Tuesday, October 25, 2011

How to "Eat an Elephant"... (Or Finish a Quilt)

I often think of the riddle: How do you eat an elephant?

Answer: One bite at a time.














I think of it, not in terms of eating, but in terms of completing any large project... like a quilt!

I love quilting - creating a design with fabric! And I enjoy making LARGE quilts (rather than wall hangings)! I always begin with great enthusiasm, anxious to see my idea take shape... It's fun... for a while. But eventually I get bogged down in the enormity of the task. Making a quilt (like cleaning a house or creating a garden) involves a lot of time, a lot of steps... It's not instant gratification!

For me, the hand quilting part is the most tedious... So when I finally pieced my latest pinwheel quilt and put it on a frame, it stayed there, untouched, for months. I'd look at it... and leave: The task seemed overwhelming!














Impatient to start a new quilt... (Starting is never a problem!)... I promised myself that I wouldn't begin a new one until I had finished this one. So few weeks ago, I decided to quilt "just 4 threads a day." Every day I threaded four needles with approximately 2 meters of thread... and every evening before heading for bed, I made sure I had quilted them.

Before I knew it, I was done! The secret? Breaking the task into manageable "bites."

Last night I had the joy of removing the quilt from the frame!


















(Well, I'm not really done: I still have to add a border... But I am getting closer!)

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