Arabic Lattice, Keepin' On

You can see the second partial seam, folded slightly back. This arrangement looks more confusing that it really is (above).

However, I'm so smart (uh hemmmm - NOT!) I clipped the instructions tn the window blind! It really goes together well, you just need to remember HOW it goes together well.
Tonight I put the third row together.

Shall I fix it, or leave it alone?

OK, the 'odd' block (bottom center) is not the problem. But the last border (left side) -- totally on it's own -- sewed itself on in the wrong direction. How can that happen?

Woven shirtings are very thready, ravely, and those points are not perfect, and if you fiddle too much they distort. It takes some patience to get the points nice on the border, not too float-y nor chopped off. I worked very hard sewing, unsewing, until each one was as near-perfect as possible. You know sew, oversew, and then sew again a teensy bit closer? -- making unsewing a TERRIBLE chore. And the threads nicely disappear in the weave of the cloth. But I swear, I was SURE that last border was pointing the other direction when I pinned it on?

Once again, I should not have said to myself, "Hey, it's turning out great!" (ye ole "Pride Goeth Before the Fall" me thinks.)

Would you unsew that last border so it goes in the other direction? Since this is a casual-type quilt, my tendance is to leave it alone - you know - the "it adds interest" thing. It measures about 60 x 60 inches, and I really DO like it!

And once again, I owe the inspiration for this quilt to Bonnie, at www.quiltville.com, who has an amazing talent for making wonderful quilts out of scraps.

Using Shirts

Once again, my inspiration came from Bonnie of Quiltville.com (who incidentally, has her new book out in the market!) I've been collecting men's shirtings for years. Also, I've made numerous shirts for my DH, so all those scraps are also hanging around. My last Mission Store 'haul' netted me 15 cotton shirts for $7.50. What a deal -- we kept and are wearing 4 of them!

I'm making an effort to keep these blocks subdued, plain, and toned down. The one far right is not correct - that was my audition block - the flying geese should be light, not dark.

My last trip to the Mission Store left me with a knot in my stomach. I was looking for appropriate cotton shirtings and went to the Men's 4X section where I found a doozey! It was cotton and HUGE! Big mouth me, as I paid for it, I enthusiastically mentioned "this was going to make a great quilt!", to which she responded, "I hope a poor fat man doesn't come in looking for a shirt!"

Wow!! Kick in the gut, WOW!!! I had to rethink this Mission Store shirt buying escapade. I felt so guilty, I didn't even BLOG about that. Never had I given any consideration to that point of view! This bothered me so much for months -- I finally CALLED the Store Manager and expressed my unorthodox use of the Mission Store, and was I taking a decent shirt away from a fat man? Was I being selfish? unChristian, not helping my neighbor, uppity, snooty, unappreciative of those less fortunate than I?

She ASSURED me that ANY Mission Store was happy to sell ANYTHING to anyone! They always had more than enough to go 'round. Whew, conscience clear. 8-)