Fear of Getting Started

So I finally finished up my first Quilts of Valor quilt today.  Quilts of Valor (QOV) is an organization that aims to give every American veteran a quilt to thank them for their service to our country.  You can find out more by visiting their website: www.qovf.org .

Locked & loaded, ready to get started.

I tack down the edges of the quilt using a large stitch to hold them in place. I sew very close to the edge of the material so the person who is finishing the quilt will not need to remove my basting stitches.

I coined a new term called "fear of getting started".  Some people suffer from the fear of being left out.  Google it, it's real.  I suffer from the more stifling fear of getting started.  I had this quilt on my frame locked and loaded for two days before I pulled the trigger and got started.  

There I go! 

Then once again I suffered from muscle tightness/fatigue.  This time instead of getting an adult beverage I tried some yoga posses-mostly warrior poses because what's a better yoga pose for a QOV than warrior? I used my leaf pattern and offset it as the pattern to accentuate the leaf shapes in the fabric of the material.

This is an up close picture of the quilting on the front side.  I really liked that navy blue bird fabric.  

Then about halfway through quilting I found a slight flaw in the fabric backing as I was rolling the quilt up to advance it on the frame.  Talk about deflating.  I contacted the local QOV representative and let her know what happened.  I then really didn't do much with the quilt and let it setting on the frame since Saturday night.
Finally, today we had a snow day.  There is 11" of snow sitting outside my house right now.  Tomorrow is a another snow day.  I finally went and finished the quilting for the QOV.  Then promptly loaded one of my eBay quilts and was off to the races again.  I'm over a 1/3 of the way done on a quilt the same size as my QOV one that took four days.  I'm really going to have to get over this fear of getting started thing.
Some things I learned this go around:

A look at the quilting from the back of the quilt.

1. Tension issues only pop up on other people's quilts.
2. Fixing tension issues requires you to think backwards.  If it's took tight on the top you need to tighten the top tension.  Seriously?  Seems counter intuitive but I finally caught on.
3. The flaws you see when you stop to check your quilting in the middle of quilting are much bigger than when the finished project is done and you go back to try to find them and they have seemingly disappeared.
4. I'm proud I was able to line up the seem on the backing fabric to match the middle of the quilt top.  That was more quilter's math than I was expecting.
When it's all said and done I can chalk it up to another learning experience and keep on keeping on.
By the way, with it going to be so cold the next few days make sure to throw another quilt or two on the bed.  And if you have one a pup to keep your toes warm.  Until next time.

The view from my quilting studio today.  That's 11" of the white stuff if you're wondering.