And here it is! This one measures 54" X 66", a perfect lap or picnic quilt. Easy-peasy, right? Think again! If only it had been as easy a rolling out of bed. I was lucky enough to spend last weekend on a quilting retreat and came home on Sunday with the entire center section of the bonus quilt pieced. It was mindless sewing, I know better than to carry any complicated piecing on retreat; that would interfere with all of the chatting and snacking! So, on Monday morning, I pieced those top and bottom borders only to discover that they were eight inches too long! Huh? Something major was wrong here. So much for mindless sewing! A quick recheck pointed up the error of my ways. Each of these long rows was supposed to have a one inch spacer strip attached so that those blocks could "float" between the pieced columns. I hadn't inserted the spacer rows. There they were, in the bin, all cut and ready to go. Groan.
Let the ripping begin! Each row needed un-sewing. It took half a day to begin to see some positive results. 
The circled area here highlights the repaired rows and the proper spacing.
There's a big difference, those cute little blocks now have breathing room!
By dinnertime on Monday I had all but one row repaired. I'd lost an entire day! I wish I could say that this was the first time I'd made a mistake on a retreat weekend, but that wouldn't be truthful. I'm more than experienced with the seam ripper! It's said that Santa checks his list twice. Had I done that with the directions, I could have saved myself a LOT of time and effort and not had to remake this one. Whew! Anyway, after all that, you might think that it stops here. Great Granny Squared and the Bonus Quilt would be two terrific accomplishments from all those precut squares, right? Well, guess what, it's not over yet! Nope, not by a long shot. I still have enough left over squares in my bin, from these same fabrics, to make a table runner too. Stay tuned. So, I'll be reading the directions completely through on this next project, and then I'll read through them again; to play it safe. Just call me Santa!
Life is Good!
4 comments:
I think I would have to stick to random strings or crumbs … fewer chances for “oops”.
Oh, it is so easy to think we know what we are doing, only to recognize our error when we are smuggle checking our progress. Maddening. But I am impressed that you tackled and corrected it in a timely manner. I would have been tempted to hide it in the closet or leave "as is". But I have to admit that the quilt looks happier when the blocks have their breathing space.
Two beautiful, cheerful quilts!
Beautiful a dear friend and quilter always used to say in reference to piecing errors no baby is going to cry over that. You quilt top does look happy with breathing space
That is a wonderful bonus quilt and so different from the main one. I love how the background color changes the feel of the quilt. It is a pain when a lot of unsewing has to be done but it makes for a MEMORABLE quilt! Good job!
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