What I learned

It looks fantastic

[Barbara B.]

Thank you! Art is in the eye of the beholder. Copy a pattern exactly if you wish. Or add your own special touch. It’s all OK!

[Jennifer M.]

I love it when our teacher (Barbara?) says, “it’s YOUR quilt, YOU get to decide how you want it”.

[Judith A.]

You are a wonderful quilter!!!

[jptousley]

You did a wonderful job and should be very proud of this quilt! I love your compass point homes. They make your quilt very special!

[Ellen L.]

Congrats on finishing!! You've done an amazing job. I love this pattern so much, I'm currently working on a second one. Definitely enter it in a competition. It is beautiful.

[Pat C.]

[Barbara B.]

You did great! Even the best quilters get weirdo comments from time to time. Just let that one go.

[Pat C.]

Well, here it is, the end of 2022, and I finally have finished my 2021 BOM quilt! I apologize that the photo is not centered. My photography skills leave a bit to be desired!

I am most proud of my N, S, E, and West compass point homes, which are paper pieced homes we actually lived in. I taught myself Electric Quilt to create the designs. I am also proud of the World Trade Center which I was able to piece together using very few pieces of fabric. It took some work to get the striped fabric lined up and at the right angle, but it worked. I also added machine embroidery in the right lower quadrant to represent other locations that were meaningful to my family.

Many years ago, I entered a quilt challenge and was hurt and disappointed when the narrator seemed to almost apologize for my entry. I could not figure out why she felt the need to do that, other than I had substituted premade binding for my ruined homemade binding when I ran into a time crunch to get the quilt entered by the deadline. I stayed away from any challenge after that.

When this quilt was finished, the man who quilted it for me told me I should enter it into a contest. I knew that I had worked for perfection and had ripped out and resewn anything I was not happy with, but when he spread the finished quilt out for me, I gasped. I realized at that moment that I REALLY AM A QUILTER -- AND A GOOD ONE! I am always open to suggestions in an effort to improve, but I will never let the "quilt police" intimidate me ever again. Life is too short and wonderful. I am so grateful to Wendy and her design which allowed me to realize my full potential. Thank you!