Process or Product? Yes.

     When I was an art teacher, the other teachers in the district said it was process not product that mattered. Made me crazy. Process and product is what creating is all about. I was concerned about a decent result for student effort, but also wanted to train them in art techniques/skills. The other teachers were more interested in letting everyone doing their own thing. Funny, we don't tolerate that in learning how to read or playing in a band or cooking or banking. I always think you need to learn basic techniques and ideas and then the creativity was in putting your own spin on them and persevering to the finish. Especially beginners need some basics to gain some traction or they thought they weren't "talented" (cringe) and quit. I still believe that. It is one reason my co-chair and I spend a day every week planning our program every month for our guild. We strive to give them tools to further their quilting and ideas, especially when it is new or something frustrating comes up. To problem solve and finish well.
     So, today I had to grab myself by the collar and push myself to solve a problem that I had created. Although my mother does not quilt, she can sew straight(ish) seams. She is always asking me to give her something to sew because she is bored. Takes me as long to prep it as it takes her to push it through the machine. I had given her the pieces for MSQC's Katie's Quilt to sew and now I was faced with sewing the connecting blocks, trimming and the flip-and-sew black triangles. I made the quilt once (gave it away-comfort quilt) and found I had enough 5" squares to do another. I forced myself to sew and when I put it on the wall, I hated it like I did before because it seems truncated.

Excuse the poor photo, the sun actually came out today and through the window.

      Ok, I could slap the borders on and be done with it and just grit my teeth. Then I took my mom out for lunch for her birthday today and listened to her nattering nabobs of negativity for hours (dating myself, remember Spiro Agnew?). With a headache when I got home, I decided to exercise positive feats and try extending the design by adding points at the edge.

      Hmm, much better. So I found the original white on white, Accucut some more black triangles, did some math and added a pointed border all around.

      Oh, much better. Even though the fabric and design aren't my favs, I used some of my skills to persevere, change it up, and make it better. I could have (wanted to) bailed earlier, but that is what process and product can do when they work in harmony. Now I have to find a color border to go all around, I am thinking about a 6" one.