A week worth of fail

A week worth of fail, a photo by badskirt - amy on Flickr.

Some times I get it very wrong. Very very wrong. I've had one of those weeks. I kept thinking that I was on a good road, but it's led to me shack city. It's not a terrible place to be, but I'm not comfortable visiting.

It started with great intentions. I was going to learn to applique. I've made great strides with that, so I've done one thing right. I've managed to applique 32 semi-decent circles!

I think where I went wrong was moving from making one block to a full quilt. I made a full quilt in the wrong order. I didn't start with the feature fabrics. Bad idea, Amy. Bad idea.

After picking out my applique fabrics, I moved onto the background. I knew that I'd use the Junebug black dots but barely had enough. Instead of being sensible and choosing something else, I forged ahead cutting dots slightly offgrain. The results are none-to-pleasant. Bad idea, Amy. Bad idea.

After finishing with the dots, I decided I'd cut up a lot of rare blue Sevenberry for the border. I was aiming for a sweet vintage feel and you don't get much sweeter than that. Bad idea, Amy. Bad idea.

I didn't bank on not finding any "sweet" animal medallions in town. I assumed they'd be everywhere. Happy little frolicking baby elephants. Plump little bunnies. You know the sort. I'd find them in a heartbeat in a Tokyo shop. I tried five local fabric stores to no avail. I had no patience for an online order. I didn't want this to become a UFO. Bad idea, Amy. Bad idea.

I came home and dug in the stash and tried Indian influenced elephants. They make great medallions but don't match all of the sweet feedsack-style handwork that I've already done at all. They don't match the blue Sevenberry border at all. They would make one heck of a quilt though. Just not this one. Still, I thought it was a good idea to keep working on things instead of setting them aside until I had the right fabrics. I thought finished objects would be better than unfinished objects. Bad idea, Amy. Bad idea.

Now though, I only have a terribly feeling in my gut. It's like when you have lime juice and milk at the same time. Some things shouldn't mix. I feel physically uncomfortable about the whole mess. Did I mention that at one stage I dissected a project that I was actually happy with to try it as medallions? And that I've cut up four other fabrics into 8 1/2" squares to try them to? Such bad ideas...

I've looked at the stash again and found a great blue Indian style print that would make a great border for those elephants, but none of it matches what I've already done. I think I need to stop and work on something else. That's the only good idea that I've had this week.

The only way forward right now is quality time with the seam ripper. I've made a mess. I've chased the rabbit down a dark hole but there was no Wonderland on the other side. We've all been there, right?