When I finish a quilt, there’s this awkward sigh of relief, then this restlessness. And then I go scramble around in my unfinished quilt pile. I’m not really comfortable with finishing. I’d rather dink along at length until I’m really bored with it or until I have a deadline, whichever comes first.

So I pull out my pile of unfinished quilts

I’m not one of those people who feels they must finish every quilt. Not every quilt works the way you want it to. Sometimes you learn much more from a quilt you don’t want or need to finish. It’s all an experiment of a sort. I don’t believe there is shame in not finishing a quilt you don’t like.

But sometimes something that got backshelved really is worthy and I just need to get back to it.

I had an urge to play with sapsucker bugs.

I love these. They’re made with two tear drop shape.

And if you do it right the same shapes that make the bugs will also make the flowers.

I found two pieces I’d played with a bit in class. They both were perfect for the bugs and blooms so which should I choose?

I’m still not sure. But while I was at it, I cut pieces for a praying mantis to go with them. Here she is just as raw fabric.

And here she’s fleshed out with most of her stitching.

I’m not there yet with this. I’ll show you more about the decision on backgrounds in another post. My point is that the process of going through the left overs brings me to new and old ideas both. I may have to try it with the refrigerator next.

You’ll find more left over stories in my post Left Overs: The Art of Including Something Left from the Past.