Memorial Day Quilting - Not as quick as I thought...

I like to use holidays as a catalyst to finishing UFOs. I'm not sure where that mindset came from, but Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day are weekends that I reserve some time for this. Usually it's a small quilt or table topper so I can get it done in a few hours.

So yesterday I decided to finish up the border on my red/cream quilt and quilt it. It's for my daughter to take with her when she goes away to college this fall. I had initially cut some scrap fabrics to piece the back (see an earlier post) but I didn't like how they looked and the quilt seemed too dark to me with a red back.

I wanted something lighter and found a great white and red toile instead. I sewed the borders on, made the backing, loaded on my quilt machine, and started quilting.

This scrappy split nine-patch quilt pattern is the same as the quilt I use on our bed in the master that was made in blues and creams. Wanting the same heavily-quilted look, I decided to do an orange-peel design in the blocks, and of course, feathering on the border just cuz I love it so much. :o)

Now, I have looked at this quilt many, many times - it's taken me a LONG time to get to this stage and I was really excited. Before this, I have shown the quilt top to friends and family, and strangers have seen it in fabric stores. But what did I discover when I had it 1/3 (heavily) quilted?

The very last row of the quilt top is sewn on upside down! I was looking at the quilt when I was taking a break, and wondered why I had these odd triangles toward the bottom. And I couldn't believe it!

Maybe my mind was mentally blocking me from seeing the mistake since I had taken so long to piece it and get it together. In my earlier blog post (February), my photo even shows the error, although I totally didn't see it at the time.

So, what to do? I don't want to leave it like that but part of me says that's the humility "row." I have to take the partially quilted quilt off my machine so I can fix it...

Well, after some thought, I've decided to quilt a few inches up to the area that needs to be redone, so it will be easier to load back on and finish once it's corrected. I won't complain that it's queen size, heavy and bulky. Or that it took me so long to piece in the first place. I'll just get 'er done.

I'm going to add this funky story to the label when I finally put one on the back. Memorial day quilt - for sure!

Hope you're all out there having fun this holiday. Back to the sewing table for me! :)