Rehab is a Monster

I started this quilt right after I finished my Intro to Piecing class. I thought that since I had one quilt top under my belt it would be no problem to bang out another one. After all, quilt bloggers banged them out in about a week, right? My good friend was checking into Rehab and I thought a Friendship Quilt was just what he needed. I gave myself two weeks to complete it.

Uh, yeah. That was 2 years ago. I lost touch with that friend but still worked on that quilt top. Oh, how I worked on that thing. I must have pieced each of these blocks 3 separate times. Remember, I had only tried introductory blocks in a classroom setting. I pieced the rows and unpicked and pieced the rows until the points matched just about perfectly. That took me about a year. My friends would make fun of me when I was going through that stage. First, because I was quilting, and second because I was actually un-quilting. Then I sewed the rows together and my problem became apparent. The stars were completely wonky. My quarter inch seam must have been all off. I did my best to salvage them. I was over the perfectionist angle and was just trying to finish the damn blocks.

It took me another year to sew these guys into rows. Then I realized that a few blocks were put together incorrectly. Oh no. I knew I should unpick the rows and take apart the blocks and put them back together. Instead, I hung it in my closet and tried not to think about all that work. I had already spent so much time unpicking this quilt already. I didn’t have the heart to tackle that job.

Then I moved. I packed the quilt up in a box and put it in storage for the summer while I was temporarily staying with family. I got my own place and unpacked it and realized that soy sauce had spilt all over the quilt and there were large brown, stinky splotches on it. After hand-washing the spots, soaking it in vinegar to remove the smell, and letting it air dry I was tired of it again! This quilt is too big! I hate it!

(Rehab, Batting, and Binding)

When I first heard of the FMQ Challenge, I thought to myself: “Do I dare?” After much consideration and temptation I said “Of course!” Get this monster quilted and finally enjoy it! After all we’ve been through, I can’t really ruin this quilt! I can only make it better.

Which I guess makes this quilt the perfect Rehab quilt. It has hit rock-bottom and the only place to go is up. It has let me down and been dragged around. It needs to make amends. It needs to be Rehabbed.

Read more about the FMQ Challenge here. And come join us!