Working on Becoming UNStuck

Last Fall, our book club read the book, "Sweetness to the Soul," by Jane Kirkpatrick. Right away, I had an idea for a project.

I had planned for the quilt to be wide and narrow with a waterfall, bridge and a hotel like building.

I started with some sketches for the hotel. At this point, I selected some leftover strings/strips and stitched the body of the building. I later appliqued a section to be the front entrance and selected a scrap for the roof. I was feeling good about my progress and process.

I sketched a bridge and a waterfall. I wasn't getting any where. I started doubting my abilities. The more I doubted my success, the less progress I made.

I googled Shear's Hotel and Toll Bridge and found a few photos. The design I had in my head was far from what I saw in the photos. As a ten year old, I fished below the falls with my granddad. A fire destroyed the hotel in 1938 so the hotel was long gone before I fished there. I sketched some more. 

In November, I took the design off the wall. I stitched other projects. A month later, I tried again. It was deja vu. I altered the composition. I tried placing other fabrics on the design wall. Still, I wasn't making progress.

I sketched some more. I wasn't having fun.


I decided, I would construct the waterfall. This was my first attempt. I wanted my waterfall to come between two canyon walls and just below the horizon. While I liked the variety of strips I used, the strips were too rigid. Adding the white sections helped; but, this wasn't "IT."











I wanted to create texture so I added some metallic ribbon and used yarn with the Bernina 43 foot to create some "foam." I loved stitching with the 43 foot and at some point, I need to make something to use that foot. But, it wasn't right for this project.














This was my second attempt:

I like the values and the movement. I cut the pieces, used Elmer's glue to place them. I added a little Angelina fibers under some white tulle. I stitched through all the layers with silk, cotton and metallic thread to hold the pieces in place. This was a fun process! My plan was to anchor the fabric edges during the quilting phase. I'm letting it set for a day or two because I'm thinking it is too small for my piece. 

There is something to drawing the plan out to scale first as had I done that, I would have figured out, my waterfall was too small!

Hm mm. . .what options do I have now?