Monday, October 4, 2010

Creative Courage

Actor Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion:

Courage.
What makes a King out of a slave? Courage.
What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage.
What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist or the dusky dusk?
What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage.
What makes the Sphinx the 7th Wonder? Courage.
What makes the dawn come up like THUNDER?! Courage.
What makes the Hottentot so hot?
What puts the "ape" in ape-ricot?
Whatta they got that I ain't got?
Dorothy & Friends: Courage!

Cowardly Lion: You can say that again.

That is what came to mind tonight.  Why can't I take this

And this

and transfer all of this practice to the real deal? The quilt top I threw together (rather sloppily) just to practice on?
Courage.  I am afraid to "ruin" this top with my amateur quilting.  I have practiced and practiced, I have several stacks of all my practice pieces, but for some reason I cannot bring myself to put this quilt under my sewing machine needle. I will have to get past this mental block, because I know the only way to really learn this skill is to do it.  So I will set Friday as my deadline to put this in the machine and start quilting it.  Maybe the great and powerful OZ will give me courage. :)  
I have been busy, loving the first days of Fall, loving the cooler weather.   We had a nice little mini holiday when my husband's cousin came to visit and then I went to a scrapbooking retreat with my oldest daughter and a good friend and that was fun too. I will be following up with pics on that adventure later.  Today is my favorite aunt's birthday and I had a nice long phone chat with her.  Happy Birthday Aunt Marion! October is my birthday month too, so I am making resolutions and plans for the coming year.  I want to try to work outside my comfort zone in quilting.  Here is a sneak peak of one of my current projects.

I am freemotion basting the applique with invisible thread and plan to thread paint it with metallic.  I am going to use a wool batt because I want the applique to stand out after quilting without having to do trapunto.  Hope everyone is sewing happy.  Bernie
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4 comments:

  1. RhodaOctober 5, 2010 at 8:32 AM

    You just need to jump in with both feet, Bernie! I know you can do it and it will turn out great. Your practice pieces are amazing! Have a happy birthday, and fun with all your family get-togethers, past and future. I love the current project. I can't wait to see that done.

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  2. bernieOctober 5, 2010 at 10:16 AM

    Thanks Rhoda, you are so encouraging, you can't see the quilting up close :) it even looks good to me in pictures HA. Bernie

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  3. Barb HOctober 5, 2010 at 12:58 PM

    Bernie, when you stitch FMQ, it's not like it's truly permanent. You can take out mistakes! Believe me, I've done more than my share of unstitching! Give it a try and if you don't like what you've done, you can take it out and try again--or send it out to be quilted if you like! The important thing is to start it. I like to mentally trace the design and also trace it with my finger a few times before I start to the pattern gets planted in my brain. Then the machine is more likely to do what it's supposed to. Above all, don't be afraid--it won't hurt you!

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  4. bernieOctober 5, 2010 at 7:41 PM

    Thanks for the encouragement Barb, but unstitching? Whats that? :)sounds like torture to me. I am going to just go for it. I read another blog today and the quilter showed a picture of her first FM quilt from a year ago and a quilt she recently did. What a difference. I am thinking that maybe I can post good results in a year from now. Bernie

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