~ Fudging It ~

Earlier in the week a fellow blogger/quilter and I had a lengthy email conversation about Bonnie Hunter quilts and accuracy.  In our conversation she stated that accuracy was a challenge and she felt until she were better at it she couldn't make a Bonnie quilt.  This really bothered me.  Why?  Because I know the truth about quilting and what quilt makers and designers do to make you think everything went perfectly.  Lets say that again in bold print so it sinks in.....TO MAKE YOU THINK EVERYTHING WENT PERFECTLY.  Oh yes my friends, most designers won't admit it and you will rarely find a blog post or YouTube video about it but the truth is WE FUDGE IT!  It's one of things you need to learn as a quilter or you'll never finish a quilt.  To be honest I can't think of one quilt in my 30 yrs of quilting that has been 100% perfect.  This used to bother me until I went to Lancaster Pennsylvania.  I was expecting the most perfect and beautiful quilts from those Amish gals, who I thought were the best quilters in the country.  Wrong!  Every quilt I looked at had mistakes.  Then I remembered the humility block must be the reason.  Wrong again.  The humility block is one of those lies in the quilting community.  The mistakes you see in Amish quilts is just a quilter who didn't care that she made an error.  We are imperfect humans.   Then I thought a big quilt show would have nothing but perfect quilts....wrong again!

So what's going on?  Fudging and an attitude adjustment.  These errors in quilting that are visible when close up are not so visible from afar.  The quilt is beautiful.  Since I'm writing this post for a blogger who would love to make a  Bonnie quilt but is fearing her quilt won't be worthy let me share this with you.  This week I purchased my first, well all of Bonnie's books, Merry Christmas to me.

As I looked through the books last night I started paying attention to the pictures in the books.  Bonnie if you're reading this, forgive me.  I'm not picking on you, I think you and your quilts are amazing.  And the most amazing thing about Bonnie is she's REAL.  Not afraid to show up close the reality of quilting.  Look at this amazing quilt!  There's so much movement and at the same time a place for your eye to land.  Some would say it's busy.  But you know what, that busy hides a lot.

Now let's get real.  In this close up shot I see several mistakes but have only pointed out one.  The center of this block isn't perfect.....And she gave it a close up shot in the book!  It doesn't get more real than that.  This is a form of fudging it.  Who cares if it's not perfect it still looks great.

So it wouldn't be fair to just pick on Bonnie.  Most of my quilts are stored away right now due to the construction we've had going on in the past year.  But I did have my one and only Bonnie quilt on display in my studio because I love it so much, even with all its errors.  Here's a picture I took when finishing it earlier in the year.  Quite stunning, huh! 

 Lets get in there a little closer.  Still looks pretty darn good.

Now lets get real.  I had a terrible time getting things perfect, cut off points....

....Seams that didn't line up.  But she is still one of the most amazing quilts I've ever made.  Thank you Bonnie for all you do for the quilting community by keeping it real.

So remember I said no one wants to talk about fudging it.  Well I did a google search, several in fact.   Trying to find blog post about leaving mistakes in quilts, hiding mistakes and fudging in quilts.   Most of what I found was bloggers and shop owners telling you how to fix your errors, or how not to make the mistake in the first place. I found ONE quilter who was willing to be real.  The quilt she's working on isn't her quilt but she does talk about how she too fudges.  Hop over to   Jo at Jo's Country Junction for a  great blog post about what sometimes is on the inside of the quilt that we will never see.  Thank you Jo for your honesty. 

When I searched Fudging in quilts this is what came up.  Only 2 pages of quilters talking about fudging.  I search every term I could think of to find quilters talking about hiding error, making it work and this was the best results.   I found it very interesting that most of these are lines out of quilt books.  The first gal is still in denial...LOL!

And guess who was in the line up of real quilters?  It was a line right out of one of her books.  Yes ma'am!  Bonnie!  So I had to see it for myself, page 24 of String Fling.  It's there in black and white....FUDGING!

So my point is, never be afraid to try something new.  Never be afraid of it not being perfect.  Always know that online quilters are very selective about what they show you.  I know it's hard to believe that the internet would lie to you.  It's not that we are lying, it's the Don't Ask, Don't Tell motto. Maybe a full sized Bonnie Mystery quilt isn't for you.  Doing half would be a great way to start.  I totally understand loving Bonnie's quilts but being afraid to jump in with both feet.  I did it too.  But now I look at differently. It's fun, it's a break from my everyday quilting routine, and lets face it.....IT'S JUST FABRIC, most of us have more than we could ever use in our lifetime. 

So I like to put out a challenge to all you bloggers, instagrammers, facebookers.  Lets start a new hashtag  #quiltfudging  Can you keep it real?  Anyone up for a Fudging it linky party?  If you are let me know and I'll be more than happy to set up a linking party.  

#quiltfudging #podunkpretties #quilting