Process or Product…What’s Your Quilting Style? (+ Giveaway)

I know from years of teaching that students approach projects with different expectations. Some will work on the same quilt for several weeks or months and see it through to completion, while others bring in new projects every few weeks. Sometimes these projects get finished and sometimes not.

I have always considered myself a “product” person. I have a goal or deadline in mind and work to meet it within a certain time frame. This has always worked for me and has made me happy in my quiltmaking experience. Today, while sifting through a stack of quilts in search of a class sampler, I came across this one.

“Pieced Buttercups” made in a seminar with Mary Ellen Hopkins.

Finding this quilt felt almost like running into a long-lost friend who asks, “So, where have you been?” All the wonderful memories of one of my very first quilting experiences came flooding back. Five days spent with the one and only, hilariously funny, and inspirational Mary Ellen Hopkins changed my life forever. I often wonder where she is. I am so grateful for the spark she ignited in me and her encouragement to push forward into the world of teaching.

All those less than perfect points. Do they really matter in the big scheme of things?

How sweet are these quilting stitches – some of my very first!

There that quilt sat, folded among so many completed quilts, still waiting for the final quilting stitching and binding. I had truly forgotten about this cute little quilt. Why did I never finish it? Guess I just got busy and moved on to other projects.

How about you? Do you work to complete your projects or do you often set them aside waiting for just the right time to finish them, and possibly never finding that time? Do you then donate them or, like me, keep them folded among other projects?

I would love to hear your stories. In an attempt to do a bit of housecleaning to help clear my mind from the overload of a huge project (more on this later), I’m giving away some of my unfinished blocks to one interested reader. The ten 8″ finished, red-and-white pieced blocks were made . . . I’m guessing in the early 90s. Simply tell me your style (process or product) and why you might like to win these blocks by end of day June 14th, and I’ll announce the winner with my June 18th post.