Today is the first link up for this great new linky party!Jessica of Quilty Habit has asked: Write a blog post about the crafty areas in which you want to gain more confidence, and/or discuss a project you will be working on during the series that will help you gain this confidence.
Of course I wanted to be a part of this. Who doesn't love a party?
But this assignment is a tough one...
Confidence is not something I think I am really lacking.
My problem may actually be the opposite - Overconfidence.
I would like to gain confidence AND COMPETENCE in Design.
I need to get better at seeing the BIG picture to avoid BIG disappointment.
Case in point: the Gone Fishing quilt
Late in the summer, I started on a rainbow string thing. I was obsessed with creating designs using rainbow colours in 1" strips and came up with this idea.
Looking pretty good so far. A cute idea for a baby quilt.
Then I added colour....
And at this point, I started falling out of love with this idea.
My inner voice was telling me - JUST LET IT GO!
But I plunged ahead anyways, hoping it would look better in real life when it was finished.
It was only a month previously that I had decided to adopt the KYSS (Keep Your Sewing Simple) policy.
And here with this design I had completely gone against that policy. Yes, the strings were simple. But the incorporation of a colour explosion and tiny curved piecing for the waves cased my inner voice to say:
HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!!
Now... That about sums up my problem.
What do I plan on doing during the Sewing With Certainty series to help me over come this problem?
- Abide by the KYSS policy
- Design blocks that can be used simply to create quilts of various sizes
- Use my new design wall to help me see the BIG picture and make changes as I go
- Listen to my inner voice
If you have made it to the end of this post - Thank you!If this post has caused you to give some thought to improving your confidence, I encourage you to join in Jessica's linky party!
I would be very interested to read your post and cheer you on in your goal to improve!
Keep On Quilting On!
16 comments:
Great goal! Designing is hard. I have so many ideas in my head that sometimes it's hard to actually get it out onto cloth. I do like this piece though. It will be fun to see what you come up with next!
Wow, what an adorable and creative quilt. Great job.
Hmm, I think this is what keeps us interested in quilting. We never really get to the point that we say, "Ah ha! I've arrived. A perfect quilt."
But hopefully we do get better, in large part because of this type of self-assessment.
It's still cute though. I particularly enjoy the worm. :)
I like your goals! Keeping it simple can be hard to do when you have these brilliant designs in your head. It's sometimes hard to translate those ideas to paper and then to quilts.
Intuition is your best tool. If the piece doesn't speak to you, then it's probably not going to speak to someone else. So go with your gut! :)
Like the previous poster said, no one makes perfect quilts! But we can learn from our mistakes and do better on the next quilt! :)
That's a great quilt, well done on seeing it through!
I think that your work is amazing! I admire your confidence and determination to get things done. I say, go for whatever floats your boat. You are obviously VERY good at what you do...all of it!!
I L.O.V.E. this post, Lorna!! I'm one of those people who encourages people to really try the quilt in their head but you are allowed to admit defeat on your psrt! I think it came out really cute (the worm kills me) but I like your ideas about keeping it simple. I think I need to abide by that rule, too. Thank you SO much for linking up and joining me! I can't wait to see your other posts!
I can relate to the overconfidence in quilting endeavors! Thanks for sharing:)
Yeah, but if you didnt do it, you wouldn't have this awesome quilt. I like it! :)
Lorna, I've soooo glad we have become blogging friends. Your post has given me something to think about....I love the idea of this linky party as I feel I need to gain more confidence in my quilting. It's hard working full time...and when I get home...I just want a glass a wine and some hand sewing!! LOL!!! Yet I want to grow in my quilting....hmmmm....I close contemplating my next post! LOL!!!
Cute piece Lorna :D
So many areas in need of improvement and so little time!
Well said, KYSS can make you a happier quilter. You like to feel happy when your done, but every now and then you gotta jump out there and try something crazy:) Fine line. I want to perfect more of what I do now...like taking time to pin and starch, ripping things out when they are not right(sometimes) and all those things I used to skip! Will be fun to follow along.
I don't think you have an overconfidence problem at all. I believe confidence is important in quilting - it encourages innovation and compels us to try new things. Sure we may make a few mistakes along the way, but when we are done we will have learned so much more than if we had gone with the safe option.
That being said I'm not saying you shouldn't keep it simple and do what you want. I am just pointing out that your confidence produced a beautiful quilt, a wonderful pattern, and I'm sure you learned a lot through the process.
Keep going you are a wonderful quilter and person!
Lorna .....fabulous post! Design is something I am very interested in but always find it difficult. Look forward to cheering you along and learning from you. Marie x (mlismore@optusnet.com.au)
I think this quilt is great! The waves add so much to it, along with details like the worm. I like "simple" too, but I like to invest my energy in this type of detail to enhance the "simple" design. This is my kind of quilt!
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