Ta Dah! … or …could it be that easy?

Thanks for all the kind and honest comments about my soul baring CCQ (Crappy Crazy Quilting). I wanted to give the ‘back-story’ of my CQ badventures (I typed this by mistake, but it looks quite good actually, so I’ll keep it), so anyone reading this and seeing my attempts at ‘redefining’ CQ (and by ‘redefining’ I mean redefining for me, not everyone) would know where I was coming from. That is – I have done some CQ – both ‘proper’ by the book, and some half arsed hybrid attempts – none of which floated my boat. However my love affair with CQ wasn’t quite dead in the water (gee this looks like an exercise in cliché cramming).

can o’ worms

I am not given to introspection. My psyche (?) is a can o’ worms best left unexamined; however some things just become so obvious it is unavoidable. I was, after reading the comments on my CQ post, wondering just why I thought anyone would be offended by me not liking CQ, or anything else. It wasn’t as if I said it was disgusting or a waste of time, or anything derogatory, and I realised that my fear of offending wasn’t as much about you as about me. hhmm. No one would be offended (it’s like I gave you no credit for being mature really), I was just stymied my fear that I might offend someone.

Mommy Dearest?….well no……

And this harks back to a few things, a very opinionated argumentative family, real-life friends who are – on the whole – opinionated and argumentative – (as if I didn’t get enough of that) and my difficult (impossible?) to please mother. An example; a mild blog worthy example which on reading you may think it is not significant. But it is one minor example of 40 years of trying to please and failing. A few years ago (when I was in my mid to late 30s, and I’ve been living out of home since I was 18) my mother gave me 2 blouses for my birthday. Suitable ones I should be wearing, rather than the stuff I buy for myself. And so the next time I saw her I made sure I was wearing one, because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, and while they weren’t to my taste, they weren’t that bad either (and clothes-wise I’m really not fussy anyway).

You know what she said – ‘didn’t you like the other one?’ sigh. I’d have thought she was joking if I didn’t know better.

www.mydaughterthedisappointment.com

And of course there are two sides to every story and I’m not perfect. Believe me ….I know I’m not perfect. One day when she was listing all my faults, at length (including the fact that our kids are going to grow up ashamed to have me as a mother – yes – she actually said that) – eventually I got tired of listening, and I said ‘I don’t think I’m as bad as you think – maybe your expectations of me are too high’ – she started crying and told me I was cruel and hurtful. But if you want to read about her side of the story, go check out www.mydaughterthedisappointment.com. *

Aaaaanyhow……..

I’ve made a CQ block. I decided to make it easily recognisable as CQ, so I used a construction that I haven’t used before, that is – building the block around a central piece. (Usually I start at one corner and plonk fabric randomly, or I do a boxy structured look like my book). I kept to a very restrained colour palette – in a colour scheme that appeals to me, and chose fabrics (mainly recycled and gifts) that are rough or have texture – corduroy, slubby, open weave – my idea is to rely on the texture and ragged seams for interest rather than embroidered seams or lace etc. I basted the fabric onto the foundation with all the cut edges exposed (- a stretch for me – something I wouldn’t normally do). I am working on embroidering the seams and motifs at the moment.

A little birdie told me…

After reading about Allies Pincushion I made a circle from the scraps. I realised (doh!) that it doesn’t have to fit a bed (and a pincushion is useful too), and starting small may be just what I need.

I used the same techniques/ ideas as above. I embroidered it with basic seam treatments, fluffys poking though. I included a bird made from a scrap of Broderie Anglaise (in retrospect – my nod to lace inclusion). Some pulled thread flowers, and some blowflies (instead of a spider, perhaps?). I wanted to make this relevant to my experience/locale i e – Australian somehow, without relying on anything obvious like kangaroos (or the Australian mens swim team chasing down that Phelps dude. humph). I’ll write more about Australianess , and finding my authentic voice someother time.

Ta Dah!!!

she did it…she did it. yah…she did it. (can you tell Moo and I watch waaayyy too much Dora the Explorer?)

* She doesn’t know about my blog, luckily, because I’d know about it if she did. Or if she does read it, I’ll find out now! nervous, slightly hysterical lol.