Believe In Yourself

I've been stuck 

for over a year.

It's been frustrating.

One project from last year that was left dangling

was quickly heading for the discard pile. 

I didn't like what was happening

and I didn't know why.

This ill-behaved project

was Sue Spargo's Instastitch free pattern found on her 

website here.

"Let me make this perfectly clear,

it wasn't the pattern.

It was me, the maker of the pattern."

Even with some psychoanalysis

it took me awhile to figure

out what was going on

 or better yet what wasn't going on.

Otherwise, this project was doomed.

First, I loved the fabrics.

I was using a set of indigo fat quarters gifted to me.
Shweshwe fabrics under TheThree Cats trademark
produced by Da Gama Textile Co.
They're pretty wild.

I loved the free style of the pattern.

I loved the idea of learning new embroidery stitches

to embellish the quilt.

I loved the idea of doing something designed by Sue Spargo.

Then finally
a couple of weeks ago

I had the aha moment

Sue's monthly patterns came with specific 

fabric layout directions for each block

for the perfect placement, if you had a kit.

I had been trying to do the same thing

with the fabrics I had chosen.

I had lettered them all and thought it

should work perfectly too.

My fabric A should work where
the pattern had fabric A.
Nope, wrong!

The solution:
Throw the dang chart away and go with my gut.

I left the first 3 blocks that I had done in 2016

and then by simply changing my perspective and saying

"Gosh, Kyle, what were you thinking!

Stop being so lazy and 

do the part you love best!"

It didn't take long for the 

other 9 blocks to come together.

Now I'm facing the second challenge:
the embroidery.

I've ordered a few spools of
Sue's awesome perel cottons sizes  #3, #5, and #8. 
The colors are different than what was suggested in the pattern.

 I'm going to blaze my own path
and choose my own colors that go with my quilt.

I'm a bit intimidated.
I'm pretty good at the backstitch,
the lazy daisy, and don't have very many
dangling french knots.

It's time to move forward.
Now we'll see what happens when
you start believing in yourself.

Until Next Time-

Kyle