Relieved

Have you ever spent months on a quilt and got down to the wire of finishing and realized that it just wasn't going to be a keeper? Well, that is what happened to me with my quilt, Shady Ladies. This was the finished top. I went on to quilt it and was pretty happy with that.

Here is a detail shot of one of the leaves. And a detail shot of the beadwork on the petals.

The problem came when I was finished with all of that. I blocked the wallhanging and then squared up the corners before sewing on the binding. I THOUGHT everything was copasetic--only it wasn't. When I finished all of those steps, I ended up with the "waviest" border that I have EVER done. I, of course, not wanting to admit this, went ahead and sewed on the rod pocket. But when I hung it up, no miracle had occured.

So then I was faced with a decision--Should I leave it the way it was and just admit defeat and move on--OR--do I try to do something about it? I left it up for several days hoping that inspiration would envelop me. Well, it kind of did. I was looking for something in a drawer in my studio and came across some pre-done beadwork I've had around for a while. Eureka! I removed the rod pocket and all of the binding. I then cut away as much of the border as I reasonably could. There was still some waviness so I then sewed a running stitch along all sides and GENTLY pulled the threads to ease out the remaining fullness. I then attached the beads and then the binding.. And NOW--now I'm a happy camper. I'm still not exactly sure why I encountered all of the waves that I did because I generally had even quilting across the entire surface. But I may have used the crosswise cut of fabric for the borders--I just don't remember--however, you can be sure that I'll be more careful about that in the future. At any rate, I now have a smooth quilt--and the work was worth it.

On a smaller note, I spent several hours with my friend, Pam, the other day. She provided the pattern and the fabric for this miniature fall wallhanging. It was a fun way to start thinking about decorating for Halloween. I agree with Karen that I prefer autumn decorations over Christmas ones--probably because fall is my favorite season. It's a time to wind down from the gardening and heat of the summer and just enjoy the cooler air.