Confidence / Process

Well, I got eleven small triple squares done and they more or less match the pattern. It's hard to say exactly what happened to change things but here are some of the things that may have helped:


A lot of the process changed in the move from South Carolina to Bend, OR. The machine changed. This old Bernina is easy to use. It seems to sew straight without a lot of adjusting.


I changed pins. I was using silk pins which are small and don't leave a big hole. Here, I have flower pins. They are a lot longer. Maybe that helps. I changed the ruler I use. I created a small test pattern just for this square instead of the whole 12" block. I changed threads from cotton to polyester. I suppose that's a no-no in quilting cotton fabrics but the finer thread works better. When confidence lags, change everything and approach the problem 

Beautiful Design for
a Storm at Sea Quilt

I suppose the thing that really changed was my confidence. I remarked to a friend that I was having trouble with a Storm at Sea pattern. She brought out her Storm at Sea, the first quilt she had ever made. I could see its faults but it did come together. She convinced me that my small glitches could all be overcome.


Tomorrow, I will begin cutting for the large triple squares and see whether my fabric estimates were good. If not, I can include a compass or a cross. The compass is traditional when the quilt is for sailors going to sea, to bring them home. The cross is traditional for those lost at sea. Her Storm at Sea had a heart because her heart belongs to a sailor. Gotta love this pattern.