One of the things that I think makes for a happy sewist, and probably a happy quilter, is the ability to live with imperfections. Imperfections are part of crafting and tend to add character to the final product.  That said, mistakes are another thing.  Some mistakes can be lived with, others have to be corrected.  My squares NOT lining up well in the top photo are an example of mistakes that I couldn’t live with.  I am a beginning quilter, and I don’t expect that every corner will line up perfectly, but this was not within my tolerances.  I took my time cutting the squares, I did a pretty good job with my quarter inch seams, so why were my squares off?  I measured them, and when they should have been 4 inches, they were all over the place.  Yuck!  I decided to try an experiment and start from the bottom of my quilt and remeasure and trim my pairs before finishing the piecing and before I sewed two rows together.

Those are my trimmings.  Doesn’t look like much right?  It’s amazing the problems they caused.

My squares are lining up a lot better now!  A lot better!  I do have some that aren’t perfect, but as I started this blog, imperfections are okay.  I’m not an experienced quilter so I don’t expect it to look professional.  If the rest of the quilt turns out like the bottom photo though, I will be VERY happy.

Now let’s not talk about how much longer this process is going to take me.  And I’m not even gonna think about what to do with the section I’ve  already done.  I think it is going to involve my friend the seam ripper.