A few months ago a quilting friend passed around a survey that asked, “What part of quilting do you like the best?” 1. Design and color 2. Construction 3. Quilting 4. Finishing. This was really difficult for me because I really like everything except the construction. I know – this is the main part of making the quilt!
When I was new to quilting, each pattern/block was new to me and challenged me. Not to say that I have tried it all, but I realized about 2 years ago that I really dislike piecing the same thing over-and-over again (even if the end result is going to be spectacular). This became very evident to me as I worked on my New York Beauty quilt – “Evening in Times Square”. I could feel myself tensing up every time I sat down to work on all of those paper-pieced points. My lack of passion and interest in piecing that quilt shows itself in some “precision” piecing areas. My last quilt show judge noted some of these problems and I couldn’t agree more. Yes, I loved the design process and enjoyed the quilting, but the piecing took away the “joy”.
I rediscovered the “joy” of piecing while working on “In Her Arms”. I haven’t had so much fun working on a project in some time. I found that piecing the curves is challenging and interesting as each shape has it’s own challenges. It is also a more serendipitous method, as you are not completely sure how it will look until it is completely done.