Jul 26, 2007

Within Borders, If Not Boundaries

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I woke up in the middle of the night and the right hand had to hold the left hand down, and both hands had to hold onto my feet..... to keep me from jumping out of the bed, running upstairs and checking on my quilt. I knew, just knew for an absolute and positive fact... that I had spent the day before sewing my borders on wrong.

When the Universe decided that this part of my Journey should be as a 'Community Quilter.' She did it for a reason. My quilts are always good enough to give away. I count that as one of my greatest blessings, since the urge and need to sew run deeply within my soul. If I couldn't give it away, well...there'd be no point in sewing at all ;)

So, you are wondering, just what did I do to this little set of borders? Well, ladies it's what I forgot to do...now your mind's are thinking! Yes, indeed......I forgot to measure! I am now written down in the great big book of "Broken Quilting Rules in Heaven"...'She forgot to measure.'

Thankfully, I pride myself on being a boundary breaker. I love to 'dare to be different' although at first glance I look and act pretty normal. That is my secret disquise. If you want to break rules and expand boundaries, you must be willing to suffer the consequences of disapproval, rejection, and possibly flaws and failure. And you must be able to do so...with a smile.

So now, I measured in the morning. Yes, one side is 1/2" longer here, another 3/4" wider there. Oh, no! What did that tape measure say, here? I tried not to look, so any report will be highly inaccurate, anyway. That's what happens when life gives you quilts: it can or cannot also give you guilts. I am fine with it. A little tug here, a bit of tack there, the forgivingness of the quilting it all under and in, later. I will survive and so will she. This is after all, an "Orphan Train Quilt." She is made up of misfits and left behinds who only want one thing and one thing alone, to be loved in this lifetime. She is not meant to be perfect. She is just meant to be perfectly loved.

You'll have to admit....., the scraps I found for the borders look pretty good. Heck, they might even distract one from any and all imperfections ;)

7 comments:

Shelina said...

Your quilt is looking very nice, I really like the border fabric. I also liked Finn's metaphor to harvesting. It's true, making all those quilt blocks or flimsies without actually finishing the quilt is like planting a crop and never harvesting it. Your quilt looks flat to me, so I wouldn't notice any measuring inconsistencies. You can just giggle every time you see it, at how you have managed to hide boundary breaking ways.
But you'd better be nice to me, cause I could tell the quilt police when you least expect it!

Anonymous said...

Its so pretty!! This quilt is going to make someone so very happy! I am like you I dont worry so much about the small stuff. I let go a long time ago about trying to be a PERFECT quilter. Now I am a Happy quilter.
hugs
Kate
http://homemakerkate2@blogspot.com
you can come visit me at the above if you'd like.

SuBee said...

Don't worry - I'll bail you out when the Quilt Cops get you......
It's a great quilt and will be someone's pride and joy - someone without the critical mind and eye that all quilt creators seem to have.
Breathe in, breathe out, repeat. It will be fine!

atet said...

If it lies flat -- there IS no mistake. That's my attitude and I'm sticking to it!

Holly said...

"She is not meant to be perfect. She is meant to be perfectly loved." Great statement. I love your orphan train quilt! It turned out great. Putting on borders is my least favorite part of quilting.

Sweet P said...

You mean there are rules for borders? There are rules for quilting? I thought they were only suggestions! Your quilt (and especially the borders) is beautiful.

Nellie's Needles said...

I see nothing amiss. It looks great to me, too.