My favorite part of the quilting process is the "before" part. The dreaming up (research, inspiration gathering, color preferences, etc.) of a design that I want to try, and then putting on my thinking cap to figure out how I would actually execute the design. Important to note that not all my dreamed up plans have an executable solution yet . . . but to dream, that is the thing. After that, fabric is the next most important part of my process . . . I love to shop and buy fabric, but have to admit that I purchase rather haphazardly and rarely purchase something I have a set idea for, which in the end leads to a large stash of fabrics that when said and done will require many other purchases of fabric to work with whatever I actually end up doing. A vicious cycle. The rest of the process I could probably eliminate altogether if magic fairies showed up in my studio late at night to do all the rest of the work. I love seeing the pieces I have cut up on the design wall, and love to manipulate them until it's just what I was thinking, or mostly what I was thinking . . . and then I dread having to actually sew them altogether, press and press and press. And then there is the back. I love the back and have recently found myself spending an unusually lengthy time developing and piecing the back, sort of two quilts in one. Because I have not built up the confidence to machine quilt anything larger than a 1 yard square, most of my quilts get sent out, only to return to my most loathed task, the binding. Although, the experience of hand stitching the binding is growing on me, so we'll see. And then, just like at the end of a good book, I am sad to have it finished.
