Friday, July 18, 2014

Two rows forward, nine rows back

I had just four rows of clams to add. Four. I left work earlier for once to spend the time cutting out some clams and readying them for a night of stitching at a friend's place. Project Runway and clamshells? Perfect.

I put the quilt top back on the design wall, as I do each time I work out the placement of the next row, and was horrified to notice a distinct leaning to the right in the last 9 rows of the quilt.

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I know so many of you won't see the lean. I do. The ruled line I was marking each time I did a row (I'll be trimming the sides before quilting it) didn't lie either. I was out by a good half inch.  I sent an SOS OMG WTF text to my quilting friend Jan.


So I unpicked at just the 9th bottom row and laid it on the design wall, thinking I could just tilt it a little to the left.

And then I unpicked the unpicked bit at the 4th bottom row. Again, no luck.

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So I unpicked all 9 rows. Each and every clam. And then I pulled each clam away from the glue basting which oh my goodness had better wash out because it is nasty.  I was left with this, and I'll admit I had a little cry. And then I just laughed. It's just a quilt!

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I got right back on the horse and basted two new rows to the quilt, making sure they lined up this time. I'm not working on a grid - this whole quilt has been positioned by eye and a regular check with the ruler. No wonder I ran into strife.

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I managed to stitch down most of the clams last night, but tonight I will be attaching the last 7 rows. I think I'm playing with fire trying to make the quilt the 158cm I put on the exhibition entry form.

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When I was texting my friend Jan last night I joked "Perhaps I'm a perfectionist after all!". To which she replied:

"A perfectionist? No shit! I would timidly suggest obsessive more like!"

I think Jan's onto me. This is totally going to ruin my reputation.

I'm linking up with Gemma's I Quilt linky party. Ironically I was also going to call my blog post "I quilt without a plan".  Too funny.


7 comments:

  1. I would have cried too! Wishing you lots of patience and steady stitching, it'll be a fun story to tell people when they are admiring your quilt in the show.

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  2. Oh man that sounds so disheartening! At least you're back at it, and it's a beautiful project!

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  3. As heartbreaking as it sounds, I would have done the same thing... otherwise it would have kept on bugging you and bugging you! I can't wait to see the finished product though :)

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  4. Good on you- obsessive sounds good! I could see the lean, and it would have bugged me, like one of my quilts I hand wuilted and hate the quilting- I can use it, but it annoys me! I was going to suggest leaving the bottom 9 off, but then you mentioned you'd put it on the entry form- go hard, my friend, may the force be with you!

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  5. You renegade! That sucks hard you had to unpick all but it will totes be worth it!!!

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  6. Dude your clamshells are looking great (is it just me or does that just sound a tiny bit rude?) I'm glad you unpicked and fixed it - I don't think I could deal with spending so much time and love on something only to take a short cut and be sad about it later (which is why I'm unpicking some of my binding tonight!!). And I have to say I'm loving seeing these come together - it's fascinating to see how a curvy shape is pieced xo

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  7. just discovered your blog- did you ever finish your Lotta heixies from the olympics? id love to see it

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