Ever Wonder Why??

[JudyL]

Have you ever started a quilt and wondered why in the world you did it?

You're probably guessing I've just done that! I have this black quilt that is 75 x 75 and it is taking me forever! It isn't worth this much trouble and I don't know why I started all this microstippling but now that I've started, I have to finish. I'll be blind before I finish working on this black fabric with black thread. I started this quilt Sunday and I've put in a good 12 (or more) hours a day on it for the last 3 days and probably won't even finish it today.

Thank goodness there's a tiny little bunny outside my window who has been entertaining me. Oh, maybe if he'd go find somewhere else to play, I could stop watching him and finish this darned quilt!

It is my own quilt . . so don't ask me what I'm charging. I'll never do this again, for myself or for $$.

[Bonnie]

Judy,

Actually its a blessing that the quilt is yours.....I just hate when its a customers and it never leaves the frame. Some not matter what you do for them it just doesn't speed it up and they seem to live there for days.

Enjoy your bunny...go get a glass of wine and rest your brains and eyes.

[MarieBrewer]

I'm working on a quilt for myslef right now that I did a poor job of piecing on so I decided I needed to do a tight panto so I chose Deb G's allover feather meander. What a mistake!! It takes me over one hour just to do one pass of the panto. I would like to do more custom but it takes me longer to figure out what to do than to execute it. I'd like some cheese with my whine please!

[Farmersdaughterquilting]

It is funny how that happens, you just look at a quilt for to long and you start going crazy..... A few years ago I was piecing a small quilt (36 x 60) and once I got into it just dreaded every minute, I am not sure why it was all my favorite colors and shapes. I thought why I am doing this if I don't really like it. My DH kept telling me it looked great, I could not see it. I had it professionally quilted and then tucked it away for a while. After we moved into our current house I brought it out and hung it beside the kitchen table. I love it now, and understand what my DH saw all along. It means even more now as my daughter has learned her colors and shapes from talking about it over meals.... I am so glad I had some encouragement to finish it.

Keep up the good work Judy, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

I hope you post some photos when you are done.

[kerri]

Hi Judy,

Even when you're suffering with a difficult quilt, your comments are always so enjoyable with your knack for getting at the heart of things. I also enjoy you blog comments, I always find myself laughing or nodding in agreement. Keep the comments coming and I hope you finish your quilt today.

One more compliment, Your quilts are really wonderful, hope I can make some quilts that nice some day.

[LynnQuilts]

I made myself a big Boston Commons quilt, designed these beautiful feather designs for the open areas (at least it looked beautiful on paper), traced the feather designs on, CC'ed ALL the hundreds of squares, quilted the feathers, then went to microstipple all around the feathers. I'd only been stippling for a little while when, like you, I realized...why was I doing this? Of course, I couldn't stop stippling then since I'd started, and doggedly finished the whole miserable thing; it was pure agony. Took it off the machine, hoping it would look better to me. It didn't. I washed it, hoping it would shrink up a bit and look better, but it didn't. I didn't bother to bind it, just folded it up and stashed it away out of the way. I've since taken it out once and looked at it again, and it did look a little better than it did before.

I, of course, almost went blind from it also, and wondered why I had thought it would be so magnificent that it deserved so much work. Maybe you can enlarge your stipple a little?? If you really hate it, you could abandon it, but probably if you just grit your teeth and press on, you'll finish it and maybe like it a lot better than you think you will...if not now, maybe later on down the road. Somehow we'll have to learn to be more discerning about what deserves the work and what does not!

Knowing your work though, I suspect that once you get over the hump and finish it, that it will be beautiful!! Press on!!

[Cheryll]

I have made of these type of quilts. They make great gifts. The recipient does not know that you think it's a dud and they are thrilled to get it. You could also bless others by donating it to a charity auction or raffle. Get a tax deduction with it anyway. Quilts can bless others even if we personally don't love that partiuclar one. so finish it and give it away. Cheryll

[creatifworkshop]

Judy,

You are saying that you are stippling with a black thread over a black fabric and that is making you blind.

Has anyone worked on black with rainbow threads?

If yes, what did you think of the result?

If not, what other type of thread did you use? and what was the result?

I was just wondering in order not to use black thread over black fabric.

I wish you all a lovely weekend.

Brigitte

[Guest Linda S]

Oh Judy! I feel your pain. Do you have one of those side lights? Sometimes that helps to see the stitching, so you don't have to go so blind over thread with no contrast. I have gotten half-way through a project and thought - why did I choose such a tight quilting pattern? Wouldn't it be so much nicer to do something loose and just FINISH? LOL I hope that in the end it looks great and you're happy that you did what you did.

Linda

[JudyL]

Cheryll mentioned giving away quilts. The black Stack & Whack quilt that won Best of Category in Nashville in 2004 started out to be a teacher gift and I didn't get it quilted in time for Christmas so she didn't get it. I did give her another one that was already quilted. Then I saw that one of the categories in the show that year was "anything made from an AQS book" so I quilted it and entered it. We've laughed a lot about that quilt almost having been given away as a gift.

This other black quilt that I am still working on will not be given away. I hope to enter it in the "Do You EQ?" contest.

As far as using another color thread, I almost used some variegated but I think the black is what really worked best.

So far, I have used 2 full cones of Masterpiece thread. Thank goodness I bought 3 cones. I usually only buy 2. I would really have been in a pickle if I hadn't bought that third cone of thread.

I will finish this quilt tonight . . I think!

[kerri]

Judy,

Have you liked using the Masterpiece, even though the quilt been a hard task?

Kerri

[epprog]

Judy, which size of the Masterpiece are you talking about? You used two of the large cones of Masterpiece already on this black quilt? Way too much work girl. By the way, I read your blogs and I just laugh! I love the one about the TV. When our 20 year old moved out (by the way, I was really really upset when that happened even though he was such a pain and a know it all at times! and I still miss him!) I cancelled the movies, but I still pay over $50. So, I'm thinking I should cancel some more of it! Keep up the good work, I love your quilting!

[JudyL]

Originally posted by kerri

Have you liked using the Masterpiece, even though the quilt been a hard task?

Kerri:

I love the Masterpiece thread! It's great for fine work . . perfect for feathers that require backtracking, as well as microstippling. I much prefer cotton thread so I think the Masterpiece is a great addition to the Superior family!

[kerri]

Thanks Judy, that's nice to hear.