my Clubhouse: no Quilt Police allowed

Quilting, whether by hand or machine, can scare me sometimes, most times actually, especially when the size of the whole is out of my comfort zone. I warmed up the needle and shook up my scaredy bones first by working on this part, filling in some of the spaces with beads:

That killed 2 hours. Then i sat for 15 minutes and whimpered, knowing i had to start somewhere else with more quilting. The expanses left seem quite daunting. (Thanks all by the way for the comments on the previous entry with my math worries freakout---good suggestions!) What if i made the areas "smaller"? The fabric needs stabilizing anyways because the damask is quite alive and shifty. Perhaps some gridding?

Hmm, now in this girl's world a grid doesn't mean you have to stay in the lines. This is too flowy and organic to have rigid lines, so i'm gonna break out of the box. You'll see some of the lines left, but most will sort of disappear with what i do after to "fill in" those spaces. (See the ruler? This chunk is was 12 x 8 inches of screaming insecurity for me.)

Knocked a few embroidery stitches on there:

And away we go:

Not so scary after all. Getting that arc at the bottom left there within the narrow confines between the keystoning of the raised damask area was a bitch though. So, 2 hours more to add to the count.

Do i hear sirens????

Comments

[deb]

A thing I've learned about hand stitching the damasks...use fresh, super sharp needles and instead of stabbing your entry point, sneak up on it with a little rotating nudge. yeah, it's sexy and effective.

[Mary Anne]

You know the infamous 'they'? 'They' that know it all? You know what 'they' say?- 15 minutes at a time and it WILL get done, even if that 15 mins. is spent whimpering, because some of the best ideas come while you're whinging. Hang in girl - it's lookin' great!

[arlee]

Deb, check.
MaryAnne, check.
so i now am looking forward to 15 sexy minutes of nudging :)