Trials and Tribulation of this Quilt

Trials and Tribulations of a Quilt..... Otherwise 'opportunities to overcome and persevere'. This quilt is finally done. This has been one of those projects that a first glance should have gone quickly. But as we all know .... The hurrier you go the behinder you get. And usually when you are in a hurry.....problems are going to go hand in hand with progress.

First the problem was to find the right combination to show the blocks off best. Once I knew what I wanted to do, I then had to find the technique to accomplish the job. I was intimidated, which made me keep putting off starting. I wanted to have sashing strips between the blocks with the blocks on the diagonal. I needed to put in setting triangles without having a bias on the outside edge. This requires cutting pieces with the bias edge on the inside of the triangle for the corner blocks and on the inside of the side setting squares. The corner triangles were the easy part....just a measure and cut. They are actually just square blocks cut in half diagonally. It was those pesky side triangles that were causing the problems. But once the time was down to nothing, I had no choice be to get busy or change the way I wanted it to look.

I did find the right combination of numbers and formulas to get the job done right. (Boy, am I thankful to the people who did all the math....I used the article 'Taking the Math Out' from the Quilter's Newsletter magazine. Thank you...!!) But in waiting to late, I also ran into a number of other problems....like sewing to fast and sewing the wrong pieces together and having to undo a couple of blocks (otherwise known as the 'frog stitch'.......rip it, rip it, rip it). And I had to watch making to many cutting mistakes as I was running out of the background material. Now with a little hard work and a couple of late nights...the top was finished. (I also had a number of events that I had to go to or do, that took up time...Cardinal's baseball game.....Easter weekend with the family....and Granddaughter and Grandson birthday party....15th and 16th respectively. Not to be missed for any reason! And the weather was nasty....not a help to get motivated to get things done. And did I mention the headaches from the weather, allergies, sinus infection, plane ride....or what ever it was. All great excuses but not real reasons.)

Once the top was done, it was on to trying out border combinations.

Finally, it was on to the backing and quilting. I had originally wanted to use one of the pieces of material from the front for the back......but did not have enough. So, I went looking through all my red, white, and blue material for just the right piece that WAS going to be big enough. I finally found it and started by measuring out the right size for one length and then measured the second length. I needed two pieces sewn together to make it long enough (90"). That left me with a piece that was almost the same size but smaller by about 8-10 inches. I got the two pieces sewn together and noticed that one of the pieces was a little shorter than the other....but, I got them into the frame and started to pin the top when I realized that they were not wide enough! After a few choice thoughts........I measured the piece that should have been the shortest. And can you guess??....it was the longest. I had sewn the wrong two pieces together. I had to take it all completely out of the frame...use the 'frog stitch' and then get the right two pieces sewn together. These two also did not measure the exact same size (this is what happens when you do not take your time and measure twice and cut once) ...but there was not much to do about it as they were the longest two pieces and would have to do. The top ended up about two inches wider than the material... As it was on the sides, I decided to go ahead and quilt everything. I was going to have to take it out of the frame and put it back in the frame again to get the two sides quilted as one long piece anyway, and I could fix the mistake then...(What fun!!)

I had decided to outline quilt the blocks and small border strip, to stipple the background and to put a random star pattern in the large red border.

As I was quilting the border....I broke the thread at least twice....wrong tension!! Changed it and was off again. I used a clear thread to quilt around the border stripe and the blocks....a different tension! So, every time I changed thread I had to change tension. And even then, I keep breaking the clear thread. For a couple of blocks, it was three or four times each and several were two times. The rest went quickly as the thread did not break...Yeah!! But several times, I was inches, if not a foot or two down the row before I noticed that it was not sewing. Add to that, the fact that I ran through three bobbins (that give no warning of ending) and I was really tired of sewing with nothing to show for it. The blocks went really fast (if the thread did not break or the bobbin run out) as it was start and sew all the way around the all the pieces and back to the start....one start, one stop.

As the time wore on, I persevered and finally got the top ready to take out and fix the backing. I actually had to cut off more backing so that the seam would end up in the quilting and not just in the binding. (I have found, over years, that it works better to have the seam actually in the quilted part if at all possible. It also does not make the binding too thick to sew.) Got the quilt back in the frame and ready to quilt the last of two borders.....and they actually went rather quickly. (I guess that the fates were tired of trying to get me to quit! I was also getting good at....sew a little....check the sewing.....sew a little.....check the sewing....)

On to the binding....and after a few trips up and down the stairs....all three floors... as the material, rotary cutter, and iron were in the basement and the quilting machine is in the upstairs...I finally got the binding material cut and ironed in half and ready to sew on. This should be the easy part..... I first sew the binding to the front all the way around. Then I pull the binding to the back and sew from the front through the ditch (seam) and catch the binding in the sewing line. One last break in the progress.....I did not get more than 15 inches down the first side and noticed a spot that I did not catch the binding...SHOOT!! (is not the word I used!) But again easily fixed... as I can just 'frog stitch' and catch it by sewing on to the new starting/ending point.

It wasn't that any of this was 'too much' to get done or even problems that I have had on other projects....but because I was already behind, it made it doubly hard to not get mad and upset. Of course, if I had started sooner all of this would not have been as much of a problem. Intimidation......Procrastination......Determination.......Finally, Completion..... And in the end....It really is a great looking quilt. One that I am proud of and glad to give to the Society Of Army Physician Assistants for their scholarship fund. Now next year, I plan on not waiting till the last minute......I already have the material picked out.....and just have to decide the pattern I want to use...... and how to put it together.......