Turning a Mistake into a Win

When I start a project, I often do so with only a hint of an idea. I do not plan too much, because that takes the fun and surprise out of my textile projects. Take, for instance, the orange and blue block quilt. I first found the orange fabric that has white detail on it in the leftover bin at Walmart. In the sewing section of Wally World where they cut the fabric, there’s a bin of random odd pieces that either didn’t sell or were left over from another cutting. I fell in love with the orange material due to its vibrancy. A few weeks later, I stumbled on the blue fabric at thrift and TA DA – I had complementary colors on hand, so I started cutting.

Blue & Orange block quilt

Since I wanted to be somewhat traditional in the approach to this quilt, I got a firm piece of cardboard and cut out a rectangle. I then cut up the orange and some of the blue material and began hand sewing them together with the only consistency being the block size. When the orange material ran out, I took all the individual blocks I’d sewn and placed them on the floor, rearranging them again and again until I liked the feel of the overall quilt top. I then pieced all the blocks together.

I had much more of the blue than orange, with enough of the blue to serve as the backing and the edging or binding of the quilt. The material “told” me what size it would be, since I did not measure the blue or orange fabric. The quilt measures 47” by 37”, and it would make a good lap quilt or a nice wall hanging.

One of the “cheats” I use when making a quilt is to use the backing material as the edge or binding, meaning the blue in this example extended beyond the quilt top. I folded it over twice and began stitching it together. The hardest part for me are the corners, as a lot of material comes together, and it can be hard to make neat corners. I actually totally RUINED a corner by trimming way too much, exposing the batting in the middle of the “quilt sandwich.” It looked awful. But I surveyed the room and saw I had enough of the orange fabric left to sew over my mistake. Only one corner was butchered, so to give it some symmetry, I added the orange to each of the corners, successfully hiding my mishap.

I’m super pleased with the final product, and I hope this quilt finds a good home.

A friend of mine called this quilt subversive, and I think she described it this way because it does subvert the traditional block. Some blocks have more blue than orange and vice versa. There’s no repetition except for the colors. It is this subversion that I enjoy about the quilt – it defies the traditional expectation of exact repetition and allows the eye to linger.