Friday, July 18, 2008

aloha print

during our first trip to maui i picked up a bunch of pastel hawaiian print fabric, much to matthews dismay. i held on to it for a year and started a quilt. i just didn't have an inspiration for the quilt. patchy was the best to describe what i wanted.

even though i'm a self-proclaimed non-perfectionist, i usually have a plan and it involves straight lines and a repeating pattern. so cut wide stripes and sewed them together but wanted and 'eazy-breezy' look, like how we felt in maui. but that is as far as i got until kenz came this summer

we chatted whenever she was home from tending and i loved having her hang out while i sew. i started out with a plan and ended up with my first crazy quilt. i'm still not sold on the haphazard blocks but plan on hand quilting icons and waves. i still worry that i will get further into the project and want to pitch it because it's not .... speaking to me - yeah that probably sounds a little crazy
i still have hope because kenz liked it
tbc...


bumble bee

i love creating. my mom taught me most of my basic skills. she is a perfectionist - i am not. this difference never caused trouble while i was learning, beginners make mistakes and must move past them to learn the technique. i never did go over to the 'P' side and 'perfectly' happy with a project that isn't perfect. 'better well done, than not done perfectly' i say.

the battle of the P v. non-P begain when i made my first costume. b was 11 months old for halloween and i wanted to make his bumble bee outfit. mom helped me with the supplies and pattern, but i happily did all the work. because i didn't have a sewing machine, i worked at moms house. i thought the strippity costume was the bees knees! mom noticed the stripes didn't match up 'perfectly' but it didn't bother me any. as we packed up the first night of sewing i had an a sneaking feeling that when i came back the next day the yellow and black stripes might be a bit more... perfect. suddenly i got territorial over my project and made her promise not to 'fix' it when i left. : ) to say it was perfectly almost perfect when i came over the next day. i knew if i had to fix every single stitch of a project i would get sick of it and throw it in the closet before i could finish it, thus, i adopted well done as my mantra.

mom and i still clash on projects, 'not don't take the blinds down to paint!' 'just stitch it again and it'll be fine.'

'fine', 'just', 'good enough', 'yeah, it looks homemade', some phrases i'm just not afraid of.

**b did look buzzingly adorable in his costume**