Outta Control!

AAARRRGGGHHH!! Working on my Leaf One Hour quilt--as usual, I decided to make it 'my own'. No, I just couldn't follow Judy's directions, I had to add my own touch. I was thrilled when she initially did the Challenge in that I found a bunch of leaf blocks in the RIGHT size for it. I never got around to finishing that quilt, so I was well on my way, right? I just had to add a few more leaves. No problem. And that little window in between the blocks? How cool would it be to put pictures or appliques of real leaves? Well, now I finally decide to get that done and that tub of unfinished blocks off my worktable! I had pressed the leaves in a book last fall, so I dug them out and since we need 5 1/2" squares--I could fit two on a page--which was great since that computer fabric is a bit pricey. After a few practice tries, I decided that I liked the look of a fabric background rather than white, so I taped my leaves to the fabric and then copied them. The colors of the fabric weren't quite the same, but they look similar and that was good enough. I followed the directions to heat set the ink, rinse in cold water and then let damp dry and then iron. So far so good!

NOW here was the problem--did you know that the computer fabric by June Tailor shrinks? Almost an ich! So, now I can't cut my 5 1/2" squares, I was down to 5 inches. Problem--big problem! Everything else was cut for the quilt and a 5 1/2" square HAD to go in there. Problem #2--since I copied the leaves on fabric--I would need to have more of that print! So, I pieced together all the little pieces of computer fabric leftover to get 1" strips to add to the blocks. Sheesh! What an ordeal--some of the blocks now have 2 seams in them! Oh well. It's the best I can do without wasting all that computer fabric.

I also did slightly different borders than Judy because I had a lot of HST's leftover (remember these were leftover from another abandoned quilt project) and I wanted to use them. So I figured out what size my borders had to be so I could use these HST's. Used up the last of my fabric and got all my borders cut. Started sewing them on--and when I get to the HST borders, they don't fit--by a couple of inches! Well, it turns out that borders #1 OR #2 should have been a little wider. Now what? And since there was an odd number of HST--adding a 'filler' would be a little obvious. But I reallly couldn't think of what else to do, so added the filler anyway. I couldn't take the other borders off and fix them, because I was out of fabric. What a pickle I was in! I was way beyond frustration--so I decided to go do something in which I had CONTROL!

And that was my pantry--sorry didn't take before pictures--but believe me, it was bad! I totally emptied all the shelves, bought containers to control the loose things and totally re-organized the whole thing. As I was putting things away, I thought I should have painted--but it was only a fleeting thought! And now I know I don't need any more corn--I have 12 cans!!

and after immersing myself in the pantry for a day and a half--I was able to calm down and go out and sew again. So, it's not perfect--that added filler strip is obvious to me--off center and I thought of a few other ways I could have solved the problem (but not until after it was done naturally!). But the top is done and I was planning on donating this one too. Hopefully whoever gets it won't be disturbed by all the boo-boos! Boy, it's been a while since I've done all that!