Don't let the difficulties of the present moments overshadow the reality of God's promises. God's promises still stand. And God's promises are stronger than our failures.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Saturday Thoughts While Quilting

In a couple of evenings after work this week I put together a jelly roll quilt top.  It's the third one I've made this way and I love the mindless stitching and the quick results.  You know the pattern, which is really no pattern at all - you sew the strips together end to end and then you take the two ends and start sewing again, and and then you do it again until you get to the final size.

Another evening I sandwiched it and today I quilted it.  I love this quilt for a myriad of reasons  - It's a great size for covering yourself while you read a book or watch a movie, it's very quick to put together, and you could go the easy route and buy a jelly roll or you could use your scraps and just cut 2 1/2" strips of your own choosing.  What's not to love about that, right?

I quilted this one with different size loops.  I've been doing my own machine quilting for a year or so now; maybe it's been two years...I really don't know...but mostly I do stippling because for some reason that seems easy to me.  I'm trying to branch out so today it was loops.  I have this problem with loops though.  I love them.  I love the graceful motion of swooping around and making a circle.  It reminds me of an ice skater making a figure eight.  Except there's one problem.  I drive too fast.  Yes, in my car too, but especially as I "swoop."  When you do that your stitches get longer and loonger and looonger.  And then you slow down and they get smaller and, well you probably get the picture.  I was sitting there lamenting the various sizes of my stitches when I remembered something my beautician told me recently.


I get my hair cut every four weeks and while I'm there she waxes my eyebrows.  One day I complained because one eyebrow was longer than the other.  She fixed it but then said, "you know, Marlene, your eyebrows are sisters but they're not twins."  Hello.  God made us all different.  Apparently He even made our eyebrows different.  Despite the unevenness of our eyebrows we are all beautiful.  What in the world makes me think all my stitches should be identical?  If they were all the same they might was well have been done solely by a machine without my guiding hand.  And it's my hands on that quilt that make it so special to the ones I gift them to.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

25 comments:

evelyn said...

Good for you for branching out into swirls. I am still doing straight line quilting. My stippling is so uneven. I like your eyebrow story.

Marjorie's Busy Corner said...

Great looking quilt Marlene....I am trying to branch out a little...love the colors in your quilt. BTW; your fabric in on it's way....

Vroomans' Quilts said...

These are such fun quilts - fabric line and color always makes them look so different. And a great pattern to experiement quilting on. Love the eyebrow story!!

Rhonda M said...

I love the quilt. A friend has made a couple of these and she says the same thing you do, just a nice little easy project with a great outcome. Your free motion quilting looks great!

Julie Fukuda said...

Yes, I do know about being a twin and being compared all my childhood through. It may be one of the reasons I ended up in Japan where no one knew my twin! If the stitch is doing its job, that's good enough. Even us hand-stitchers don't get every one even.

Patty C. said...

Ive done that same jellyroll quilt top but i dont know how to finish! What size to cut the backing & batting etc. - any advice?

Belinda said...

Looks great to me. I need to do something easy like that.

Gail said...

You are so right. What makes your quilts beautiful is your heart is in the doing. An imperfect quilt made with love is far more desirable than a cookie cutter quilts may totally my an unfeeling machine.

It's beautiful.

Ray and Jeanne said...

Beautiful quilt, Marlene! I started machine quilting last January - it was a major goal for me this year. I love the design that Leah Day calls Paisley. Although my stitches are closer to the same size now, they will never be perfect and I wouldn't want them to be. I'm no where near perfect either! ~Jeanne

Anna said...

lol...I had to go look at my eyebrows!

Val said...

Well, I love your story and I LOVE your quilt!!!

Michelle said...

I love your beautician's wisdom. I love doing loops too. It's kind of like doodling. When I was a little girl, I would 'doodle', or make 'loops' all over my paper, then I would color in the circles. Your quilt is beautiful, but not as beautiful as your spirit, my sweet friend!

Michele said...

And it is one very good story! Lovely quilt. Enjoy snuggling under it.

Kristi said...

Isnt' it wonderful that we can learn deep truths from simple examples?

Anne said...

Beautiful quilt, Marlene. I love the soft colors. You''ll be ready to snuggle beneath that quilt tommorw when it turns cold. I'm wrapped in a blanket already. I have a nasty cold. Can't wait to feel better, so I can work on my son-in-law's quilt.

Sharon Dawn said...

Great thoughts....thanks for sharing that story. It is a something to remember!

Anonymous said...

LOL LOL !!!! I like it !

tink's mom said...

Great minds OK maybe just happy minds seem to think alike. This week I too made that quilt in a very similar color way. Stop by my blog if you get a chance. I quilted mine but I have no imagination. I did straight lines. I do need to try loops, yours are lovely and yours alone. Great work.

Carol said...

What a great quilt! Those are so fun to do! Loved you post Marlene! You are so right! Perfect is not always better...it comes from our heart and hands. Thank you for reminding us of that. Your hairdresser is very wise!

Karen said...

Such pretty soft colors. Makes me want to grab the quilt and wrap in it.

Vivian said...

Well, I agree with you 100%.

Lea and her Mustangs said...

That is a quilt I might tackle. Have all 70 of my Flower Box quilt squares. ONLY I do it all by hand. I am loving that part of it. Thank you for keep on keeping on about quilting and it inspired me and when my friend Vicki said why not try this I jumped in with both hands.

FlourishingPalms said...

Your stitch length rationale sounds spot-on to me! You're uniquely you, and so is every quilt you make. Good for you! (But I still bet your stitch length will be a bit more consistent on your next quilt!)

Michelle May-The Raspberry Rabbits said...

LOL! What a wonderful story and a wonderful quilt. :)
I can't meander. I can only make loops. That's because I'm loopy. hee,hee,hee.
Hugs!

Anita Rowe Stafford said...

Your quilt is beautiful, and you are right, hand made does make it very special! This seems like a great hobby to have.