MAGPIE'S MUMBLINGS

A blog about my interests, which include fabric landscapes and various and assorted other artsy pursuits and sometimes known to contain mumblings of a random nature.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

A rescue - of the block kind

  

Today I'm going to show you something that I probably shouldn't!  Don't we all like to think that everything we do is pretty decent and that we don't make horrible mistakes?  W-e-l-l - me?  Not so much!  Yesterday I spent over an hour cross stitching a rose onto the latest section of my hussif and when I removed the waste canvas I hated it.  H-A-T-E-D   I-T.  What to do?  Chuck the whole piece?  Leave it be and live with it?  Or....could it be salvaged?

So in the interest of full disclosure AND actually having a blog post for you today, I decided I would show you what I've done to fix the problem.

First of all, here's the piece as it was yesterday...




Can you see what had me bothered? (and, don't be nice and tell me that it's okay, because it really isn't).

It's the big honking single rose that is seemingly lying on its side sort of on the upper right.  I know I didn't have to tell you that, but bear with me.


It's too big. It 'fights' with the broderie perse flower on the lower left.  It's too much.  

I could have unpicked all those stitches, but it would have left a lot of holes in the fabric which would have been very difficult to cover up.




Now, here's what I did to make it better.

First of all I went to my stash and found something that had a pretty finished edge.  My reason for that was (if you look closely at the photo above) that the 'bad rose' was stitched quite closely to the nice seam below it.  You can also see that the broderie perse flower was 'higher' than the nice seam and because of that I couldn't simply stitch down a straight piece of fabric in order to cover up the bad area.  The curve in the doily I chose worked perfectly to deal with the broderie perse being somewhat higher.




Do you see in this photo how I've inserted the doily to cover the offending rose and also compensate for the broderie perse rose?  I basted the curved edge of the doily very close to the edge.








I then flipped the block over and trimmed away the offending rose, as well as the seam treatment I had done that was above it, leaving the block on the back looking like this...


As you can see I was now left with a rather see-through doily in the corner.  Because crazy quilt blocks are created on a foundation obviously I needed to replace the foundation in that area.  That was simply done by basting a scrap piece of plain cotton onto the back.

Now I am ready to continue with my block and I'm so much happier with it.  Yes, I did lose the small seam treatment that was above the offending rose, but it was a small price to pay for ending up with something I am happier with overall.  


So there you go.
A block rescue!

Today, here's a quote from Steve Allen.... "Sometimes things which at the moment may be perceived as obstacles - and actually be obstacles, difficulties, or drawbacks - can in the long run result in some good end which would not have occurred if it had not been for the obstacle"


13 comments:

  1. The addition of a snippet of a pretty doily is always the answer. ;)

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  2. You had me laughing at "offending rose." LOL! Anyway your fix looks great! There was one time I made a card in the opposite direction of how you normally open it. The only fix to that mistake is to let the receiver know you made the card in the wrong direction. UGH!

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  3. Gen Tracey5:08 PM

    This is exactly the type of thing that we WANT to see on blogs! You showed us, step by step, a problem and a solution. Thanks

    Genevieve Tracey

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  4. great save for something you didn't like....but, truth be told. i did really like it. now you have a rose you can fit in someplace else.

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  5. Excellent post, thank you. Sharing both what works and doesn't work is how we all learn better design, so this is much appreciated.

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  6. I like to think of these challenges as creative opportunities. I am so glad you found a solution that worked for you! :)

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  7. Oh you are brave and I am so glad you shared this. I would have never thought to cut out the offending area. Your fix is beautiful. Blessings...

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  8. It looks lovely. Maybe you can use the other rose somewhere else

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  9. You know what you have a great talent here, if you ever get sick of cross stitching - hard to believe I know - you can take up Tattoo removal they get endless amounts of people coming in saying I've made a horrible mistake can you fix it??!
    Now I hope you are laughing at this ... otherwise I'll just slink off now into the nearest bush, ouch did you put a rose in there?!
    Happy Weekend
    Wren x

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  10. A really good post of a fix-it problem and lesson learned. I'll remember this one.
    Clever choice of the doiley too.

    The saying of the day is perfect.

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  11. Good fix but it was not so much the offending rose but that you had THREE strong verticals standing like sentinels in a row... all about the same height and weight. Removing the seam and rose left only the elements that were diverse and complemented each other.. You must use the rose somewhere else or send it to me. Hugs Ger.

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  12. I am definitely not being nice here...it's not in my nature to be nice...lol...I loved that Rose, loved it. I may start a campaign for it's return....

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  13. Oh, you are brave to have cut it out. I probably would have left it, added the doily, and pretended it was a secret pocket. lol (I'm lazy that way)
    The important thing is that you like it! Nice save.

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