Quilting in Real Life: The Joke’s on Me!

Happy April Fool’s Day! I’m joining Bernie at Needle and Foot today to share a real life quilting story that makes me feel a little foolish. It’s time to embrace my imperfection and show one of my projects that didn’t go as planned.

I’ve had plenty of foibles that ended up in the trash, like when I accidentally cut a finished quilt block in half. In fact, I exercise my seam ripper skills at least once during every project. Well, I didn’t catch this mistake until I had sewed all the blocks and started putting the quilt together. To my embarrassment, I goofed up a simple nine-patch block. Instead of using four dark squares and five light squares, I reversed the colors in eight blocks.

I didn’t even consider fixing the errant blocks. In the end, I decided that if I distributed the odd blocks throughout the quilt, it would add a little “sparkle” … “interest” … yeah, let’s go with that. Years later, this is one of my favorite quilts and the mistake doesn’t bother me at all.

This is a true scrap quilt made from leftover fabrics. So the odd blocks seem to fit the make-do mentality: Work with what you have. In the end, it’s simply a quilt to keep someone warm. No one in my family complained about my “design choices.”

April One Monthly Goal

This month I’m linking up with Elm Street Quilts OMG, and I plan to finish the butterfly crib quilt for Jack’s Basket. After a quick search through my stash for children’s quilts, I chose one of my favorite novelty prints, Vintage Kids, for the back.

I’ll bind the quilt with a navy print from the Garden Variety fabric line I used for the quilt front.

I hope you keep quilting fun and don’t sweat your mistakes. The quilt shops can sell you more fabric. 🙂

Joyfully,

Tracie