Tonight, for the first time in almost two weeks, I sat down at my machine to quilt. Boy, how I missed the mindless play. That is, until I realized that I had sewn, ripped and re-sewn the same area at least five or six time. Wait... for those of you who now me, I am not a perfectionist when it comes to free motion quilting. Yes, I like things to look nice, but why in the world was I re-quilting the same area so many times on a piece that was supposed to be a play piece to get to know what my 830 could really do? What in the world was I doing... you don't frog a play piece over and over again.
Well, I guess it was at that moment that I realized that it was ok, to use my seam ripper as just another tool in the quilting process, just like my rotary cutter is an important tool in piecing. Would I use a strip that was cut crooked? No, I would simply put the strip in my scrap pile and re-cut. So why not look at the seam ripper as just another tool that allows my quilting to be better... hmphhh... what a novel idea. At least for me :-)... Why do we look at the seam ripper and say 'Oh no, I have to un-sew or frog!' Why not say, 'wow that isn't what I wanted to do to, thank the lord for the seam ripper, so I fcan ix it.'?
Then I realized that quite a few of my quilting friends use their seam ripper over and over again..... never complaining. They just do it as a matter of fact. Is that why their free motion quilting is always just a bit better than mine... yes I said just a bit :-).... No seriously, doesn't a poet use an eraser? Duh!!!
Ok, so does this mean I have reached a plateau of maturity in my quilting?? Who knows, but one thing for sure, good thing I like buying thread!
LOL. Think of it this way.. The more you rip, the more you can buy! I bought more thread on Saturday to match up the quilt I've been trying to quilt but keep ripping out the thread.
ReplyDeleteI spent most of yesterday ripping out quilting of one of my quilts. I just didn't like how it looked and started over. Only one of the 3 spools I bought worked. Now to just get over to the machine and do it.
A seam ripper is a quilters best tool.
ReplyDeleteTeri
Bethany, I know what you mean. Well it is a good thing I tend to buy the largest spools available, as the LQS I used to buy my thread from has closed.
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