19 January 2013

Un-sewing :(

Today I have been practising my frog stitch - Rip it, Rip it, Rip it...

I have always loved old quilts that have a block turned the wrong way or a bit of wonky applique! I like the handmade quirky look! I love the Amish philosophy that only God is perfect and the fact that they sometimes make a deliberate mistake.
I alway try to be accurate and follow the pattern instructions, but let's just say I have never had to make a humility block on purpose! After all does it really matter? I don't profit from my quilts and I don't enter competitions, no-one has ever rejected a quilt I made on a cold winter's night because a block was upside down!
So when several people pointed out that some of my four-patch blocks (orange & cream squares) for the Easy Street Mystery were the wrong way round (There's a right way?!!) my first thought was to leave them. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that yes, this would actually bother me. These squares form a second design when the top is sewn together, framing the blocks beautifully. You can see how nice Bonnie's looks (her's are grey/white)
While mine looks a sort of mess, with orange squares all over the place, obviously wrong even to the proverbial blind man on the back of a galloping horse...
So as much as I hate doing it, today I have been unpicking and correcting the mistakes, luckily it's not every block. I still couldn't face spending all my time in corrections, so I have decided to pull the blocks needed for a row at a time, correct the mistakes and piece the row. I now have my first row completed, it only took 45 minutes, it feels like I am actually progressing with this quilt, even if I am going two steps forward and one back!!
I have also decided on my border fabrics, at least I think I have...

7 comments:

  1. Unsewing is the worst! I have wavy borders on a table runner of all things that I set aside yesterday to frog and I'll be doing some heavy starching of those strips today. Love the border combination you decided on!

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  2. I had to rip some seams, too, to change the orientation of the blocks. In fact, once I had the wrong double flying geese block and had to change it completely. Your brown border looks perfect!

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  3. Wow! Good for you - you'll be happier with this one after you get them spun around. I'm always putting things in backwards! lol

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  4. What hassle but it will be more than worth it in the end. Love the term 'frog stitch' that's a keeper!

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  5. I agree with you about unpicking but sometimes we just have to be brave and face up to the fact that the quilt is asking for it. I often play an audio book to entertain me when doing tedious jobs like this. Take care.

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  6. I've been doing a little frog stitchin myself - the pieces of the blocks in my 34th Street (Easy Street) have a habitude for turning themselves the wrong way when I'm not looking. But we shall persevere in spite of their mischief!

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  7. It will look fantastic when it is finished. Sorry you had to unsew.

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