Ripping out stitches

I started a quilt a couple days ago that I knew would be a little more work.  It was custom work and I decided to use 3 different colors of thread on the quilt.  When I rolled up to the bottom of the lone star, I put in two feather wreaths in each corner.  Then to my horror I realized I had forgotten to change threads.  All the wreaths on the top and sides of the quilts were done in a light variegated purple/pink thread and the bottom two wreaths were in a dark variegated purple thread.  I couldn't believe what a stupid mistake I had just made.  I wanted to throw a fit, kick something, yell, etc.  Not that it would do any good, there was nothing to do but to pick all those stitches out.  It took 5 hours to get them out!!!!  I was up at 5:00 a.m. the next day, cleaning up the area of any little thread bits and then restitching the design in the right color.  It was a lesson to be learned -- you can still make stupid mistakes even after 11 years of the machine quilting business.  And when you make those kind of mistakes, there's nothing to do but own up to it and spend the time (even if it takes 5 hours) fixing it.  I'm just glad it could be fixed.  I'm posting a picture of the ripping out of the stitches as well as the finished quilt.  Thankfully the quilt turned out very nice.

Changing Quilts Around

Sometimes even a little change can brighten a day. We have had one of the coolest, rainiest, springs I can remember. I am itching to get out in my garden. But there's no working the soil when it's this wet. So today I decided maybe some inside work would cheer things up around here. The first thing was to change some quilts on the wall. That almost makes it feel like a new room. I hung the award winning wholecloth quilt in my studio. It's way too big for the quilt hanger. Then I changed the quilt behind the couch in the living room and lastly hung my appliqued basket quilt in the front hall. I never got any further then doing those three, but it still felt sunnier inside.

Hawaii

We've been home from Hawaii for almost a week now. It takes about that long to readjust to life here :) We had a wonderful time. It was so restful and fun to be with friends, several of whom we had not seen in many years. One of the things I enjoyed most was the flowers and birds there. I've always been a bird watcher and seeing some that I had never seen before was special. We spent a couple days on Oahu at Waikiki and then 6 days in Kauai. I enjoyed Kauai more because of it being less crowded. We hiked, kayaked, walked the beaches, snorkeled, had some amazing food, etc. What a blessing to have a vacation like that. I hope someday we can return.