Bee in my Bonnet

Some people just can't be satisfied with things the way they are. They have to constantly move the furniture around, buy new stuff, organize things just so. I don't think I'm like that.  Perfectionism is definitely not my thing! However, every once in a while I get a bug in my head that tells me I have to make a change somewhere. And here's the bug I got this week.

                               Original Hawaiian quilt block (on the right) 

                                    This block was made in a class I took last year at the retreat of the Israel Quilters Association. I wanted so badly to learn how to make a Hawaiian quilt block. The teacher started off by distributing big pieces of paper and showing us how to draw our own designs. Well, a draw-er I am not. But I plowed ahead and produced SOMETHING. It was not a SOMETHING that I liked. But there was no turning back. I learned the way to draw my design on the paper, cut it out, transfer the design to the fabric and cut that, baste the design on top of the background fabric, etc. etc.  But all the time I was not feeling happy. Over the course of the next few months I finished the applique work.  But I was still not happy, and didn't feel like sandwiching it and quilting. The block was crunched up in a shopping bag and left to linger.

Last week, I was cleaning up my fabric storage area and came upon the bag with the poor abandoned block inside. When I took it out, I finally understood why I never really liked it--it didn't look anything like a Hawaiian quilt design! So out came the seam ripper and out came all of the thousands of tiny little applique stitches. Borrowed a book of Hawaiian quilt patterns from my friend Sara, and started over, making the most elementary of all the patterns, the Breadfruit.

                                        It may not look like much, but NOW I'M HAPPY!