One more piglet joins the party:
but that's the lot.
Most of my month was spent madly piecing stars for my Gwennie Medallions. Between the fact that I'm making two different quilts for the QAL and that one of them has grown ridiculously large, I needed buckets of blocks to translate my mental pictures into reality.
I tackled the larger of the two quilts first. As I happily pieced and lopped away, I hunted for a suitable fabric for a stop border between my courthouse steps and my new stars. About mid-month, I finally found The One - a purple stripe that was just what my heart wanted. I ordered it from the online store that had it, got the order-acknowledgement email, and sat back to wait.
And I waited.
And waited.
After a week had passed with no word, I emailed to ask if there was a problem with my order. I had hoped to have the fabric in hand by that time, but I hadn't even been notified that it had shipped.
And I waited.
The next day I finally got an email saying it had shipped. The delivery date? August 31st.
In other words, too late to do me any good for this quilt.
While I'd waited, I'd already finished the smaller Gwennie Medallion. I'd been holding up on a final joining of the blocks for this larger one, since I didn't know how wide the stop border was going to be. I didn't want to have to go through the kind of mental gymnastics that would be called for in trying to fill up that empty space between finished borders.
I already knew there was nothing locally that suited me, and it was too late to order from any other online source, so I went stash diving.
I came up with this stripe, which I had bought for a project that I'm sure to get to someday. You know, someday. It's an orange and blue stripe, it was on super-clearance, it was screaming my name, and I bought all they had. I've been hugging it and patting it ever since.
Eventually I'll get to that other project (I think there's still enough of this stripe left), but in the meantime, I cut some strips and pieced them as unobtrusively as possible.
And then I thought "Wouldn't it be cool to miter the corners?" and then I thought "Wouldn't it be cool to just drop a bowling ball on my foot and butt the corners?" and I skipped the part with the bowling ball and just started sewing.
It's not the border of my dreams, but it'll do.
Yeah, it'll do nicely.
Maybe I can use that purple stripe for the next stop border. If and when it finally arrives...
Linking with So Scrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday, and with Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh, Scrap! Come see all the fun!
13 comments:
Don't you just hate that - those kind of shops go on my black list and I no longer do business with them. I think you found a good alterntive.
Good thing you didn't try to miter that corner. I think I read somewhere in a physics textbook that if Gwen-inspired blocks meet a miter the quilt implodes. Or I could have dreamt it.
How I love your sense of humor, Gayle. It's too bad your fabric took so long after you ordered it. (What company was that, anyway -- so I know in advance to order in advance.) I'm looking forward to seeing your star borders.
--Nancy. (ndmessier @ aol.com, joyforgrace.blogspot.com)
You made a pretty plaid pig! Perfect! :). And I really like the alternate border you came up with for your medallion quilt. It seems to work really well between your courthouse steps and the stars. Hopefully the other fabric will be useful "someday!"
I've done mitered corners exactly twice in my life and both times a quilting guru was holding my hand and guiding me every step of the way. I still shudder at them! I think your butted corners look lovely. But I'm less than adequate.
Oh! What a FUN quilt this is going to be!!! And about that bowling ball... I'm glad you skipped that part and just started sewing. LOL
It's done, it looks great and your foot is not in a cast. What more can you want? It was some crazy mathematician with a pocket protector and a slide rule who invented mitered corners, definitely not a sane quilter.
Your post was fun to read. Flexibility and a sense of humor, right.
Love your purple pig! I know you will find a cool use for your fabric ( if it ever arrives) but I think your stash alternative looks great! It amazes me that you are doing two medallions--can't wait for the reveal!
LOL about your bowling ball! :) Sounds like your order got stuck in the system and never processed until you checked on it. That's happened to me once or twice with online orders. Then I love how no one even apologizes....oh well ! :)
Blue and orange stripes! Oh! How I LOVE blue and orange stripes!! Yay for stash busting! It looks great with the stars. I love it! The lonely little piglet plaids to play with the others. ;^)
Gwen wouldn't have mitered her borders (at least not in a liberated quilt) so you chose well in the end grasshopper. I''m not sure I've made any purple stars for the RSC this month. Maybe a couple back at the beginning of the month. My scrap "basket" is rather low currently. I've been creating new scraps though!
This stripe must have been the one that truly belongs on your quilt! I really like what I can see of your quilt so far. My piglets are sewn into a quilt top that I hope to share soon. Thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!
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