If you missed Part One about the award this quilt won and what it represented, you can read it here….

I almost didn’t finish this quilt.

In fact… I had already decided it was a failure.

• It didn’t match what I had in my head.
• It didn’t feel “right.”
• And if I’m being honest—it carried some heavy emotions with it, too.

So I judged it.

Hard.

But here’s what I’m beginning to understand…

Sometimes we’re not really judging the quilt. We’re judging the experience of making it.

The frustration.
The doubt.
The season of life we were walking through at the time.

And we wrap all of that into the finished piece and decide…

It’s not good enough.

But what if we’re wrong?

What if the very things we struggle with— the imperfect lines, the unexpected choices, the emotional weight— are actually what give our work its depth?

This quilt reminded me of something I don’t want to forget:

Finish it anyway.
Step back before you decide.
Give your work—and yourself—a little more grace.

Because sometimes…

What feels like a failure in the moment turns out to be something entirely different.

I have seen several people use Foam Core Board to make their own quilting rulers, so I decided to give it a try.

I grabbed a “Dollar Tree” sheet of Foam core….(it wasn’t an expensive, top-of-the-line board)….. and cut a gentle curve….

As I started sewing, I was amazed at how well it worked!

I did have a few places where the tension was an issue, but I think those problems were more related to the fabric I was working on, rather than the “ruler”.

This tool has limited uses because you can’t see through it to line up the next stitching line, and unless you spend a lot of time planning it, it will never be perfectly symmetrical like a commercial one.

However, I did have fun playing with it to make this flower…..

Using the ruler made it easy to quilt the petals. I first stitched out from the center….

….moved the ruler over slightly and stitched back to the center…..

The result was thin petals with the same basic shape…

It was fun to try this “tool” and I am happy to have it in my Quilter’s Toolbox if I ever need it!!

When I am doing lots of string piecing, I have struggled to clip all the pieces apart. For many years, I used the “Sunflower Quilts” thread cutter….

And, while I liked it, I found that the blade eventually dulled, and I ended up breaking the thread rather than cutting it.

I even bought some tools to try to sharpen the blade, but it didn’t work.

Last August, our guild had a wonderful night where we shared our favorite tools, and the “Blade Saver” was presented.

It came in this small box….

…and contained all of these parts….

The thing that I truly like about this tool is that it uses OLD Rotary Blades, and I have a whole container of them!!

It was so easy to put it all together

….and it works like a dream…..

AND…..if one area gets dull, I can simply move the cutter to a different area or put in a new blade!!

I have definitely found a FAVORITE TOOL!!

Do you have a favorite tool…..PLEASE tell me about it!!