The Quilt Skipper

quilting makes me skip for joy

Jenny K Lyon

Quilting makes me skip for joy

Forgiveness, Grace and Imperfection

 

Okay, a heady title for a blog post about making a quilt! I do think that quilting digs beneath the surface and taps into our inner soul. This week I was tested.

I needed a small item as a give-away at my upcoming book signing. I am hard-pressed for time and needed to keep it simple. At first I was going to give my recent project using the tea bags I made in Libby Williamson‘s class at Craft Napa. But there was a lot of work in that piece and those bags were precious to me – I don’t know when I’ll have the time to gather the materials I need to make more. Besides, I wanted to do more hand stitching and I just couldn’t justify adding more time to that piece right now. So nix that one.

I have lots of silk, lots. I thought I’d make a small silk whole cloth quilt based on a very traditional type of design. I sketched that up and concluded – boring! My eye landed on a bright red piece of silk and that got me started.

I love the type of design I did on Back Story (above) so I started there. Unfortunately I did not take a lot of in-process photos.

I pondered what to do in the border. I quilted piano keys in 100 wt silk thread so that it was just line and shadow. I should have stopped there! But I didn’t. Even though it was plain, it looked beautiful in its simplicity, next to the complex design in the center.

I decided to put in what I call my “Multiple Choice Border”. It always looks good and I love it. It especially benefits from being put upon a piano-keyed background. I love the blue variegated King Tut against that glorious color – it was the perfect foil to the red.

I hated it. Hated it! It distracted from the center and looked all thready. Ugh.

It took 4 hours to rip out. The backing is a sateen weave and you never want to rip out upon a sateen weave. Your seam ripper will want to catch those floater threads and then you have real un-repairable trouble. So I had to rip from the silk front which was tricky. It required tweezers, stilletto, ripper, abundant light, lots of time and patience and a magnifier.

Along the way I learned that if I don’t close the door to my bobbin area I get this. Duh.

Then I was left with unsightly holes. Think about this – I used a size 90 needle with a 40/3 weight (thick) thread and pounded over my lines twice. That was not kind to my silk. I kinda knew I was in trouble but I tried all the normal things: water, steam, manipulating the holes in various ways (scratching with sharp objects, rubbing with soft objects, twisting and pulling) and cussing. It was a bit better but the holes were there to stay.

This is where forgiveness, grace and imperfection come in. You were wondering, I know!

What did I have to lose? I thought my “Curves” border might look good and it’s a pretty intense motif. That might hide/detract from the holes. I was loving it as I stitched. I could see it was a great solution to my problem, kinda. The underlying piano keys are something I would not have done if I’d started out with Curves, but I like what it does to the border. I loved it! You can still see those holes though…

Then the angst set in. This was for a give-away? Did it degrade my brand, my body of work, to put something so imperfect out there? Is it acceptable to give away a piece with flaws? Should I be embarrassed?

I festered over this for a day and then the epiphany. My work is never perfect and I so don’t care. Would I hang this piece in my home? YES! Was I being harder on myself than I would on others? YES! If I were to own a piece done by someone else and I found similar imperfections would it make me value the piece less? No.

I realized that I needed to forgive myself for my error and accept (grace) the imperfections. I needed to be as kind to myself as I am to others. I still have a bit of trepidation about giving away this imperfect piece but I do love it! Quilting is more than quilting.

I have a history with imperfection in my quilts. My most awarded piece, Mom’s Lily Bed, received an interesting judges’ comment:

“We appreciate the visible hand of the maker”. That means, in Judge Speak, your work is not perfect and we appreciate your imperfections. There ya go – from the mouth of a judge. Imperfection is okay. It even gets ribbons.

And then I made this quilt that comes with a story:

QBI, the Quiet Beauty of Imperfection was designed to make a statement. I deliberately chose to make this without using a ruler. Every one of those straight lines has a bobble because I’m on a domestic, without a ruler. And it is a quiet beauty. The imperfection adds to the beauty.

So I embrace imperfection. Again.

I’m linking up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday where lots of good links hang out.

 

Comments

  1. Thankyou for sharing! Just what I needed today. Isn’t that what quilting is?..a reflection of life! Thankyou for reminding us to give ourselves forgiveness and grace!

    • Oh I believe that Mj. For some of us (me!), it is sometimes harder to forgive myself than others. I am practicing gentleness.

  5. Glad to read the rest of this story Jenny. I so agree with your take on imperfection. Although we all strive for perfection, it’s machines that make “perfect” every time. I shudder to think of your beautiful work being attempted via an automated template. What’s the point of that! A few needle holes here and there are absolutely appreciated.

    • Aw thank you Janet! I am not perfect and I don’t strive to be so. I do embrace imperfection, just complain about it sometimes!

  6. Oh, Jenny, I do think you are being really hard on yourself! Your red piece is lovely, and the border quilting enhances the center. I think you outdid yourself for a giveaway piece.

  7. Those of us who love quilting and who push ourselves outside of comfortable boundaries will make mistakes. I just did a fabric pull and a Bento Box block that is questionable. I haven’t decided if I like it or not. I am going to try another fabric pull and try again. I don’t think I should proceed forward on my first try even though I have the strips prepped for cutting.
    I won an honorable mention for a wall quilt at the CA State Fair this past year. The judge was spot on in describing where I had made mistakes.

    • Thank you for your comment Tami. I learn a lot from judge’s comments. I know the feeling about whether to go forward or not! My motto is “Onward” and even if it’s a mistake, onward. I don’t take ripping out stuff lightly and only do it when I feel that the entire trajectory is wrong. I hope your new fabric pull fixes this one Tami!

  8. I love it and your imperfections are perfect to me! Great work and reminder that our imperfect work is only in our eye. Not the recipient’s!

  9. The amended border suits the interior very well. Your zeal for perfection is admirable, but you may carry it a bit too far. I get much more enjoyment from quilts that show a human made them than from quilts that looked programmed. Many of the national show winning quilts strike me as cold and daunting. And, yes, sateen has a wonderful feel but that fatal flaw.

    • Interesting Joanna – I do appreciate the beauty of the perfect (computerized) but it is a little cold. THank you for your nice comment about the quilt. I am getting more accepting as time goes on.

  10. I’ve pretty much decided that perfection is not attainable ( and maybe not even desirable) except in one regard…to be consistently inconsistent! I can manage that pretty much all the time! LOL

    I like the new version as well – I am always inspired by your work.

  11. Once again, your blog speaks so poignantly to me! How do you do it??!!

    I will strive to embrace the Quiet Beauty of Imperfection throughout my quilting and my life!! I absolutely LOVE the concept (and, of course, the quilt)!

    Is it okay if I use the phase “Embrace QBI!” or just “QBI” on mug rugs and other small FMQd items to remind me to forgive errors as well as accept and embrace imperfections?

  12. Holes? What holes? I love what you ended up with…after all that angst! Who among us hasn’t had the same experience? I think that the final piece is exquisite and anyone buying your book and winning that give-away will have LOTS of practicing to do to come up to its beauty.

  13. It was worth your time taking out the scrollwork in the border. It has a beautiful simplicity now and the holes are part of its story. Years ago when I was practicing daily free motion quilting so I could do it “perfectly,” I discovered one day that I really liked some of the more improvisational quilting better. My machine stitching was being generated by a human not by another machine. And QBI is stunning.

    • Oh thank you Madalene! I am so reluctant to rip out that stitching just because it’s not my goal to be perfect and I usually let it be. But in this case I really did hate that previous border. It was worth it! I embrace my “visible learning curve”.

  14. I took a class from you at the Houston IQA show. I gained knowledge as well as confidence to get a queen quilt finished on my domestic machine. I had been putting it off as I did not want to mess it off. It is not perfect, but the recipients loved. it.

    • Thank you so much Margaret – that is my goal, that you go on and enjoy quilting! Perfect is so overrated and an imperfect but completed quilt is a glorious thing. So glad that you finished it and the recipient is enjoying the quilt. That’s what this is all about!

  15. Hi Jenny, thank you so much for sharing your process. Compared to the finished piece, the first quilting of the border is much less effective. I can see how it distracts from the centre piece while the curves add to it. Your quilt is really beautiful and I’m sure that it will be appreciated.

  16. Seeking perfection is exhausting and absolutely saps my creativity. For me, creativity happens only when I allow myself to play outside the boundaries required for perfection. For me, imperfection allows me the opportunity to devise creative solutions. My near perfect quilts are not as interesting or fun as the obviously imperfect quilts that now adorn the walls and beds of family and friends. God bless the amazing quilters who make those perfect award winning quilts. I think He smiles at my goofy imperfect creations too.

    • Thank you Donna and I totally agree. I am actually thinking about creating a new lecture around imperfection. I have one quilt, QBI, the Quiet Beauty of Imperfection as well as other noteable examples of imperfection in my trunk show. Of course some projects go beyond imperfect to unacceptable in their current state:-/