Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Minor Failures

I am sure you all have had crafting failures before right? Well, so have I lately. This is my Chinese lantern quilt all pieced together, waiting for the binding.

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I am none too happy about it. For starters, it look like a big rainbow quilt. My original design was intended to be more subtle. I think in order to do this, I needed to make the laterns half the size with more light colors mixed in. I broke the cardinal rule of quilting (I just made that up) when I used only bright medium colors. I have watched Alex Anderson enough to know that I should always have a range of lights to darks in my color selection.

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It is also too traditional for me. I really don't like things that are even blocks. I am much more into the Denyse Schmidt quilts.

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Even the drated photos are blurry.

This is turning out to be quite a pessimistic post. My next small disaster was the red velvet cupcakes with cooked chocolate frosting that I made over the weekend. What a bloody mess. They are not even red.

All of our kitchen supplies are kind of pieced together yard sale things. So I am missing a few key measuring devices. Also, my bowl was not big enough to contain all that red velvetness and it went all over the walls when I turned on my hand mixer.

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Even the frosting didn't bring me out of my crafting funk.

11 comments:

Sarah and Jack said...

A failure? Are you kidding me? It's gorgeous. Send it to me, and I will love it. :-)

Anonymous said...

I know everyone has her own opinion and taste, but I think you're insane -- and WRONG!! -- about the lantern quilt. I think it's absolutely gorgeous.

Ignore the comment from Sarah and Jack! I'll take it! :-)

bettyninja said...

You guys are killing me with laughter! I am glad other people think it is nice. Maybe I just have been working on it for too long and it is altering my vision of it.

Leah said...

aww! you know, everyone has things that they consider failures that other people will think are amazing (it happens to me a lot), so take heart! you probably have just been looking at it too long. :-) xoxox

personally, i think the quilt is fabulous!

gina said...

I think the quilt looks amazing! {I can't imagine making anything so involved & you're so prolific on top of it!} I know what its like to be very critical of your work, I'm seldom satisfied with the way the things I make come out. My mom shared something with me recently - she said if I don't like the way something looks put it away and after awhile go back to it, after you've stepped away from something and calmed down you see it differently - its worked for me!

Anonymous said...

The quilt looks great! You have been looking at it too much, that's all!

Anonymous said...

Betty, Ihave to tell you a story. A few years ago I saw a vintage chinese lantern quilt at an antique sale. I didn't buy it and when I got home I was filled with regret. It's the one that got away. I google Chinese lantern quilt once in a while to see if someone has it and loves it and to find a pattern so I can make my own. Yours is the closest I've seen to the one I loved. It's beautiful and it has a vintage quilt aesthetic. Once it has aged and softened a bit, you will love it too. I love your blog. Long Live the Ninja! I think the quilt I saw was not appliqued, ie the lanterns were set right into the fabric. Is that possible? I'm not a quilter...yet.

Anonymous said...

Really, that quilt is beautiful. If it's not your personal style, I am positive that anyone you give it to will love it. And I'd eat those cupcakes in a second!

bettyninja said...

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for all the nice feedback on this quilt. Lori--Thanks for reading my blog. I am not sure how exactly to get the lanterns on the quilt without doing an applique. It may be possible, there are some really great techniques out there that I keep coming across everyday. One thing you can do to reduce the look on applique is not do a zig zag stitch around the edges- especially a black zig zag like I did.

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to let you and Lori know that there is a pieced chinese lantern block at quilting.about.com/od/quiltpatternspro
jects/ss/chinese-lantern.htm If this does not work just go to about.quilting.com and type in chinese lantern and several suggestions will pop up. They are not very hard to do .... not that you, Betty, wants to make another one but maybe Lori would like to do so. Keep on quilting ... don't you love it (most of the time)? Love the pictures of your dogs too. Is the one dog a pointer of some kind or a hound? I grew up with a German Shorthaired Pointer and that's what your younger dog looks like. Keep those creative juices flowing.

bettyninja said...

Thanks for the link Karen l. I am off to check it out. Misty is mix but mostly German Pointer. Thanks for stopping by!