QUILTS OF VALOR

This week I attended the "Quilts of Valor" quilting club.  This group of volunteers makes quilts (beautiful ones, I might add) for vets of all of the wars we have endured over the century.  They even have a long arm volunteer quilter who does beautiful work.  When she showed me the blocks she was working on, the points did not meet in some places and it really bothered me.  It didn't matter to her, she said.  If you just looked at the block from afar, it was not noticeable, but close up, to me, it really bugged me.  Did I mention I was anal retentive? 

No one was there but the organizer and I was quickly put to work, but a fun work.  She put me on a sewing machine they had purchased for $25 at a yard sale and after sewing for a few minutes, it jammed up. After the leader got me back on track with this machine, it sewed again for a while and then she sewed on it and it jammed up again.  I hope she didn't think I broke her machine.  I don't like using somebody's tools because if anything happens, I feel I broke it, even though I'm very careful and it just isn't the case. I had the darndest time doing anything, including threading the bobbin because the machine had a bobbin that you had to manage in an up and down configuration instead of a drop in type.  I had to string together strips and sew triangles a certain way to make a star like square.  I've always had trouble flip flopping, cutting soooo many strips, squares and triangles, I found it very frustrating.  My mind just doesn't work that way.  I'm more of a free type of quilter.  Landscape quilting is more my bag.  The leader said I'll catch on because I've never done anything like that before.

The leader gave me two bags, directions in each, to do at home.  I'm completely frustrated not knowing what to do, even with following these very confusing instructions.  I've gone back to the instructions for several days trying to figure it all out.  So I just made my own block potholder with material I purchased with stars and stripes in red, white and blue.  I guess I'm trying to make up for my stupidity, but I guess what is, is.

I remember about ten years ago making pillow covers for my couch which I followed pattern instructions very easily.  I've never done quilting before.  Four blocks of squares to be sewn together and the other was a log cabin pattern, also sewn very easily along with the pillow cover itself.  They came out really cute, but all that cutting and sewing these small pieces together was something else.  Well, I got through it, but like I said, landscape quilts is more my style.

I'll go back next week with my own sewing machine in hand and pinned together blocks that I think are put together correctly, but I won't sew or cut anything because I don't want to be pulling out stitches or waste material by cutting where I shouldn't have.  But at least I tried.

The leader said we'll be working on group projects this next week, whatever that means, but I'm hoping I'll be working with a group which will guide me along and be patient with me.  Maybe I'm taking this whole thing too seriously and I'll go again next week to at least help where I can.