by Sandra | February 23rd, 2009
I think sometimes people think that everything magically falls into place for my applique designs. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Some things work and many times, some things do not.
The most difficult thing for me is letting go of an idea I think is “fabulous” that obviously is not going to work out in the end. I will try anything other than the obvious to keep the one thing I think is so great. You would think I would realize all of the time I waste pursuing a losing battle, but no, I keep on trying to keep the one thing that is screwing up the design.
I thought my dime size roses would be fabulous in this border design I am working on. After applique-ing many of these teeny tiny pieces, and then looking at it on the design wall, I discovered they didn’t work if I was honest with myself. On their own they were pretty and impressive skill-wise, but they were definitely not working for the quilt as a whole. Once again I wasted a lot of time pursuing a design dead end because I thought the idea was cool and refused to see the obvious. Duh–again.
So I spent most of last night picking out my itty bitty stitches carefully so as not to ruin the background fabric in the process. If I had just listened to that inner voice instead of ignoring it (again) I could have spared myself the tedious task of picking out all those nasty itty bitty stitches that go with the itty bitty applique. Need I mention the time this took???
I know I will do this again, it is inevitable.
©2009 Sandra Leichner
Those are so tiny . The idea looks cool to me !!!
sometimes we just have to do it anyway ,just to make sure !
I lost my seamm ripper and that is almost as bad as my sewing machine breaking down . That must tell you something .
The picture with all the “picked out” flower pieces says it all! Often I will stare at an idea I have tried for days(but wasn’t working design-wise) before I finally give in and take it out. Not a very fun task ,but the original idea remains in my craw for another quilt.
Did you remove everything behind the flower? Did you redesign this area of the border yet?
Also wondered if one day you could post a picture of the back of one of your finished quilts?
Joan I only removed the flowers. I was so glad I did too. So much better. Do you mean the back of a quilt top, or the back of a finished quilt? You are the first person who has ever asked to see the back of my quilts– LOL.
The flowers were added to the design later when I had a crisis of confidence in the composition. As always, I should have followed my first instincts and stuck to the original border design–obviously.
I must have many seam rippers. I absolutely panic if I can’t find one.
I would love to see the back of a finished quilt ! Also , did you replace the flowers with another design element ?