Monday, March 2, 2015

Frogging

Do you know about "frogging?"  Rip it, rip it, rip it.  In spite of all the suggestions and solutions in my last post, in spite of all my planning, in spite of all my practicing, in spite of quilting half of one side of my border and walking away happy.... I later noticed a glaring, ugly line where I wanted a free-flowing curve.  I like to backtrack on the spine of my feathers to bring out the curvaceous base design.  However, if the base design is faulty it shows up like a spotlight.  No photo because it looked too ugly (besides I didn't think to get the camera!).  I sat through two episodes of "The Mentalist" while I ripped out a lot of stitches...carefully.

It didn't take long to solve the problem as it was all due to a poorly designed corner.  I had turned the corner awkwardly and that caused all the spine lines to go the wrong way.  Thus all the ripping.  The next afternoon I re-marked the border and stitched it up again.  Now it looks graceful and I am sooooooo glad I took the time to redo it.  Below is the final feather quilting complete with marking lines and even a dog hair if you hunt really carefully.  Dixie dog likes to add her two cents.



Please don't get the idea that I always make mistakes.  This blog is generally about dealing with problems and my only experience is my own.  Mistakes are OK as long as you learn from them.  Have you ever heard that one before?

TIP:  Don't get discouraged.  It happens.  Encourage the bulldog in you and rip with care.  As you are frogging, your creative, flexible brain can preview options, ponder alternatives and produce new ideas.  Just do it!

Dixie
See a painting of Dixie here.

4 comments:

  1. Your final stitching looks great, and the extra time is always worth it for you to truly love the finished product :) PS: I had never heard about "frogging" but I sure do it often enough!

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  2. It certainly looks beautiful now, ripping out "mistakes" is totally worth it, even if no one else would ever notice. I finally took apart a block this week to recut a piece where print was cut awkwardly. As much as I didn't want to take it apart, I knew this one piece was going to bother me forever if I didn't!

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  3. The feathers look beautiful now. I know what you mean about ripping it out though. My latest quilt I had something that looked like a ginger bread man! It was supposed to be a leaf with echo quilting, so it got the rip treatment too. Thanks for showing us that wonderful corner.

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  4. Dixie likes to add her two cents! Barking out loud! LeeAnna at not afraid of color

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