Why not?

A little bit of perspective of why I do what I do...

Some of you have figured out that I'm an overthinker (especially since I've mentioned it before). Some of you may even think I overshare things, but it's only about my quilting. I do a lot of thinking out loud and while I'm penning a post to this blog...it's just me. I've been this way for most of my life. I am also a planner and with that, I anticipate a completion that often differs from what really happens (for instance, what I state at the beginning of the year of my planned makes and the reality you see in January of the following year). As my son would say to me, "Mom, you are sooooooooooo left-brain." Truth! 

These days a lot of my thoughts of how and when are also met with "Why?" This happened to me Friday afternoon when I saw an edge-to-edge quilting design and thought, "Wait a minute...why not?" Saturday morning as I was packing for our trip, the "Why" part came around and the answer was, "I want it done."

I'm talking about the behemoth project, the Girl Gang DIY Sampler. Oh, the plans I shared with you for it. And the angst I suffered over it. But back to another "Why"--I realized that because I work in a linear and sequential approach for most things, I came to understand that what I had originally wanted for the quilt was not going to work because too much had already been done to make the plan practical, and that's when I had the "why not" thought to this: An edge-to-edge quilting design of birds and bees. The name of the quilt is "Let Me Tell You ‘bout the Birds and the Bees"--and FINISHED is better than PERFECT. My original plan would have worked much better if I had done the applique and quilting steps before putting the top together (think Kimberbell projects, etc.). My brain was clashing with what appears to be an incorrect sequence of events and wouldn't accept those terms.

So here I was, five days prior to my digitizing workshop with Lisa Shaw, and deciding to create a new edge-to-edge design even though I submitted something else for my homework. She'll let us know if she can entertain additional ideas. 

But first, let’s un-quilt that quilt. A great project while on a long road trip, don't you think? I'm already feeling better about this project. And, who knows? Maybe I’ll even take the top apart. 

I'll let you know what happens. Testing has to happen before they're stitched onto the quilt, just as you would any machine embroidery design. Wish me luck, but I think this is the right path for this particular quilt. 

In the meantime, go make!