Indian Summer--TBT

**WARNING: This post may contain pictures that are not for the weak of quilting heart.  It has received a rating of M for "mess" due to the graphic nature of a disorganized house, many stray animal hairs (if you look closely) and beginning quilting skills.  This post may induce fainting spells or rapid head shaking.  If these should occur, quickly press the back page button and cease reading. **

Okay, so maybe things aren't quite that bad, but I do have several issues with this small wall hanging from my quilty past.  I was looking for something small and easy to piece that I could practice quilting on.  I found the pattern for Indian Summer Wall Hanging by Kim Sherrod on Moda Bake Shop and thought it would be the perfect fit for my need.  So to my LQS I trotted to find fabric to make this small quilt.

I immediately fell in love with this fabric.  There was something about the brown, the green leaves and those cute little berries that made me have to have it.  So I quickly went to work trying to match some fat quarter to the greens, reddish oranges and find some nice neutrals.  Sigh...epic fail.

I'd like to think that if I tried to match fabrics up today I would do a much better job.  Why someone didn't try to intervene, makes me scratch my head still to this day.  There had to have been much better choices among the racks of bolts, but no, I left very confidently with these fabrics.  After I got home and starting putting it all together, I realized maybe my orange was a bit too orange and there could have been better contrast with my neutrals.

But onward I pressed, determined to quilt it.  I remember being so mad at this quilt after I finished the quilting, but now after time has passed, I realize the quilting isn't so bad.

These little cross hash sections are probably one of the things I'm most proud of.  I'm not sure I could do them that well today, so I will give myself a pat on the back for that.

I attempted stippling in the small tan-ish diamonds of the star.  I used a brown thread in my bobbin and tan thread on top.  Those little brown dots represent little hand/feet speed issues that would eventually start working themselves out with practice.  Lesson learned, matching threads on top and bottom can hide a whole bunch.  But before I decided on the meander in these spaces, I thought I would throw some beautiful feathers in there.  How hard could it be??

Let's just say much harder than I expected.  It looked awful!  I got most of the tiny plumes picked out.  It was so hard to pick out all of those microscopic uneven stitches, I thought I would just leave the stem and cover it with the meandering.  Tattooing and quilting both require drawing with needles.  I figured this would be like a bad tattoo cover up. (I love watching the talented Dirk Vermin star of Bad Ink)  I would just throw some more thread down and ta da beautiful texture.  Nope, not how things work.  Not in tattooing or quilting.  There is a definite skill in making bad work look good.  I did not have it.

So, why not try some free hand leaves and a vine in a border?

Ummm...I think you get what I was going for, but let's face it, it's leaves only my mother could love...cause she has to.  She's my mom!  And check out the outside border.  It's a new design I came up with called Hot Mess Meandering.  You should try it sometime.  Bwhahaha!

I was so mad and frustrated with myself when I finished this quilt, I never bound it.

How disrespectful can one quilter be??  And to make matters worse, this poor little wall hanging, that did absolutely nothing wrong has lived it's life as a mere catch all for our house hold junk.

Please don't even try to analyze this pile of junk.  To Kill a Mockingbird beside Married with Children obviously these people are not stable.  And clearly they must have four teenagers who play video games.  Or that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

If you take anything away from this story, life is all about perception and perspective, and those views easily change over time.  We are our own worst critics.  Everyone starts somewhere.  At the time when I quilted this I was ready to jump off a free motion cliff and not come back.  Doesn't that make me seem like such a drama queen?  We've all done it.  Today I can look at it, laugh and say, it's really not that bad.  What was my problem?? (hey maybe I'll even bind it now)  Don't be afraid to try.  Heck, be prepared to fail.  Failure is good as long as you learn and grow from it.  Ok, time to get down off this soap box.  Could someone please get me a ladder?  I'm scared of heights!

This concludes my installment for Throw Back Thursday over at A Quarter Inch from the Edge.  If you have some time pop over and check out everyone's look back at projects from quilty pasts.  We all have a past, let's laugh and cry together.

Today I'm linking up at Tuesday Archives, and Can I Get A Whoop! Whoop!