For those new to Not Pretending, you may not know that I am often the victim of life’s improbable and sometimes ridiculous events. In other words, the craziest crap happens to me. Sometimes the crap is humorous. Sometimes it’s caused by my clumsiness or stupid thinking. Occasionally, there are outside forces at work against me. Like today.
I got a “kit” to make an easy level crib quilt and I decided my beginner skills could handle it. All I had to do was sew two borders around a solid panel, then find a fabric for the backing and some batting for the in-between layer. Then I could quilt it and finish it. Piece of cake.
What I forgot to factor into this venture, was that I was the one doing it.
The first thing I did was open the kit and look at the fabric. The Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore panel, that was 90% of the quilt, was cut out crooked. At first I blamed the quilting store. Then, I noticed the pattern of little holes running down the sides of the panel. Someone had attempted to make the quilt before I got the kit. Mmmm…
Probably the same person who cut the panel half-assed, I told myself. I will just trim the edges and make it square up. 35 minutes later it was as good as it was gonna get. On to cutting the fabric for the borders!
The border fabric was cut crooked as well – what a surprise! Now to sew the 1st border fabric to the panel. First I ironed the pieces, then I lined the right sides together and pinned the fabrics where I wanted them to be when I sewed. This took up a lot of time. I used my rulers and marking pencil, as I was taught and still I had somehow cut the border pieces a bit “off”.
Oh well, I said. The outside borders would make up for it, and I plundered on.
HA! Ignorance is NOT bliss. The outer border matched up even worse. Now I had a mess so obvious that I would have to start over.
This is what happened to the quilter before me. After ripping out all the stitches, she packed up the kit and returned it to the store. I am on to you, lady. You ruined my happy sewing day.
I’ll start over tomorrow. I’m in the middle of a good book. The book at least has squared up corners 😉
Jodi Lea's Place 