You’ve heard of humility patches, the idea being an obvious mistake is put into a quilt so as not to cause affront to God because only He can create a perfect thing. Actually this practice seems to me to be the height of pridefulness! As if I could ever create something so perfect that I would need to intentionally include a mistake! Not going to happen. However, I have turned a patch this way or that, not for the sake of humility so much as to make people pause a little longer, make them wonder why. I think it adds interest. If that is the case, God must find me interesting indeed! And the beautiful thing is, He does! In spite of all my flaws and weaknesses, He really likes me!
Anyway, as proof that I do not need a humility patch, I present to you, The Humility Quilt. Yes, a whole quilt so full off mistakes and blunders that with it, I have secured my place in history as perfectly imperfect. And no, none of this was intentional.
Okay, bad pic. Be grateful. How imperfect are you, quilt? Let me count the ways…
First off, I wanted a feather in the border. Decided to use my spray chalk but it didn’t appear to be working. Decided to shake the can a bit more. No go. After a healthy dose, I realized I had grabbed basting spray! Duh! Now I have a sticky mess!
Okay, quilted one border, looked awful but soldiered on. Started blocks, realized I should have mounted the quilt the other way. Too late. Soldiered on. Crap, tension messed up ….a while back. Apparently I have fullness in aide borders. Craptastic. I was sure I measured these before I put them away three months ago. Some of the quilting looks okay on top. At one point after advancing the quilt, I didn’t lock the gear on the backing roller. Totally focused on using templates, I don’t realize that the backing was looser than the top and I now have major pleats. Rip, rip, grumble, grumble.
Finally take it off the frame and start binding. The border looks so bad, I am considering whacking them off and turning it into a crib quilt. I keep going. Find another area of really bad tension, I think this is when I retreaded and missed a guide. Every stinking one of them is apparently very important.
I finally finish this miserable thing and throw it in the wash. Watch a cheesy movie with DH and stew a while. Pull it out if the dryer…..too embarrassed to show you the back. Realized I missed quilting two arcs in the green triangles. Nuts.
It is what it is.
I learned a lot. I wrapped myself up in it and finished the movie. It is warm. From a distance, it doesn’t look too bad. Just. Don’t. Turn. It. Over.
Who needs a humility patch? I’ve got a whole quilt!
KatyQuilts 
Loved your quilt and post. You put into words my entire life experience with quilting. It is like that one ‘friend’ that always stands you up, cancels at the last moment, or embarrasses you at church by singing VERY loud…..but you love her anyway and keep coming back for more. 🙂 Thank you for making me laugh out loud with the basting spray story. I once used spray starch to baste my quilt by mistake so I feel your pain.
Oh KATY, it looks beautiful. I’m sure you know where the mistakes are…. cuz you made it, but to me it looks amazing. I love the colors and your piecing looks great. WHO CAREs about the back.. lol
Hello! I tried to e-mail a reply to you but it bounced :(. Anyway, thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment! I think I will have to do a full disclosure post and show the back. It really is MUCH worse in real life. But it is all about the journey, right?
I LOVE it! If that’s your humility quilt, I think mine would be embarrassment quilts. Maybe if you’re a seasoned quilter, there are apparent flaws, but I honestly don’t see any, even after you say what they are!
However, VERY funny post. “Rip, grumble”… Hahahaha!
You have a great sense of humor. Quilt on!
Only ONE Humility Quilt, geesh – girl, you’re obviously a Rookie! 😉 Now, once you become a die-hard frame quilting OCD Veteran, you’ll have an entire Humility Quilt Collection to ‘brag’ about…no worries, you could even take it on the road and have a Humility Quilt Trunk Show LOL, (ask me how I know…) – I can hardly wait to read the upcoming stories and you’ll remember every-single-stitch and learn well. Just think of the glorious family heirloom quilts you’ll be quilting as a result of these wonderful teaching Humility quilts. They’re actually my favorites, so FULL of character and self-expression, wonderfully ‘beautiful’ in their own right and of course, isn’t beauty in the ‘eye of the beholder’?. You’ll be surprised how gorgeous this quilt will look in a couple of days and in a month, an outright beauty 😉
Happy Quilting!
~Deb
It seriously looks great. And it sounds like all of my quilts. Not a one of them is perfect, but I have learned from each and every one. Seriously, isn’t that the thing that teaches us the most? Take a look at how much you learned from this quilt and how much you learned from the last quilt that you thought was good enough, and I’m guessing this quilt is worth a whole lot more. I do love the design in the green triangles and the feathers in the borders, look great!!
Sometimes we need a quilt like this to remind us we are imperfect creatures. We humans can get so prideful. I bet this quilt will turn out to be one you like the best because, like a child with special challenges, it is still beautiful when seen through eyes of love-sort of how God sees us! Amazing.
Perfect or not, I think it is beautiful!
I love this post, looks perfect to me and He thinks it perfect too. I commend you for finishing, sometimes at that point I throw them in the trash can and get rid of the evidence. Looks beautiful on the railing.
the quilt looks great! don’t be so hard on yourself maybe by the end of the day you will feel better about it. I bet its a great quilt to just cuddle under and take a nap , watch tv….
every quilt is a learning lesson!