instructions are not laws, right?

I've proven I don't follow instructions well.  We're all going to pretend that makes me flexible and spontaneous and artistic.  But, really, it's more like rebellious and impetuous and not quite afraid enough of making mistakes. 

But, the results are wonderful.

This was the pattern. 

I had done the center and eight of the log cabin blocks.  And, I picked out all but the dark sections of the log cabin blocks.  The yarns for the rest of it were variegated.  And, the quilter in me was not happy with that.  The colors didn't come out like the picture.  In the dark background of the center block, there were black sections and brown sections.  And in the leaves, there were rust sections and brown sections.  And my brown sections kept ending up next to brown sections with no contrast.  Similar thing with the gold yarn.  it's variegated pink and green and gold.  And, I kept ending up with big pink blots and big green blots. And, since I was starting over, why not start with something that had more contrast than those leaf blocks and maybe wasn't quite so dark.  So, I drafted a feathered star.  I do not quite know how.  It took a half dozen tries using 1/8" graph paper, but suddenly the stitch pattern was on paper and then it was just following it with a needle.   I pulled out my number 5 pearl cottons and we went to the store and bought some off whites to add to it and this is what I came up with. 

But, I'm not a needlepointer.  I don't need another hobby.

Anybody out there still buying that? 

Okay, let's give something away (how's that for a distraction?)  Many years ago, a friend and fellow blogger shared two kits with me.  She had a friend that collected kits and then lost interest and gave them all to my friend.  She shared them with her followers, including two with me. 

One was the Simply Delicious quilt.  And, yes, I'm going to show it again...every time I get a chance...

The other was Lotusland's Water lilies quilt. 

It is unstarted and came with all 10 block kits, including the fabrics for the flowers and the pattern.  Block 1 has a large piece of dark blue to cut the backgrounds from.  Block 10 is that wonderful border.  And, it has all the 50 wt silk thread needed...I'm not going to count the 100 yd spools, but let's say 35 or more spools.  We're a smoke free home, and while these have been in a plastic storage box for years, I'm not gonna swear they're dust free.

It's a beautiful quilt, and the reason I'm not making it is that most of the blocks have 75-100 tiny pieces and it doesn't look fun for me.  I have Ruby McKim's state flowers quilt patterns that I'd rather make for a flower applique project.  So, I'd like to share this kit with someone that will actually make it (and free up that bit of space in my sewing room closet).

If you're interested and you have a continental United States mailing address where you can receive packages, leave a comment by Sunday night at midnight and I'll announce the winner in Monday's blog post.  Don't leave your personal info in your comment below.  We'll exchange emails after the drawing.  I don't give much away, so I reserve the right to make up new rules as needed in case I forgot something.  That's called fine print. 

My boss gave me some feedback this week.  A lot of what I do is researching problems, crafting original solutions, and telling people how to execute those solutions successfully...without breaking the law.  I'm successful for the same reasons I stated at the top of this post...I don't follow instructions well.  I think outside the box.  He said people don't follow my instructions at work because I use too many words.  They get bored after 140 characters and stop reading. 

Holy crap!  I'm never going to fit into the modern workforce.  Look at how many words I used just to say Holy Crap!

The weird thing about the feedback is that the people younger than me, the ones that communicate in 140 characters or less, read my instructions and follow them to the letter.  They trust that I know what I'm talking about and that I'll stand behind it if it doesn't work.  It's the people older than me that aren't following the instructions.     

Somehow, I don't think it's the number of characters I'm using. 

 Everybody have a great weekend!  I'm taking a bit of time off, so trying to figure out how I want to spend some days that should be beautiful working in the yard weather.  Will I work in the yard?  Or, will I quilt?  Because it's always beautiful quilting weather (unless it's storming and the power goes out...okay, there's an exception to everything.)

Lane