Hello Friend,

Pull up a chair and grab your coffee, because do I have a tale that'll make you feel SO much better about your own "oops" moments...

So there I was Thursday afternoon, minding my own business, when I heard this sound that every quilt shop owner knows and dreads – it started as a little gasp, escalated to a groan, and ended with what I can only describe as a "creative vocabulary moment" coming from our main cutting area.

I peek around the corner, and there's Beverly (bless her heart) standing over what should have been a gorgeous Disappearing Nine Patch quilt top. Should have been. Instead, it looked like her blocks had attended a yoga class and decided to try every pose at once!

"Beverly, honey," I said, trying to keep my voice steady, "tell me what happened."

Well, turns out she'd been on a roll – you know that feeling when you're chain piecing like a champion and nothing can stop you? She'd gotten so enthusiastic about her assembly line that she'd completely forgotten to check her block orientation. Half of her blocks were doing handstands, a quarter were doing cartwheels, and the rest were just... confused.

The look on her face! Y'all, it was like she'd discovered her cat had learned to drive. Pure bewilderment mixed with a touch of "how did this even happen?"

But here's the thing about our Beverly – she took one long look at that topsy-turvy masterpiece, started chuckling, and said, "Well, I always wanted to try abstract art!"

The solution was simpler than she thought. We laid out all her correct blocks first, took a quick phone picture for reference (because let's face it, once you start moving things around, your brain forgets what goes where), and then figured out which blocks needed to take a little spin to join the party properly.

Two hours later, Beverly had not only rescued her quilt but had also learned the magic of "layout first, sew second." And that phone picture trick? She's been telling everyone about it ever since!

The moral of this upside-down tale? Always lay out your rows before stitching and keep that phone handy – it's the best quilting tool you never knew you needed. Plus, sometimes our "mistakes" teach us more than our successes ever could.

Now I'm dying to know – what's YOUR best "oops, that's not right" quilting moment? Hit reply and share your topsy-turvy tale with me. I promise to celebrate your creative problem-solving skills!

Happy quilting (right-side up or otherwise),

Donna

P.S. Names have been changed to protect the non-innocents.🤣