Like most other weeks, today's story starts with a quilt. A quilt I started making maybe 10 years ago.
Hand pieced blocks.
A joyful journey.
Lovely colors.
Almost finished. A good part of the machine quilting complete!
Then life got busy and the quilt was stored away to finish later.
Sound familiar?
Fast forward maybe 5 years. Out comes the quilt. "I'm gonna finish this one." And then my finger finds a hole. Curse words follow. A mouse took a liking to one tiny cornerstone and chewed a hole straight through from front to back.
I was crestfallen; the quilt went back in the box.
Every so often, maybe once a year, I pulled the quilt out of its storage box, and gave it a look.
Guilt.
Gotta fix this. Repair the hole. Rip out the quilting and piecing and make it like new. Disguise the damage with a patch or applique.
None of the options is satisfactory.
Back in the box.
Until this time.
Maybe two weeks ago. I pulled the unfinished quilt out of the storage box like I had done so many times before. And it hit me.
I needed to stop figuring out what I 'should' do. And do what was in my heart.
Finish it, but not necessarily how I originally had planned.
Instead of each block getting a special quilt plan. A plain quilted grid will do for the rest of the blocks.
Then I reached for my pinking shears and cut off the unquilted borders.
Just like that.
No fear.
No guilt.
It was very freeing!
I just love that border fabric and can't get it any more. I probably purchased it some 10 years ago, after all. I can use the border fabric elsewhere with great pleasure.
When I finished enough of the quilting to chop off a healthy chunk of the quilt, I reached for the shears yet again.
Chop, chop, chop!
Now I have quilted fabric I can play with AND a smaller piece to finish that will be easier to quilt.
And it'll get even easier every time I take the shears to it.
I am guilty!
But I am happy!
I stopped loving this project AND stopped stressing about how to fix it.
I did not have to fix it. Mostly because I didn't want to fix it.
I am guilty of chopping up a project that gave me joy in the making of the blocks, but lost its joy when a critter intervened with an unwanted design adjustment.
And now, I am free to chop up the quilted parts even further.
And I'm good with it.
Really good with it!
No more guilt. (No more quilt!)
Quilting should never generate guilt, it should generate joy.
Only joy.
Happy Stitching!
Head Hummingbird
Hummingbird-Highway.com
I recognize that quilt! Good for you! You go, girl!!!!!
Yes, you should! It needed to move on!