Sewing and Unsewing

One Monthly Goal for February achieved. Wow. I’ve not ever been much of a goal setter, especially when it came to quilting. Having a single specific goal for this month has been so motivating that I’ve gotten more done than I had hoped.

My goal for February was to figure out the design layout for this quilt I’m finishing for my niece and to at least get started on sewing the blocks together. I reached that goal last Friday with the design complete on the design board and the first four rows sewn together. I was glad for the extra week before I had to post my finish and hoped to get to the half way point of having the top sewn together.

I have the middle row sewn together and pinned to the next row down. Three seams to go to have the first half of the top sewn together. I’m just not going to manage it tonight. I’ve been sewing and unsewing all day. 

I’m checking each block for size before sewing it into the row. My niece made many of the blocks when she was quite young and completely inexperienced at sewing and pressing seams. I’ve taken lots of seams out to fix what was short or crooked. The block pictured here missed that 5” mark by a full quarter inch. I’ve replaced a few blocks completely because they were just too short, my bad on that, I was the one cutting the fabric. I also had to unsew an entire row because I missed the quarter inch setting on my machine. 

In addition to correcting existing blocks I’ve made nearly a hundred extra blocks this month. The original plan for this quilt was for a small quilt made by a little girl with fabrics from my stash. Well, she is no longer little, will turn 20 this spring and has moved into a place of her own. The little quilt we had planned wouldn’t fit her grown up bed, so the quilt has expanded considerably.  

Below are some of the blocks I added to the quilt. They also came from my stash. The only part that hasn’t come from  my stash so far is the fabric for the corner triangles. The original plan was a straight set for the blocks, so putting them on point made more cutting during this month too. I happened upon the fabric for that part of the quilt when I wasn’t looking for it, and am so glad I found it. It’s a beautiful batik with all the colors of the quilt in it.

Even with all the corrections and extra blocks that needed to be made this has been a very positive experience for me and I will certainly set another OMG for March.

I’m linking up with One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts
https://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2020/02/one-monthly-goal-february-finish-link-up.html