Perfection? HA!!!

If the machine breaks, that is a tragedy. If I am not careful and injure myself with a rotary cutter, that is an accident. But if my points don't match - well, that is just the process. Try again, maybe.

Thanks to Bernie, today I am happy to shamelessly share my mistakes with you. 
For ease of understanding, I will be discussing three kinds of mistakes. 

1. Ignoring the Golden rule - Never do this.

2. Experimentation - Do this often

3. Stitching Errors - Whether you like it or not, this will happen

IGNORING THE GOLDEN RULE

The biggest mistake that I have made is ignoring the 10-foot rule.

Not stepping away from the design wall to look at your work from a distance is a huge No-No.

Murky & Meh

In American Hustle, the blocks had no contrast and the design was impossible to discern. I tried to add sashing and borders but in the end I decided to give it away. It was not going to get better.

Not much better

In Strawberry Salad with Pepto-bismol Dressing, I was working with a bag of scraps. I chose a square block with partial seams.  The first block looked fine.

Audition Block

But the whole quilt was too much. 

Since the fabrics were so busy, I should have kept the design simple.
Or added contrast fabrics to balance the muddy pinkness or the pink muddiness.
Hindsight is 20/20.

Strawberry Salad +Pepto Bismol Dressing

This really is the worst mistake, in my opinion. It is pure disaster. And mostly the project cannot be salvaged. I love you all who comfort me with kind words (the depth of your kindness far exceeds the height of your brutal honesty). Moving along.

Now I agonize over contrast. The 10-foot rule helps me evaluate this contrast. 
Some quilters use red glasses or see the layout in grayscale.

I chose blue and green solids for Neel. The 10-foot rule revealed that one particular blue would be too dark and not have enough contrast against the midnight background. Swapped it. Killed it. No mercy.

Blue (top right) was too dark

I chose only light and medium values and alternated blue and green stars in the layout.

Neel 

When I was making Esmeralda, it was a fabric line sent by Moda.  I picked and chose and discarded those squares that were too light.  

Esmeralda's discards

They were used in another quilt - Charlie's Birds - with contrasting fabrics.

Paired with aqua and navy

Charlie's Birds - Pop of orange

Similarly when I was making Meet Cute, I discarded those fabrics that would have a poor contrast against the white background. 

No way

Yes!!!

Meet Cute

Most other times, I choose my own fabric. Even when I am using precuts I add/subtract fabrics based on contrast.

Let's compare two quilts - Esmeralda and Queen's Necklace. Same design but different fabrics.
You can see the interlocking circles in Esmeralda but in Queen's Necklace, they jump out at you. 

Esmeralda - Subtle

Queen's Necklace - Bold

Contrast creates the dramatic difference between the two quilts.  There is not a right or a wrong approach here. Once you know how to work with different values - lightest to darkest - you can create the desired effect. Gentle contrasts for a subtle quilt or sharp contrasts for a bold impressive one.

Whatever you do, remember the 10-foot rule!!!

EXPERIMENTATION - IDEAS TRANSLATION

An idea in my head always seems terrific.  When it is applied to fabric, it sometimes gets lost in translation. When I was making Trees of Life, I thought that bright floral trees on a dark background will pop and sparkle.  They did not quite impress in reality.

Looks good

They looked hideous. I took no pictures of those ugly blocks by themselves.
I switched to low volume backgrounds and liked the results much better.

Looks better

I did not wish to discard those dark background blocks and considered throwing them in the mix randomly or using them as a part of pieced backing.  Using them as a border was probably the best decision.

Light blocks framed by a border of dark blocks

See contrast!!! Makes all the difference.

If I was making quilts from kits and not deviating one bit, this would not be a problem. But I want to play and I want to experiment and I wonder - what if? 

And this "mistake" is really one which I suggest you try to make. Playing with fabric, trying a new block, or just making alterations to an existing block and discovering something is the joyful part of the process.

Paul: What if your "experiment" does not pan out?

Me: Like what?

Paul: Like when you used cinnamon instead of vanilla in the chocolate cookies

Me: Well then I know what does not work. Besides, my co-workers liked those cookies.

Paul: Why not just stick to the recipe or the pattern in this case?

Me: Firstly, I was out of vanilla. More importantly, experimenting is great because then I discovered a new method for making QSTs. Just like the combination of mint chutney with mayonnaise elevates a mundane turkey sandwich to gourmet food.

QST Tutorial

Four QSTs

Paul: When I am painting my models I stick to the suggested color scheme.

Me: I know. You are a cook but I am a chef.
Paul: Sometimes. Sometimes you are a chef.
Me: Yes. Because I experiment and willing to make mistakes.

Serendipity

Tube Technique

What eventually became the Serendipity tutorial began as an experiment. 
But it worked.  And it is a really popular tutorial.

Loving it

Yummy

STITCHING ERRORS

We all make these. Sewing the wrong sides together happens all the time.

Paul: Do you fix a mistake when you see it?

Me: Not usually. Mostly, I let it be. Like the artist's signature. Someday someone will go over my quilts and look for these stitching errors - like clues in a mystery case.

Paul: You are so full of yourself

Me: There are three such mistakes in your quilt.

Paul (aghast): In Paulitiks?

Me: Yep. You did not even know and you sleep under it every night.

Paul: I must check.

Me: Let me know when you find them. It takes skill.

Paul: I don't think it takes skill to make mistakes.

Me: It takes skill to hide things in plain sight. Talk to me after you find them.

Paul: What if this is a wild goose chase? What if there is no mistake?

Me: If you cannot find it, you can admit defeat and I will show you.

Clockwise Block 

The blocks in Paulitiks had black strips going anti clockwise. All but three. And when the rogue block was next to the regular block the black strips connected. See the block above.  This was unintended.

Can you find all three?

I saw no reason to correct these mistakes and so I left them there.

I left it in Mayflower.  You cannot even see it unless you are looking for it.
Do click on the link above for my discussion with a knitter about her mistakes.

Bottom Right Corner

And if the lady is not ready to dance her palms are closed. Did I make a mistake in piecing? 
May be. But if she does not want to dance, it is up to her. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Closed Palms = No, Thank you

You can ask her to dance :-) because her palms are open.

Open Palms =  Ready to dance

But when it happened in "A Walk in thePark", the mistake was structural and needed to be fixed.

Front - Looked fine

Backing falls short

Added border strips on the back

Since the quilt sandwich was already basted, I was reluctant to take it apart. To make up for the shortfall in the backing, I added 2.5" strips all around the back in the Quilt-As-You-Go fashion.

Sew line in the front

 This added a stitch line in the front which could pass off as quilting.

Finished Front

Salvaged Back

Since the whole point of this exercise is to laugh at our mistakes and have fun, here is an excerpt from one of the episodes of Big Bang Theory.

Raj Koothrappali : Has Bernadette found a cure for something? 

Howard Wolowitz : In a way. She was working on a dandruff shampoo that has the unfortunate side effect of horrible anal leakage. 

Raj Koothrappali : That's too bad. But then, is there any good anal leakage? 

Howard Wolowitz : On the upside, they decided to market it as a constipation remedy.

In conclusion, it is a mistake only if you learn nothing from it. 

Learning, growth, joy and inspiration lie along the journey.  Perfection is the destination.

And even when we strive for perfection once (if) we get there it will be the end of the journey.  And who wants that? I want to continue on this ride - missteps, bumps and turbulence notwithstanding.

Hope your seat-belts are fastened :-D

What a Year!!!

It has been a rollercoaster of a year for me in so many ways.  Paul and I celebrated our 10th anniversary.

As my surprise gift, we went i-flying.

That was an exhilarating experience which I happily repeated.

Quilting wise, if there was an overall theme running through 2017, it had to be scrap vortex.  I completed four of them, including Happy and Lucky.

Lucky and Happy

The Honey Pot Bee blocks were a mixed bag.  Here are a couple of my favorites - the Stripey Stripe Block.

Stripey Stripe Block 

And this leaf block by Intrepid Thread is so striking, I am sure I will revisit and make a whole quilt out of it. 

Feather Leaf Block

I really enjoyed making some of the blocks. Others failed to excite me. It will be a long time before anything can become of those diverse blocks.

I dipped my toes into paper piecing. I definitely prefer the freezer paper method, which I used to make these mushroom blocks.

So cute

Magic Mushrooms

I met quilty buddies from Pennsylvania, Delaware and Germany!!!

with Sylvia in Pennsylvania

with Mari (at the Lancaster Quilt Show)

With Melanie (visiting from Germany)

And I met Bonnie Hunter.

Here are my top five quilt picks of the year.

The most popular quilt was My Twitter Feed.  If I had to describe it in one word it would be Joyful.

My Twitter Feed 

Joyful Birds

It received such rave reviews at the 2017 Quilt Show, I glow with joy every time I think about it.

My entry to the Moda Bake Shop was very well-received. Esmeralda is the most ambitious quilt, I have made so far.

Esmeralda - A queen-size princess of a quilt

A queen-size, kaleidoscope quilt with a thousand pieces, completed in one month (with the tutorial and pictures) is a major accomplishment.

Esmeralda - Close-up

Being published in the Moda Bake Shop was definitely something to dance about.


The Shadow of Light is a small quilt but it packs a punch. The inspiration came from the Honey Pot Bee - the Blended Scraps block. The process included many love hate moments.

Shadow of Light

In the end, I love it so much that I am sure that I will be revisiting this pattern.


The surprise pick of the year is the Playing Footsie Quilt. The quilt design is simple but it is the story of loving and longing that received such an extraordinary response from you.

Playing Footsie

If I had to describe it in one word it would be Soul-soothing or Comforting.


My Parikrama quilt is the last finish of the year. When I was piecing this quilt, it reminded me of spices, Bollywood dance/song numbers, or the hustle and bustle of a busy open air market.

Parikrama

The process was almost effortless, like I was being guided by an external force, where each step just came to me naturally. When it finished it was evocative of the Temple and the Goddess. It was Mystical.

For a year that had no plans, no goals and absolutely no to-do lists, it is remarkable that it brought me Joy, Accomplishment, Love, Comfort, and Mysticism.

Having no deadline/goals allowed me to make fun blocks like these bikini ladies from Sew Fresh Quilts.

Lorna's Lovely Ladies

Made these house blocks for the victims of the Quebec Mosque shooting, requested by the Montreal Modern Quilt Guild.

House Blocks for the Montreal Modern Quilt Guild

And these Doggone Cute blocks for KaHolly.

Love these puppies

I have plenty of deadlines at work, which I consistently meet or exceed every month. Therefore I am going to keep my creative pursuits free-flowing and spontaneous. It worked for 2017. Why not do the same for 2018?
What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I will be linking with Meadow Mist Designs Best of 2017 and all my favorite linky parties. See sidebar.