When it comes to following quilt patterns, I do not do a good job. This sample quilt that I tried to start making for my Playful Partial Seams QuiltCon 2022 workshop is a good example of knowing when to stop for the day. But I’m getting ahead of myself a bit; let’s start at the beginning.
Playful Partial Seams Sample Quilt Fabric
There are several aspects of the Playful Partial Seams workshop that I’m excited about. Workshop attendees will be working toward making a mini quilt, and the design lends itself perfectly for fun, large scale prints. I still have some Create Navy Colour Me Happy Stripes by Kristy from Quiet Play that I wanted to use, and my good friend Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs had some Tula Pink Eden Deity in the ‘Sherbert’ Colorway that she sent me to use. I know many people associate my work with solids, but I do love rich, beautiful prints and am excited to get to play with these fabrics together!
Playful Partial Seams – Mistake 1
I eagerly cut into my fabrics, pieced and squared up my first blocks… and immediately began singing the “one of these things is not like the other” song. Sigh.
Playful Partial Seams – Fixed Mistake 1
Okay, so maybe I was going a bit fast. But Cheryl was generous and I had plenty of fabric to make a replacement block. Things were looking up.
Playful Partial Seams – Mistake 2
Well, they were looking up until I used the wrong template to cut away from the background fabric as my very next step. Drat!
Playful Partial Seams – Fixed Mistake 2
Taking a deep breath, I remade THAT block and decided to call it a day. I know better than to keep pushing when I’ve already made a few mistakes and am starting to feel frustrated.
Some of you might be wondering about the title of my blog post: TDR Queen; what does that mean? I don’t talk about my pre-quilting career a whole lot, but once upon a time I worked as a structural analyst and my specialty was in analyzing composite parts for prototype vehicles. In the middle of a big project, things can get intense. There are schedules and milestones and staffing issues to juggle while at the same time technical problems are needing to be resolved. And as we all know, creative solutions and tough problems don’t necessarily follow neat and tidy deadlines. Well, one of my co-workers was working on getting a part made, but there was always something that was just a little bit wrong with the part. I can’t remember all the things that went wrong, but every time that something doesn’t go correctly with a part, a Technical Discrepancy Report (TDR) has to be created to justify continuing to use the part. Sometimes the part has to be scrapped and not used. And sometimes, you end up with a TDR King that has so many problems that it has mounds of paperwork that go along with it (special side eye being given to a particular wing rib that my teammates and I all came to know way too well).
My husband, in noting the struggles I was having with this mini quilt, dubbed this project the TDR Queen. I suppose his naming it that was yet another sign to call it good for the day. I can work on it more again tomorrow.
& now I have a new acronym! Back in 1976 we had a car we called the EOM Special. It must have been made with all the left over parts at the End Of the Month since there were so many things wrong with it. That situation was happening so often at the time the Lemon Law was enacted. Meanwhile back in the 21st century, I’m eager to see the finished TDR Queen. It’s a combination of fabrics I may not have considered however the contrasting elements are intriguing. It’s a tease while we wait to see what you do next with curves.
Oh goodness, I think you’ve just added a new term to my quilting acronyms! I can so relate. I recently decided to whip up (note that) a Yellow Brick Road pattern, so I looked at the directions (note that) and off I went. Later I realized I had forgotten to pay attention to how many of each block I needed to make for a lap size, so I made too many of one and didn’t have enough for the others. Sigh. TDR for sure. Hope the remainder of your sewing goes smoothly!
Happens to the best of us. Good to step back and try again another day! 😉
Happens to all of us and you’re smart to quit for the day. Love the acronym!
I think we all have those kinds of days…both in work situations and creating. Walking away is a good idea when I can let go of my stubborn drive to conquer the problem and show it who is really the boss!!!
Love the back story to the name. 🙂 Enjoy making the quilt.