Quilty Little Secrets

Not really a secret, is it?

The divine Molli Sparkles inspired this post, by sharing Ten Quilty Secrets of his own. 

Plus, he has a button!  My blog always needs some fancy-ing up, so this button is just the thing

I think it's liberating to open up and spill some of those things--secret, sewing room things--I've been holding on to.  My inner perfectionist never wants me to appear as messy or distracted as I really am.  Here goes!


1.  Not only do I sew over pins, but I save and continue to use many of the really bent ones.

Sorry Mom: still not using those new pins you bought me...

2.  I am in love with 30's reproduction prints.  I probably won't make another quilt out of them, unless a family member specifically requests one, but I just think they are so charming and adorable and generally make me smile.

This quilt makes me smile the most!

3.  I don't pay any attention to fabric lines or designers or whatnot.  I can resist the latest Cotton & Steel (or Moda, or Kaffe Fassett, or whatever) because there are already *tons* of beautiful and amazing fabrics out there.

4.  Quilts made out of the same block or two, from the same fabric repeated over and over, pretty much bore me.  Something has to give my eye a reason to travel over the quilt.  Just the addition of scraps, or changing some portion of the block placement on purpose (quilter's choice!) can make all the difference.

Circle of Friends pattern in scrappy Xmas prints

5.  My greatest wish is to be known to all as wildly creative.  (Followed up by "nerdy intellectual", but that's a different blog.)

6.  I harbor a well-hidden desire to be a pattern designer.  My wild creativity overflows, and I think I could live the Bohemian lifestyle of an artiste; but my ADD brain has let me know on several occasions that I could never be organized enough to actually run my own business.

7.  Here's how much I dislike hand-sewing: my last six quilts had the binding hand-tacked by others.  I will PAY for this service, and gladly.

Umm, yeah: not my hand-sewing (thanks again, Linda!)

8.  Not really a fan of wall-hangings.  And the irony here?  I have created two patterns for wall-hangings, plus worked myself into a frenzy on a scrappy bargello wallhanging: why???

Wallhanging of doom: border auditions in progress

 
9.  I have eleven WIP/UFO quilt projects going on right now.  (Gee--that's fewer than I thought Ihad!)  Yep, ADD at work.  Or not at work, as the case may be.  (And, perfectionist that I am, I had to make a list to be sure of an accurate count here.)

10.  My favorite part of the quilting process is the dreaming and fabric-auditions portion.  It's all downhill from there...


How about you?  Any quilty secrets that you need to get off your chest?  It's a freeing experience, I say: go for it!