No more Deer Quilt!!! .. Oh, Wait

After all those nasty little difficulties popped up (for no reason!) during the making of this quilt, oh man was I glad to have it finished! Is it bad blogging form to admit that I was somewhat disappointed in myself? I think the finished product did come out lovely, but that I am capable of a much much better job. Oh, the things I learned ...

Above: Bindings, borders, Bambi, Oh my!

 
Left: The finished quilt, and my two "helpers" attempting to hold it out straight in the wind so it doesn't look wrinkled.


Bottom: A peek at the lovely luscious feathers twisting through the border.

And the most exciting news of all? It looks like this silly project that has caused me so much anguish is a hit with friends and family! In fact I have already been asked if I can make another one to sell & be given as a birthday gift .. hooray! My first quilt for profit / commission!

Not working as intended ..

The deer quilt --- is giving me a headache. I can't decide if what I am doing in terms of quilting and thread colour is going to come out looking stunning -- or a miserable mishmash of FMQ gone overboard and busy panels made even busier.

I like the starburst idea, I like the trapunto effect of the deer, I love doing the intricate tiny stitching ... but aaaaaahhhhhhhhh what am I doing? Am I creating a masterpiece, or a lot of stitch ripping work to do?


Sadly it seems that when I have these feelings, I'm right. So the niggling feeling that this is going to look horrible needs to be solved.

Options:
Continue with white thread (tan in the sky sections)
Use dark brown thread (leaning in this direction)
Run from this project screaming that it can't be done
Unpick everything (3 fully finished 14 inch blocks + 17 starbursts) and come up with a new idea.

This has just not been a good week for sewing.