A Mystery Solved

Last weekend in this post, I mentioned that I was making a quilt from Kate Spain's Central Park for the Pensacola Opera's silent auction.  The quilt is a Moda Bake Shop recipe, and it went together like a dream.  Except that I ended up being 3 inches short of enough rick rack to finish the borders.  It bothered me all week.  Everything else about this recipe was awesome.  I bought the materials that were suggested.  Why was I short??

After a trip to JoAnn's on Monday and a couple of evening events this week, I finally got the last border sewn on Thursday evening.  And it bothered me.  It just looked weird.  The rick rack was sewn into the seam and it just didn't look right.  Wish I'd taken a picture.

Naturally, I did what I should have done last weekend when it didn't work - I went back and re-read the directions.  Usually I'm pretty good about this, but apparently not last weekend.  The borders were made to have cornerstones! Lovely little squares set in the corners to accent the borders.   I totally missed that!  My only defense is that I don't have a place for the computer in the sewing room and my printer is out of ink, so I was running back and forth to grab one instruction at a time and remember it long enough to complete the task before I forgot.  THIS instruction, though, I totally missed.  Nothing to do but rip it out and fix it.

And I like it a LOT better!  It's amazing what can happen when you follow the instructions!

The quilt is turning out better than I had hoped.  I only had a half yard of the brown zoo animal border (called Lawn Zoo, oddly enough) so I made a narrow (1-1/2 inch finished) border instead of the 3-1/2 inch border called for in the pattern.  That was a calculated deviation from the recipe.  I hope to get this guy backed, bound, and quilted tomorrow.

So now I have 4 little squares of fabric with rick rack sewn down the middle, another strip about 45 inches long with rick rack sewn down the middle, a little yardage, and the rest of a jelly roll.  And, my LQS carries Central Park.  Maybe I'll make another quilt.  Tonight, BD#! told me that Heather of  {House} of Ala Mode is doing a quilt benefit for Japan.  Maybe I'll make another quilt to donate.  Why not?