gees Bend quilters, with basic, basic basic quilting.  I need to free myself of all these indecisions and insecurities. 

Vacation

We went on a family vacation to Bear Lake which is half in Idaho and half in Utah. We had such a great time! This first Picture, though, is from Bloomington Lake.  

This is where Dean and I used to go fishing 30 some years ago but has now become a popular swimming spot because they hung up a big tree swing. We tried our hand at fishing and caught three little fish. Or rather the grandkids caught three little fish.

Here we are with all four of our little grandkids.

My daughters and I.

A view from a restaurant in Idaho.

Riding the hot dog!

Dean and I are relaxing. My daughter used Prisma a new photo app on this. I think I might need to download that one.

And finally some of the grandkids riding the raft. this was a blast!

Now we are home and I am working on a quilt which I hope to be able to show pictures of very soon. Thanks for stopping by!