I could show you the progress I've made on the Fabric of Life challenge quilt! I have pieced the two fat quarters into a central panel for the top and added a border made from a single fat quarter of another African print already in my stash. I fooled around with other fabrics for additional borders but nothing has really worked so far. I made some wonky Hourglass blocks and tried those in various positions around the top. I went out and bought two more fabrics I thought might work. Now that they have been washed and pressed and a few pieces cut I'm not so sure they will work afterall. (Naturally!) This has been two days of effort. I've enjoyed every minute of it but I'm tired and done for today. I will look at it again tomorrow (or the next day; my menfolk are due home late tonight). Hopefully some wonderful solution will present itself at that time.
I have been trying to create this top in a completely improvisational or intuitive way. I ripped rather than rotary cut fabrics when I could. I have used a ruler to guide my rotary cutter but have refrained from measuring as much as possible. In the past I have tried scissor-cutting but found my hands too wobbly (or my scissors too sharp!) to get the results I desire. I'm going for mostly straight seams here, not curved piecing. ;- )
An interesting phenomenon has occurred over the last few months. I have been doing mostly crazy patch blocks/projects or other intuitive piecing when I have not been engaged in finishing off old projects. (I piece onto a foundation - usually - when I am piecing a crazy block but I don't use a pattern for the patches or the placement of the patches.) Now I find that I have no desire whatsoever to make traditionally pieced blocks. No more precision cutting or sewing for me! Not for the time being anyway. (Never say never!) The Perfectionist in me still wants things to line up just so and be as neat as possible, but at least the child in me has a stronger voice these days and gets to play more. I call that progress.
I've tried ripping fabric and at least for me it causes far more problems than it solves. I HATE those thread pulls and I think it makes the edges of the fabric wobblier so you're more likely to get waves. I do a lot of rotary cutting using the straight edge of the ruler without looking at the lines too. I've tried scissors, but not having a straight line to sew on just unnerves me.
ReplyDeleteWhoohoo, ditch that perfectionism and improvise!!!
I think you are very courageous! I have had that phase as well of not measuring, making everything wonky but it didn´t last! I am very curious to see how your African Quilt will look like. Take care.
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