DQS 10 v1.2 - Butterflies

I don't know if I'll ever get over the nervousness and butterflies in my stomach feeling every time I start to free motion a quilt that does not involve stippling/meandering. There's is a certain safety net in doing a simple all over meander in that you really can't completely trash a quilt top. It never fails though, every time I set out to do something beyond a meander I hesitate. "What if I mess up the whole quilt top?" "What if it doesn't complement the piecing?" and all sorts of other wonderfully negative comments flow through my brain. Inevitably I put off the quilting for a few days. Finally I work up the courage to stare the quilt in the eye and show it who's boss.

The first few minutes are agonizing as I struggle to find my rhythm and loosen up. Eventually "it" just comes together and the quilting flows like I actually know what I'm doing, but really I'm just flying by the seat of my pants. Somehow or another I end up with something that really surprises me {and Mr. PD too!}




Of course every little flaw jumps out at me. The little snag, the slight hesitation in the curve, the skipped stitch (grr I hate those), the abrupt stop when my hand ran into the sewing machine, but all those little things are what drive me to keep going, to do better, and to one day master the whole machine quilting thing. In reality it's the part I love the most. One day I plan to be as good as Diane Gaudynski, Carla Barret, and Sally Bramald (to name a few of the many women that inspire me.) I just have to remember what Diane likes to say "Keep quilting - your work gets better every day!"

I'm about halfway done with the quilting on my DQS 10 and I'm falling more in love with it each day. I showed it to Mr. PD for his nod of approval and all he had to say was "seems like an awful lot of work for such a little quilt!" He liked it {of course he has no choice but to show approval} but I had to explain to him that just because it's a small quilt it doesn't make it any easier or less work. I don't think he understood why I would put so much effort into such a small piece.

Well dear partner I hope you like what you see so far.

~Norma