Tidbit Tuesday #8

It's Tuesday!! Well, for a little while longer anyway.  They do say, better late than never. :)

Todays "tidbit" is more of a "what NOT to do" than a tidbit, but still, quite useful and it may save some of you the aggravation I endured. 

A girl on my team at the office is having a baby in a few months and we are hosting a baby shower for her tomorrow. How could I pass up the opportunity to make a baby quilt, especially since she is having a little girl. 

I knew right away, I wanted to use Soiree for Moda. I used 1/2 of a jelly roll (cut all the strips in half), strip pieced 5 strips then cut them 4.5" wide to make the coins 4" x 2" finished, 2" finished sashing and the border is made up of 2" finished squares (cut from same strips pieced pieces. Just cut 2.5"). Easy peasy. Right? Almost....

Mind you, it wasn't the actual assembly that was difficult. That WAS easy!! The issue came in when I put it together to quilt it. I knew the backing I had would be a snug fit but what I didn't realize is how much the quilt top can shift as you are quilting. Or at least for me.  I was chugging along and got to the last 4 or 5 lines of quilting and happened to flip the corner over and saw that my backing was about 2" too short and just in one corner.

I wanted to cry. I had to get it done since the shower is tomorrow and there was no way I could make this quilt again in time, but how could I fix this? 

I ended up trimming the edges all the way around to where it would still look cute and not ruin the look of the quilt but I still had this...

It was just under 1/2 of an inch so I hoped the binding would cover it....and it DID! Pshew! 

Here is how it turned out...flubbed up and all. :)

Do you see that outside white border that is about 1/2"? That should have been 2" just like the sashing. I still think it's cute though and if I never said anything, no one would have been the wiser. 

However, the morale of this story...errr....tip....is always always always make sure you have plenty of room on each side of your backing compared to where your quilt top lies. Even if you think you'll make it by an inch or so, you need more. Don't get caught in the same conundrum as I did. :) 

My second tip...also a what not to do....

Make sure you have enough thread to quilt your quilt, especially when you are on a deadline. Not only to make sure you can finish it if you need to, but if you had to go get another spool, the colours may not be exactly the same. 

This spool had me awfully worried as I was nearing the end... lol

After all this stress, I sure hope she likes it. 

Much Love!!!