Bloopers

I've got my Valentine craft on this weekend.  I've been able to finish up a few projects that have been in the works and I'm feeling pretty chipper about that.  So much so, in fact, that I thought it might be fun to host a little Valentine party this week.  I'm calling it LOVE LIVES HERE.  Each day this week I'll show a little Valentine project, and I even have one silly tutorial to share.  So tune in.

Meanwhile......

I was completely motoring on a Valentine table runner Friday night.  Full speed.  Pedal to the metal and loving the roar of the walking foot.  Paying way more attention to the episode of House Hunters than to my work, apparently, because believe it or not I quilted AND TRIMMED the entire thing before I ever bothered to flip it over.  And once I finally did this is what I saw....

OOPS.

My backing extended a good four inches past one side of the runner and didn't even cover the other side.  How could I have completed an entire project without noticing????????

Since the machine quilting was already done (and looked dashing from the front, I might add), I didn't want to add another row of stitching.  Of course, this backing was some random remnant from two years ago and finding more would be impossible, so I pilfered through my trash can, rescued some discarded trimmings, joined them, hemmed them, and got busy hand stitching them to the edge of my backing.

SHEESH.

On the bright side, I'm rather proud of myself for staying in the game on this one.  When I first realized my mistake I sat completely confounded, drawing long, hard sips from my Sonic sweet tea straw, trying to come up with a feasible solution.  Too often, when I hit a major road block on a project I "set it aside for later".  It's the crafting equivalent of a graveyard.  But this time I stuck with it and I'm glad I did.

Then, I was on to my BIG project.  The one that was intended to be quick and easy.  Fast and fun.  One should never, ever start a quilt with that mentality!!!  It's been nothing but bloopers from the start on this one.  Yesterday, I added to my list of troubles and woes when I realized that, no matter how I cut it, my backing was too small.  So, after my second third fourth trip to the quilt shop for a solution to the problem, I pieced my backing, and when I flipped it over I saw this.

Right side up birds fraternizing with upside down ones.

Grrrroooooar.

"I've spent so much time on this I should press on and make it right."

But.

"No one is going to notice the back since I intend to hang this on a quilt rack anyway."

But.

"I can spend an hour fixing it or a lifetime of regretting that I let it be wrong."

But.

"I should save the time and move on to another project...I'll accomplish more that way."

Anyone else hear quilting voices in their head?  Am I the only one??

So.....guess what I did??

You'll have to come back this week to see the finished project and find out the answer.  :-)

Y'all have a great day yelling at the TV and eating finger foods.  And if you decide to spend some time quilting....learn from me and pay attention to the back of what you're doing!  :-)