Moira in N.E. England

I started making a 1.5 inch wide border from 3 strips of contrasting fabric - orange/green/orange.

I sewed the pieces for the first side together but as I pressed the seams I realised it seemed rather wide. When I checked I had cut each strip 1.5 inches wide! Why did I think I needed 3 strips that size to make a 1.5 inch border?

So I unpicked it, cut the strips to the correct size - and sewed it again.

Now that it was the desired size I sewed it to the top. One side done, or so I thought. I had left it on the ironing board and every time I looked at it something didn’t look right. I realised the colour combination would look much better if it was green/orange/green. I tried to convince myself it was ok but it wasn’t - so I took it to pieces again!

I made another strip - the right size in green/orange/green - and have sewn it to one side the top. Success!

But because I had cut all the strips when I started I now have twice as many of the orange and only half of the green - and they are all 1.5 inches wide!

Sometimes the easiest of tasks can turn out to be anything but!

patricej

you and i must be kindred spirits.
i have a real talent for turning simple tasks into long, drawn-out, complex processes. lol

grannie cheechee

I know how you feel. I read a pattern wrong, and cut 3 different colors 1.5 in.. That was okay , but I cut 20 strips, and only needed 2. Have no idea what I thought I was reading.

Sheri.a

Oh my! I have been there. I have a rule -- once I make a third "mistake", I put it down and go do something else. Time gives me a fresh perspective and sometimes a rest I need.

Happy quilting!

wildyard

This is so true for me too! Sometimes I get fibro fog and don't realize it. All kinds of crazy things happen then. Your 3 strikes and take a break is a perfect plan for me!!

Cheshirepat

Oh my! I've definitely been there, done similar. That is perhaps why I've not yet made anything more complicated than a solid border! I'm with Wildyard, if I do the same dummy move more than 2x, I give myself a time out, and walk away. It's not infrequent. Good luck to you for no more 're-dos' on this border!

Tartan

..and that is why our scrap bins keeps growing.

Battle Axe

I keep all those mistakes and sew them up willy nilly for the back. And believe me I have one that has over one third of a back sewn together with just mistakes. Marcia

Iceblossom

You know, earlier this year I was pulled in by a top Moira posted a picture. That's cute, I thought and I have some precut squares that would be perfect if I just add a 2" border around them to make it 8". Only somehow I forgot and didn't add the other side, something that is a reasonable size as 8" blocks quickly grows large at 10" blocks!

But I am rather known among my friends for changing my mind (sounds better than mistakes) with my borders. I think last year when I was sending out so much fabric I finally got rid of the last of my 3 yard by x inch pieces!

And like the others, I've found that I can rarely work through my bad periods. They just get worse. One of the best things I've learned to do over my years of quilting is simply to stand up and go some where else and do some thing else for a bit.

Jingle

I don't understand why some days are so easy to make mistakes.