ARRRRRHGHHHHHH!

Something that I'm doing is not right.

Something that I'm doing is leading me down a road without an option of reverse. It's screwing up the entire backside of the Grandma quilt, and I feel like there's nothing I can do about it.

Here's what's happening. As I quilt, the backing fabric is bunching up and getting sewn in puckers and grossness. Everything looks great from the front, but the back is worse for the wear. My concern is that it's not going to feel comfy to sleep underneath, and it's going to wash poorly. Really, when I think about it hard enough, the problem is that it's very NOT perfect.

When quilting in general, I think there's a certain amount of imperfection that I have come to accept as part of the craft. If you want something perfect, you would get something from the store. I am making hand-crafted love via cloth, and that means that some things are going to be uneven, and it will never be perfect. But, I also expect everything I do to be pretty. This, what's happening on the back of this quilt, is NOT pretty.

I was having this problem before I stopped working on the quilt, but thought I had localized the damage and could start over. In the end, I would just make the damaged portion of the back the spot where I put the quilt label. But now. But now.

Last night I started quilting on the other side of the quilt, thinking it would be a fresh start. A fresh chance to get it right and keep things straight. NOPE. It started again. More bunching. More creating folds and creases that would carry out and out and out in the quilt. At this point, I'm too far in to start over. There are 1500 yards of thread stitched into this quilt, so it's really irreversible. I have to either accept it or trash the whole thing. And, after the zillions of hours and hundreds upon hundreds of dollars I've invested, trashing it is an unthinkable option.

I just need a quilt fairy to come down and tell me what the hell I'm doing wrong, how to fix it, and what to do now. Does anyone know a quilt fairy?

Realisitc Expectations

Last we heard from our little quiltress, she was racing to complete two quilts by the end of the week in order to reach her Christmas goal.

She failed.

Here's the story. I got to a point, the day before we left town, when I realized that no matter what I did, I was not going to finish the quilt for Charles's grandma. So, why was I driving myself crazy? Why was I torturing myself over the quilt and going crazy? I had lost out on so much already, was I going to lose out on the Christmas holiday?

So, I stopped work on it and focused on finishing the quilt for Jacquelyn. Which was finished on time and VERY well received. I don't know that I've ever felt happier giving one of my quilts away. I know that it's something she'll have and treasure for a long time. I'm glad I could give it to her.

Unfortuantely, I got so caught up in the moment, and my camera ran out of batteries, so I don't have any pics of the finished product. But, being close to the new owner, I'm sure I can get some pics in the next time I see her.

So, what's next? Finish the Grandma quilt. I'm set up to start back up on it as soon as I get the nerve. Which needs to be soon, because otherwise I can see momentum going out the window. After the Grandma quilt, I have two other large quilts I wanted to make. However, I feel that I need a break from the large tradtional quilts and may focus on some smaller art quilts for a while.

The biggest lesson I've learned is to accept my own limitations and take one day at a time. No more panicking about self-inflicted quilt deadlines!