When Plan A Isn’t Working….

I don’t know about everyone else, but Plan A almost never works out for me. When beginning a project, I usually have a Plan A, B, C, D, and sometimes I get even further than that in the design process!

There was a time when, if Plan A didn’t work, the project went back into a bad, drawer, or shelf somewhere, never to be worked on again. Then I got involved with the Bakersfield Modern Quilt Guild and started researching what modern quilting was all about. The terms, refashion, repurpose, and reuse, are all very big in modern quilting. The more I learned about MQ, the more I started giving myself permission to screw up and NOT throw that project into the closet! I keep telling myself that mistakes are simply new design opportunities, right? Works for me!

Recently, I got interested into participating in a couple of online swaps. The first swap was called the Pretty Little Pouch Swap. I had never made a purse or pouch of any sort, and I hadn’t inserted a zipper into anything since high school! Needless to say, I was a little bit intimidated! So, on to Plan A for the PLP swap! I dug through my precious Kaffe Fassett fabrics and came up with Plan A. I was loving it until I posted a progress picture on the Flickr group for the swap. There were very few positive comments about it, because not everybody is a Kaffe fan. Okay, so where was my Plan B? Most likely, playing in the hall closet with all of the Plan A’s! After hours and hours of trying to come up with a Plan B, I got an idea. I could envision the general layout in my head, but had no idea how to execute it. Little by little, I let Plan B come to fruition. I loved the end result, and I learned that sometimes ideas need time to marinate. This was one of them.

Plan A Pretty Little Pouch Swap

Plan B Pretty Little Pouch Swap

I’ve decided to finish the first one and give it as a gift. The colors are brighter in person, and I know that the recipient of the pouch likes Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

I also participated in an online pillow swap called the Pillow Talk Swap. I didn’t start with a Plan A. I bought the fabrics, then let several ideas marinate for a while. This was the end product, inspired by Victoria at Bumble Beans.

The next swap deadline is right around the corner. In this one, we are making and swapping doll quilts. They are to be made out of Denyse Schmidt fabrics and measure no bigger than 16″ x 16″.  Plan A was absolutely fabulous, in my head! Once it was on the design wall, it stink, stank, stunk!!!

  

After my friend, Pam, posted a picture of a paper-pieced braided star block she’d made, I had my Plan B!

This was such fun to make! I need to add a 2″ border and quilt it, then it’ll be off to my swap partner! If you want to make this block, you’ll find the paper piecing template and tutorial at http://www.add-crafter.com/2012/04/basketweave-braid-star-block/

I can’t leave you without a picture I took this morning, after this danged cat woke me up so that I could open the shutters and window in my sewing room. This is his favorite place to sit in the morning.