Momma Said .....

... there'd be days like this.....

What's wrong with this picture? (aside from the snippits of thread where I started to rip...)

What's wrong with this picture?

First, I sewed right side to wrong side.  So I ripped it out and sewed wrong side to right side!!

And it didn't get any better from there on, either.

Sashing Gone Wrong

Another case of wrong side to right side. And the worst was yet to come.

It gets worse!

The most aggravating part of this is after I sewed it wrong, I pressed it, I squared it up, I added a sashing strip, and I pressed it again.  It wasn't until I put it back on the wall that I saw the mistake.

It just doesn't pay to hurry!  Actually, this project was star-crossed from the get-go.  I had purchased the background at Mountain QuiltFest in March, along with a selection of solids to match the dots, and a jelly roll of strips in bright pastel checks and stripes for the 9-patch centers.  Oh, I had visions of modern loveliness!

But when I did a test run with the jelly roll strips I wasn't very happy with the result.  It was March, I didn't need this until October, so I set it aside.

Now, with only two weeks to deadline, I finally got back to the task at hand,  I tried making random 9-patches with bright squares from my stash. (I should note here that I don't do random very well, but I'm working on it!)  I either had too much or too little contrast.  And the solids were dull, dull, dull.

Contrast issues

I selected other fabrics from my stash for the star points and forged on with getting things underway.  After deciding that the the 9-patches were not to my liking, I looked for other options, including the original jelly roll that was nowhere to be found!  Since I had suggested to my students -- oh, I forgot to mention that this is a sample for a class I'm teaching at Quilt Camp in West Virginia ...

Anyway, since I had suggested that they could substitute a square of focus fabric for the 9-patch units, I decided to take that route.  But I went a step further and made quarter-square kaleidoscope blocks.

Stills needs borders, but this will have to do for now:

The pattern is Wink and a Smile by Lisa Christensen -- out of print, sadly, but I did receive her permission to teach it.

Hope your week goes better than mine!

Linking up with Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.

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