A date with my seam-ripper.

I have dug out the quilt blocks I made for Emma's quilt over the summer. Emma helped me arrange them and then I sewed them into rows. With the easy part over and a rather heavy sigh I sat down to start to sew the rows together. This quilt has been hanging over for months. I have been trying to work up enough energy to sit down and dig it. The difficult thing for me was that the blocks for this quilt are hexagons. Hexagons cannot be sewn in a straight line. Hexagons are not mind numbingly simple. They take time and patience, something I have been running low or lately. The first two rows took an hour to sew together. Eight hexagons matched with 7 and 2 half hexagons, back and forth along the edges. Pinning one side at a time. Matching dots and seams. Sewing. Taking out the pins and proceeding down the row. Always careful not to pinch the corners or sew more than one hexagon, unintentionally together. It was much like making a garment. No, not a garment, just the sleeve of the garment, over and over and over. I persevered and finished sewing two rows together. Only 5 more to go! With the first two under my belt I was more confident than ever. Setting off on the next row, I sewed happily while listening to Echo in the Bone on CD. After the first two seams a thought crept into my mind, "The last rows didn't go together this easily. I must be getting better." After about 5 seams, I turned the quilt to pin another edge and thought. "I don't remember the seams fitting so easily. And I haven't caught any corners under the pressure foot! Woohoo!" After more than 3/4 of the row was finished I held the quilt up and immediately saw my error. I had not off set the hexagon as I sewed, as the pattern directed.

I had sewed them matched right sides together down the row. ( Which is fine if you are sewing a pillow! But not a quilt which is supposed to lie flat!)

So, tonight as I sit and watch soccer practice I will be knitting. Tomorrow I have a date with my seam-ripper.