Always Do Your Best Work

with Ian Garland

Recently I got quite a surprise. A quilt I entered into a show won a blue ribbon. The irony of the situation? When I was working to piece the quilt top it was going to be a “throw away quilt.” I never thought this quilt would be more than just a gift or giveaway, but boy, was I wrong. Let me back the story up and start from the beginning.

Back in March I agreed to take part in a charm pack challenge over on Sew Becca’s YouTube channel. I had never used a charm pack before and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I ordered what was labeled as a charm pack from one of my favorite quilt store websites, Crimson Tate, but when it arrived I realized it was actually a layer cake. Being the Off Kilter Crafter Ian I felt like this was true to my brand, so I ran with it. During the live stream I decided to call this creating my “Charm Not Charm” quilt. As I was starting in on this project, I didn’t think I was going to keep it. In fact, I was thinking on what I should do with it. Was I going to make it a giveaway for my YouTube channel? Was I going to give it away to a friend as a birthday or Christmas gift? I wasn’t really sure, but in my mind this was going to be a “throw away” project. One that I was just going to sew on and not put too much effort into. I wasn’t worried about lining up points or being meticulous with each seam. It was just something to occupy my time and then move on to my next project. Then I finished piecing the top and it hit me, I really like it. A lot.

When I saw the top all pieced I started kicking myself. Why didn’t I take the time to do a better job with it? Why didn’t I make sure all my seams lined up? Why didn’t I take the time to make sure all my points were aligned? Why didn’t I take the extra 2 seconds on each seam? I even pieced in some fabric when I cut a border too short because I didn’t want to put the time or effort into recutting fabric and redoing the boarder for the 5th time. I kicked myself for days and days about it, realizing it would not have taken much more effort to do my best work instead of just getting it done. It was what it was, and I didn’t want to rip it all up and do it again. So, I made peace with my choices and sent a picture to my quilter. I have worked with Nancy Houston many times on my quilts, and she has been an amazing mentor to me during my quilting journey. She saw the picture and after some discussion convinced me to let her have full control of the quilting. She didn’t have to do much convicting; I fully trust her and knew she was going to do a great job. Boy, did she hit it out of the park! Fast forward to entry time for the North Texas Quilt Festival. For years I have been avoiding entering any of my quilts into this or any other show. I fully convinced myself I wasn’t good enough. My work wasn’t good enough. Agonized over with the judge’s remarks would say about my work. However, I told myself I needed to enter just to get my name out there. I entered two quilts into the show and was shocked when I received a text from Nancy saying we had won a blue ribbon for our efforts on the quilt I named “Daydreamer: The Butterfly Effect” (I still think I should have named it the “Charm Not Charm Quilt”).

Moral of the story is always do your best work. I lucked out in that for this quilt most of my piecing lined up and there were not a lot of major issues that judges count off on. I also lucked out to have such an amazing quilter who really brought this quilt to life and made it stand out from the competition. However, what if these things would not have happened? What if my points were all over the place when I finished? I could have lost a chance for something amazing. Even when you think a project is going to be a throw away put your best effort forward. I say on my YouTube channel all the time that a finished quilt top is always better than a perfect quilt top and that still rings true. However, there is a difference between doing your best and just getting something done. You might end up with a blue ribbon when you least expect it.