New Year's Resolution Quilts 3

I finished the third New Year's Resolution quilt. This one is called, "Buy A New Broom". In my family it is bad luck to bring a broom from your old house to your new house. You should buy a new broom or, better yet, someone should give you a new broom. This is because you don't want to bring the dirt from the old house into the new house. I think this is my favorite family superstition. Something about acknowledging the transition from the old to the new, and the idea that you can leave the "old dirt" behind you and start fresh.

Anyway, the background is machine pieced and the broom is needle turn applique. Most of the quilting was done by machine. The detail on the broom was done by hand. And of course, the beads were applied by hand. The edges are finished by hand with a blanket stitch. I really like the red thread and purple beads against the greens and browns. That red thread on the broom was vexing. I think the overall angle of the broom may be off, which is why the thread never looked quite right no matter how I angled it. After the third attempt I decided to just call it quirky and move on. This quilt is 100% from my stash.

As I was working on this quilt, I got to thinking about how we really are in a partnership with our materials. We will only gain so much control over them, no matter how much we practice. Sometimes it is not worth fighting. Sometimes if we step back and let the materials do what they want, we will be pleased with the results. Keeping this in mind, we should look for the same qualities in our materials that we look for in good partners. Things like quality, flexibility, and endurance. How about sparkle and wit? It helps if you share the same sensibilities. But it also helps if they challenge you to look at things in a new way.

On to number four. It is waiting to be quilted but I don't have the right thread. Number five is also challenging me because it needs to incorporate text. Stay tuned.