Time Well Spent

I have been working steadily on my clock quilt.  I spent the last week doodling different quilting designs, trying to figure out just what I wanted to quilt.  I have to say there were times I just wanted to quilt the entire quilt with one design and get it over with.  Yet, the entire process is a reminder to me to slow down and enjoy the process.  This moment this time, is what it is about.  Remembering that is easy!  Putting it into practice is a much larger task. 

Yesterday, after dispersing my children to various friends' houses, I had several hours to enjoy the process.  It was quite wonderful to not have to worry about fighting children or requests for food.  

Here is what I came up with...

I used 5 different quilting designs on this tiny little quilt.  The quilt only measures 9"x12"  I have toyed with the idea of making this quilt on a larger scale, perhaps as a whole cloth quilt.  But that is for another post. 

I used all 5 designs from the Free Motion Quilting Project by Leah Day.  I have used her designs multiple times and posted about them here.  She is currently having a Quilt Challenge.  Initially I was going to enter this quilt, but I am having second thoughts.  Not only because I love how it turned out, but also because I have an underlying fear of not being  good enough.  

Competition has always been a scary thing for me.  Putting myself out there to be "judged" is VERY intimidating.  Remembering to be happy with who I am regardless of what others may think is Extremely Difficult.  After years, and years of doubting my abilities, putting faith and trust within myself and my work is Frightening. 

Sure it is an easy thing sitting in my studio, admiring how far I have come and knowing how hard I have worked.  Putting myself out for others to scrutinize is an entirely different thing.  

Now that the quilting is finished, I have to decide if I should bind it with dark brown binding or the neutral muslin. I have the muslin cut out.  After taking these pictures, I am thinking the brown would frame it nicely.

The second decision I need to make is whether I should put a second hand on, and how long should I make it.  My initial design called for all of the hands of the clock to be represented.  Now after looking at the design I think perhaps only a second hand would make the statement, "This Moment."  Which was my true intention. So here are the choices..

1.

2.

3.

What do you think?