Blogger's Quilt Festival - The DWR, one last time

If you are here from the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side, WELCOME and if you are a regular reader and are here because you know I love you, THANKS for your patience while I write, one more time, about the Double Wedding Ring quilt. Lastly, if you are here for FTF, the Festival is my FTF this week.... check it out and you can see why.)

My feature quilt for this Festival is a recently finished Double Wedding Ring quilt. Through it all, it's been "The Double Wedding Ring".  No special name because the pattern, when said out loud by me, in whatever tone I use at the moment, accurately reflects my feelings and opinions about this quilt of mine. I have grown to love this quilt, after cursing it, hating it,  praying to the quilting goddesses about it, seeking assistance from all of you regarding it, procrastinating on it, and forcing myself to get it done.

The background: I started quilting in late 2005 and blogging in 2007. It was in 2007 that I started the ambitious project of the king size double wedding ring quilt. I did not know how to sew curves, or even how to do a double wedding ring but I thought, "surely I can do this. I've sewn some clothing with pleats and I can sew a good straight stitch, I can do a curve."

HA!

I plugged ahead. I bought fabric (without a pattern, just bought a ton of Aunt Grace repo fabric). I found some patterns on the internet and did a couple practice, test pieces with scraps.  At this point, I learned I was screwed.  I wanted to make this beautiful quilt for my girlfriend for her wedding in July and I didn't know the first thing about getting it done right. This was a tough pill to swallow but swallow it, I did.  She would not be receiving this quilt by July but surely, I could still figure it out and get it done, right?

Yup, royally screwed.

Method, after method, including the purchase of a special foot and no luck. The beautiful thing I discovered, however, was the internet quilting community! I found you all to be helpful and enthusiastic in your assistance to my questions.  At the end of the day, I was pointed to the Quiltsmart Method. This method is basically an applique type of method and it worked beautifully. The blocks finally stated coming together quickly and I got in high hopes I could have this done for my friend's first anniversary.

Until I got the top done. Then I realized I knew nothing about quilting a large quilt except I didn't want to pay to send it out (thinking my work was too novice to send to someone else who was so accomplished - wrong, I know, but I was insecure then) and I knew I didn't want to try to quilt it on my domestic machine. I had been pondering a mid-arm and frame and this just became the final push to get one. So I did. Then I felt I needed to do some good custom quilting so the top was set aside while I practiced and learned all the intricacies of quilting on a frame. Then we had some family moves and the top went into storage.

When I took the top out of storage, I had water stains on it. Again, the helpfulness of the online community came to my rescue. "Quilt it anyway," you said.  "Wash it after with a color catcher when you are done," you said. I did both and it worked.

I practiced custom quilting on this quilt, I've learned a new marking technique using the Frixon Pens (posts here and here), and I've realized a true sense of accomplishment.

This quilt has grown with me. As my skills have grown, this quilt has become a symbol of the changes and new abilities.  It has also become an example of my own confidence in my work.

The husband loves it, I love it and instead of being given to my girlfriend, it now resides on my bed. (ps - this is a king sized quilt.) 

Heck, even my puppies, who are the greatest fans of my quilts, love it!

The moral of this long story, keep trying new things and if you set something aside to finish later, get back to it eventually. It's worth finishing it off and seeing how your new techniques and skills take that top you felt so so about to something you love.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the Festival. I plan to browse and browse until I can browse no more this week. I also plan to check out the Sponsor links and do a bit of shopping. I have to show my gratitude for their sponsorship, right?  -wink- Maybe you can take a look, too, these are some great events we get to participate in (and you can join the Festival, too), in part, because of these sponsors.

Thanks for stopping by!
Beck