Thoughts On What Drives Me....

Is there a method to my madness? I always hear "Man, you get so much done! How do you do so much so fast?" I gave it some thought and here are my rambling reasons :c)

I tend to choose patterns that work up quickly....they hold my interest because they aren't too tedious and anyone can do them. I also like patterns where I don't have to pin every dang piece to match points. I like it when I can just oppose the seams and sew across them and they match up. (Or not match up, I'm not too stressed out about it being perfect...it is what it is!) I've been known to do whole quilt tops without pinning anything! I do pin the borders in at least 3 places to keep those straight and from waving. It's gotta be scrappy, and it's gotta have more than 3 colors in it. This is why the storm at sea dear jane has been sitting for 2 years. It's pink and brown on one shirting print background....it's torture to work on it!

I've done a few quilts with inset seams, but I really don't enjoy doing them. So I tend to find ways to work around those. I like spikey pokey looking triangles....and things that create alot of movement. I like things busy and scrappy....very seldom will you see calm and serene coming out of my machine!

Some friends about fell over backwards when I showed them a
30's Trip Around The World
that I had done. It was all pastel prints and solids, and mostly LAVENDER! 30's are not my thing...they are too sweet and cute, and everyone knows that I run from them, but this quilt I did was for a shop display and my friend the owner twisted my arm to piece it for her because she knew I'd have it done in no time. When it had finished living at the shop, she sent it back to me to keep and now I have to live with this thing? Ackkkk! (My apologies to all the lovers of 30's prints out there.....I know we each have things we love to hate :c)

I used to make mostly Queen/King quilts to fit beds, but the past year I have discovered how fun it is to make people sized quilts to fit people....a bit bigger than a lap size, but big enough to cover someone while snuggling on the couch. You get that "FINISHED FIX" alot quicker when the quilt is smaller! You can try more designs and not get bored and leave a UFO behind you when you find something else you want to do or try....And a lap/people sized quilt isn't going to have to revolve around someone's decorating scheme or colors. This is the big thing for me. Maybe Suzy has a bedroom that is moss green and pink......but I don't want to make a bed quilt for her that is moss green and pink....I can make a lap/snuggle size in whatever I want and it still won't kill her decorating (which might change to different colors after the 1st of the year, who knows!)

And basically, you can't go wrong with scrappy....whatever color their decorating is...if I go scrappy, that color is IN THERE!

Bonnie