Good Morning, Quilters!
Today I am confessing a dumber-than-average mistake I made. I decided to use this as an “Open Line Friday” post because misery loves company!
Do you remember several weeks ago, I was working on a daily challenge, copying a page from a book? I created several small quilt sandwiches for that project.
One evening, when I was in need of some “comfort quilting” to keep me distracted from the falling snow, I quickly made a large quilt sandwich and began stitching flowers! Big flowers!
I was totally engrossed in my Big Flowers, when I noticed an odd noise…
Hmmm…I changed my needle and kept going. The odd noise returned…Hmmm…
I re-threaded the top and bobbin thread and began quilting. The noise returned but I kept going and just as suddenly the noise went away. I quickly forgot about the noise and went on my merry quilting way.
It wasn’t until the next day that I realized what that noise was!
ARGH!!!!
I’m gonna be a great teacher someday–because I have made EVERY mistake!!!
What about YOU?
Any mistakes YOU can admit to in a public forum?
Any funny noises when YOU quilt?
We’d LOVE to hear!
May all of YOUR quilts be mistake (and noise)-FREE!
Lori
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt. For all other purposes, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com. Thanks!
88 comments
Shelly
Yup! Made that mistake too…maybe with not quite so big of a piece though! Heehee.
Cheryl
Oh My! I have done that before but not quite a big piece as that. So frustrating!! My deepest sympathy!
Teri
Just chop away the square edges, make it an art piece and say you meant to do it that way. Maybe even put something else on top of it. Ha!
l84quilting
Totally agree! Remember what the Amish say… there are no mistakes, YOU meant to do that! LOL! Kinda like when a cat falls off the back of the couch, gets up, looks at you and while walking away, it says: “I meant to do that!”….
Barb
LOL- been there, done that! Only mine was the plastic bag with the quilt PATTERN in it. Thank goodness the plastic made it quite easy to remove with a seam ripper.
Jacqui VMS
I literally giggled out loud when I read this Barb!!! Too, too funny! I’ve done this too! Glad I’m not the only one who does these crazy things!
Kathy Grant
Been there- done that. Usually it’s the side of the quilt that gets folded under.
Lori Hope
Yep, that just happened to me on the quilt I just finished!
Amy McBurnie
That’s happened to me more than once 😉
Bette
Yup, been there, done that, and lots more. How about discovering that you’ve quilted part of your Supreme Slider onto the back of your quilt? Or broken your needle because you switched to a blanket stitch but forgot to replace the throat plate with the one that has the wider opening. I’m sure as the day goes on I’ll think of many more bloopers. And Lori, thanks for letting us in on your mistake. It makes us all feel a bit better when an expert does it.
Regina
I just quilted the supreme slider onto the back of my quilt. Totally ruined it????
Betty
Ditto, Regina! I was reading down the comments and thought of my boo boo with the slider. Glad to see someone else did it, too! Ugh! ????
Mary VanDoodewaard
Yep, I’ve quilted my Supreme Slider to the back of a quilt. It somehow doubled up under it.
mindi
me too….and other things as well. Guess I don’t learn fast.
Diane Brown
I think you should add a border so it looks like a picture frame! A masterpiece, one of a kind!
Carolyn Wainscott
thank you, I feel better now
Hazel
Yep, I’ve done that too, however it was one of my quilting gloves!
Donna Belisle
I think that I would get out my Inktense pencils and color those darling in, just for fun!
THERESA WESTRUP
I always get a chuckle out of people who put a “deliberate” error in their quilts, There are plenty of oopsies in my quilts so I don’t have to make another one on purpose. I think your mistake would make a beautiful label.
Martha
When I heard that noise, it turned out a stray thread on the back had hooked my supreme slider and I was quilting that onto the back of my quilt!
Bonnie
I did the same thing a few days ago, I was machine embroidering and the stitching sounded different for a minute, when I noticed the long end of the fabric had shifted under the design and stitched quite a bit..too much to salvage. I am planning on making a quilted machine cover for my embroidery machine with an embroidery design in front. Now I’ll need to start over!
Patricia
I can only say: I feel your pain, but your machine made it great on the back,too!
Thanks for starting my day with a grin????
Kathy Kelner
Happens to the best of us! I learned the hard way not to cut late at night. Slipped and cut through the TWELVE blocks that took me all day to stitch together. We all do things…..
Beverly
I was squaring up a quilt, finished and nice – Ready for the binding. I laid the square up ruler on it, one side done – ruler on the next side, looked away a minute, looked back and cut up the MIDDLE of my quilt. I had to walk away awhile, I thought I was going to be sick.
Lynda
If it’s any consolation, I think you you win the prize for the worst disaster! ????
Linda in Calif
Oh I feel so bad for you. Ugh!
brendaintheboro
Been there , done that. So annoying
Joan Jennnings
Just unpicked 1/3 of a queen sized quilt for the same reason. Set the timer, channel your most obsessive, compulsive quilting frend and pick away! After 30 years youi’d think we would learn!
Deborah johnson
Color it and make it the label!
boe77
I have made a couple of quilt as you go with sashing. Sewing the last seam, I managed to get a quilt with half front and half back. Oh well, the seam ripper worked. What was worse, I ignored a bad sound while doing FMQ, and when I went back to regular sewing, the machine was stuck in reverse. It is in for repair now.
Judy Williams
Looks like you have lots of company. I have also done that with a glove & slider.
Donna K McMichen
Been there done that – quilted the t-shirt to go with it! hahaha!
My most memorable mistake was sewing through my finger! I was trying to finish a costuming job – it was late, I was tired….and then Mayor Munchkin’s jacket got me! I sewed right down thru my left pointer finger’s nail, broke the needle and made a bloody mess. It was sooooooooo painful! A friend nudged me to get a tetanus shot – so I made a dr appt. The entire dr’s office crew, nurses & Dr all cringed and oooow & aaaah’d over this ‘minor injury’. Crazy! But then…a couple days later I noticed something shiny underneath the edge of my nail. It was a broken piece of the needle coming out!!! I didn’t know it was still inside my finger – no wonder it was so tender & painful!
But all is well now ~ and I’ve learned several lessons, including never sew when tired, and be aware of exactly how close my fingers are to the pointy source of much pain. =)
Barbara Black
Similar issue—I sewed a full size sheet of paper to the back
Cheri
Well, yes, I will admit that has happened to me too, however one time, actually recently, my machine made a noise that was odd, I stopped adjusted “things” and then kept on going, only for about four stitches and then my needle broke! Never have I had that happen before! That break left a hole in the quilt! NO! Every thought went thru my mind, what am I going to do with this hole? Ended up stuffing the hole with stitch witchery, lightly ironing, then fraycheck and then the light went on how about an embroidered butterfly! You see this quilt is for Prior Crossing who works with 18 year olds who were in foster care, and didn’t get adopted. They each get a quilt for their “new adventure” into the world. Many of them have little or no belongings. My quilt is for a young lady. And I hope she can understand the one lone butterfly on her quilt.
sheilaoxley
Oh that’s wonderful! I think you should embroider a butterfly on all your quilts for Prior Crossing!
quilter1522
I’ve done the same, Lori, as well as too-many-to-count other mistakes! Call it an improv design!
Aileen
LOL! I didn’t see the problem at first. I have done this as well. On the good side, it was only a square of fabric and was able to cut it off then wiggle out the remaining threads. On a even better note, because this happen to me I was able to help a fellow quilt salvage her show quilt. She had sewn a piece of fabric into her quilt. We wiggled it out! SMH. LOL!
Marsha
I stitched the instructions to the back! I think we should all stop and investigate weird noises. Probably would save us a lot of grief!
Maryann
Eleanor Burns did that on either YouTube or one of her online classes. Was funny to see one of the quilt world icons make the same mistake as us mortals. If you don’t make mistakes you don’t learn
Phyllis
Oh yes. Have sewed that extra that got folded under on the quilt. Just makes you want to hit your head. Thanks for letting us know you too make mistakes!!
Janette
Ya……guess that makes us all the same, stitched my slider to a quilt. ????
Just means we are human,???? we make mistakes . Lol! Very nice to know that we share so much! May the sun keep shining ???? Lol
Rosemaryflower
I enjoyed reading the stories above, of course in the spirit of mutual significance.
I have made so many mistakes, and I am old enough now that I have forgotten them, some I make again.
Most of our goof ups we can laugh about even though they are frustrating and sometimes irritating or humiliating.
Let’s not ever get into a discussion about cutting mistakes ????????(not injuries, just measurement cutting) ….. unless you want to share stories about those efforts of recovery, revision, for example sewing pieces together perfectly so you can cut the right size. hahaha
Val
I had several blocks that were relegated to the BACK of the quilt because the ruler slipped or I measured wrong!!
Holly
Oh Lori…I feel your pain. Been there… done that…TOO many times. I believe we learn best by the mistakes we make. Always enjoy your stories :>)
Pat in WNY
From these comments, it looks like every quilter, me included has done the same thing – sometimes more than once! What took you so long to join our exclusive club?! Hehe
Lynn
Hmm, what shall we call that? It’s not exactly reverse appliqué, perhaps “sandwich in a sandwich”? My fav faux pas is getting some of the quilt itself under my quilting.
Judi
I’ve stitched over part of the quilt a time or two but my favorite oopsie was satin stitching a flower pin head and never broke the needle. I still use the pin.
Mrs. Plum
My latest “shake your head” moment was quilting half a quilt with the bobbin spring inserted incorrectly. I had tension and thread break issues, but could not figure out why. Thank goodness for You Tube videos available 24-7 to help me figure out what was wrong! FYI, to keep from stitching through a Supreme Slider, tape it with masking tape on either side to your sewing machine and work table.
QuiltShopGal
Yeap. I have done that too, more than once. But I think I can top it. One time I found a card (like a credit card) that I had stitched to the back of a quilt. Good lesson to have a clean sewing space, as well as to stop and trouble shoot those odd noises ASAP. They do tell us something is wrong.
Brenda Perry
I have loved reading how others have made the same mistakes that I have (Yes, misery does love company) although I have a mistake to confess I haven’t seen yet: I placed my final doodle paper nearby on top of sewing table for easy reference while quilting. Then happily quilting along – eventually don’t need to refer to doodle paper as much – keep quilting along even though machine began to make a slightly different noise – not much different, but different enough that doodle paper was quilted to back!
Lorna Joy
One time I was at a quilting retreat, someone bought a piece of fabric from me and handed over a five dollar bill. Later on in the day, I lifted up the quilt and saw the five dollar bill quilted into the back. We all had a good laugh about that.
Jenna
I couldn’t work out what the wierd crunching noise was that my machine made, despite checking everything (nearly). Tried again, and again…then realised that I’d forgotten to change the foot, which was incompatible with the zigzag stitch that I was using. I still didn’t realise when the needle went through the punched holes in the plastic foot the second, third (etc ) time. It didn’t quite make so much noise, but still!
Pam Hotle
Have to say I have never sewn a quilt sandwich into my quilt…..just odd bits of fabric here and there. You have to admit it really did show off your beautiful quilting. My most recent one….the quilt reached down into my trash basket and pulled out a big glob of thread that I then quilted into the quilt.
Barb Czarniecki
my dumb mistake is when I turn a corner while quilting the border, and only later learn that I didn’t smooth out the fabric underneath and have quilted in a BIG boo boo! Out comes the seam ripper and I have to try to match the quilting design before and after the mistake! ARGH!!!!!
Kathy
My worst “quilting something extra to the back mistake” was I quilted the dining room tablecloth to the back of my quilt! Now I take the tablecloth off when I sew…..
D. Joy Summers
Sorry, but it is nice to know even those we admire aren’t mistake proof to whoops.
CJ
My quilt mistake involved hand quilting. I had sandwich my first quilt together and based it. Put it in the big hoop and began the quilting. When I moved the hoop and checked the back to make sure it was smoothed out, noticed I had the wrong side of the pieced back out. Had that seam all the way down the back. Just kept quilting!
carol randall
LOL oh yeah… I was happily stitching away… doing satin stitch applique’ I think.. and I remember thinking that the fabric was turning a little easier than normal ( I don’t have a supreme slider just acrylic table extension). Finished stitching and turned it over… ziplock bag stitched to the back!… Another time, I had a couple of blocks disappear – found them – stitched to the back ( again). Now, I always TRY and remember to check to make sure nothing is underneath that shouldn’t be. I’ve done some other ridiculous things, but nothing compared to these two.
CarolE
And here I thought I was the only one to make really dumb mistakes! Good to know I’m in really good company!!
Kerry
Well . . . I have seen pieced backs of quilts – you’ve done one better – appliqued the back!
I’ve managed to quilt the extra bit of fabric on the side of the sandwich when it folded underneath.
l84quilting
Lori, I’d be curious if this was the most talked about issue for your open line Friday! LOL…. As we are ALL feeling your pain/laughter, I will tell you that the foot of snow we received overnight has not helped any, so I am making sure I pay attention after all the comments!
Arvilla Trag
I had decided to “self-bind” a quilt with the backing overhang. I trimmed the excess battting off three sides (with scissors), went to dinner. When I came back I put my ruler on the quilt and trimmed off the excess batting AND the excess backing. I then had to sew a strip onto the quilt to bind the fourth side.
Then there was the time one of my cats jumped onto an almost finished quilt laid across my cutting table. He misfired and in the scramble to not fall off the table edge, shredded a portion of the backing. Guess where I put the label? I think labels in the center of quilts might just catch on. Maybe.
Sue
I ruined a Supreme slider the same way. I was so mad!!!
But I’m really famous for sewing blocks the wrong way. I do it way too much 🙂
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