Practice Makes Perfect - Eventually.....

I've been spending some time looking at YouTube videos, blogs and DVDs about quilting.  I have also been doing some practicing with a pen on my white board.  I am envious of all of the wonderful quilting out there and hope to one day be able to do some quilting that I can be really proud of.

In the past I have only done meander quilting.  I keep thinking that I'm ready to try something else and then I get a quilt loaded.  I have all kinds of good ambitions and then I can't decide on what to do.  I start thinking about how many tops I have waiting and I figure it would be faster to just do it with a meander.  Or I worry about trying something new and therefore less perfect on a quilt that belongs to somebody else and I decide that I should just do a meander.



Today, I loaded my Squedge Table Runner.  It is relatively small, as quilts go, and it is mine and I can afford to practice on it.  I learned lots of things.  1) I can't draw a straight line with the quilt machine to save my life  2) I don't retrace my stitches well at all 3) some simple designs are actually simple and 4) I need lots and lots and LOTS of practice.  Either way, my Squedge Table Runner is now quilted and bound.  One less UFO now.  Hallelujah!

I keep telling myself that I need to load some fabric and just practice, but I can't seem to bring myself to "waste" fabric that way.  Maybe I need to volunteer to do some more charity quilts so I can get more practice. It won't be terrible quilting, just not as nice as I'd like it to be.  And then one day, it'll be good.  One quilt at a time.

Oh yes.  And Mom and I finished up our lotto blocks for the next quilt guild meeting.  Aren't they cute?