Sunday, November 9, 2008

Weekend Project: Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other

There's no such thing as a free lunch.
My Statistics Professor in Grad School
(& Undoubtedly Many, Many Others!)


So, the thing that attracted me to this particular potholder pattern (yes, we're still talking about the potholders that I am making for my Grandmother to give as Christmas gifts) is that it does not use bias tape to finish the edges. Frankly, I have a difficult time making bias tape look really nice - and I want these to look really nice.

However, after assembling the potholder bodies, as I considered quilting them I realized that this pattern has its own particular challenge. In particular, I wanted to quilt in a tic-tac-toe pattern that enclosed the center square...

That would be the center square on each side.

You know, the side that I could see while I was stitching and the side that I couldn't see...

Sigh...

As a first step, I quickly hand stitched around the center square on each potholder, trying to line up the squares as closely as possible. I think you can just make out some of my yellow stitches along the bottom edge of the red square in this picture:

The hope was that these hand stitches would keep the squares lined up as I machine quilted each potholder. The results - not perfect - but I have to believe that they came out better than they would have if I had not done the hand stitching first...

Here's the side I could see:

And the side that I couldn't see:



Let's just hope that my Grandmother likes them because she loves me, and that her friends like them because they love her. ;)

I'll be hand delivering them this week - I'm flying out to Missouri to spend a couple of days with her. :)

And now, let's repeat the mantra:

There's no such thing as a free lunch.
There's no such thing as a free lunch.
There's no such thing as a free lunch.

4 comments:

Joanne said...

I like the part here about everyone liking the potholders b/c they love one another! That's what it's all about.

Anonymous said...

Gwen, I think you did a marvelous job. I am trying to teach myself to sew and have only been sewing for a few months. Each project I complete has disappointments, but I have learned from each one. I think it's important just to do the best you can and keep trying to improve. I'm really not sure how you could have changed your construction techniques to insure that you were sewing along the seams of both sides. I'm so very glad you discussed this issue, because I'm sure it will probably come up in some of my own sewing. I hope you have a wonderful visit to your grandmother's house!

Lori said...

The potholders look great and your grandmother will love them, you are right.

Alviana said...

very nice. so cute. dont bother so much bout the not-perfect part. It still look very nice to me. Love the fabric :)