12 for 2012 - April Finished

Okay, I will confess, for April I only had one project on my list.

April - Finish 2011 BOM top

It's been laid out on my studio floor for months now. Once I finished all the blocks and had the strips sewn together, I started to resent this piece. Yes. And now, even though the top is finished, I feel very much like an unfit mother.

I don't like my child.





I don't know what it is about it, the white sashing, the huge blocks, (they're 16" square), the fact that I didn't trim them up before I started assembling (one of my quilting teachers said that step really isn't necessary most of the time)-- but I feel very ambivalent towards it now.

I enjoyed the process, I like many of the blocks. It provided me a way to work on my piecing. But I don't love it. And I never will. To be honest, I only finished it so that I could claim it as a 2012 finish - and this list has been very motivating for me.

I just got one of my quilting magazines this weekend and there was a quiz about whether you were a rule-follower or rule-breaker. I'm kind of inbetween these two choices. I can and do follow rules, but I see them more as guidelines. The projects I tend to enjoy are ones that I come up with on my own, or modify to make my own. I think that's wherein my discontent lies.

And once I came to that conclusion, I slowly began to stop hating and criticizing myself so much. To be mad at myself for how I felt about it and just accept that for me, it served its purpose.

So, now, this quilt top is up for adoption. It's large and colorful and I'm sure someone will love it. It just won't be me.

So....next month at the quilt shop, I will put it up for donation/adoption. One of the local guilds has some members who come to open sew and do a lot of charity work with quilts, so I will offer it up for them to continue with and turn it into something wonderful. For someone else.