A side of Nope

Ugh!

I knew I'd have to adjust the side borders, using a 3/4" strip of focus fabric to stretch the final measurement to fit the side measurement. (I also had to adjust the top/bottom borders by trimming off a bit from each side of each block, but that didn't show as much.) But I didn't actually put the borders up on the design wall to see the effect. So this happened:

Naturally, I didn't see it until everything was sewn together. That's a big side of NOPE!

So, rather than rip out the entire border, I just frog-stitched (rip it! rip
it!) the offending section,






flipped it,



















and sewed it back in:

Mush besser (as my toddler first-born would say)!

The final borders were a bit scary. The top and bottom borders went on without incident, but the side borders were so "off" that I ended up unpinning everything and remeasuring, certain that I had messed up something. As it turned out, it was just those pesky bias edges that were playing tricks:

Looks awful, huh? But gentling the bias edge onto the straight-edged final border took care of that gap, and everything sewed down beautifully:

So this is now a finished top (finally!), waiting on the to-be-quilted rack. It's been a fun top for trying out ideas and techniques. The borders don't exactly complement the interior (too pale), but I learned a lot about what "neutrals" were and how they played well with each other. I also learned the importance of putting things UP on the design wall, versus draping things in the general vicinity and assuming it all looked okay!

Next up on the design wall, a block exchange in which I have no memory of participating: