In the last 24 hours or so, numerous individuals have commented on my DWR delemma. Not only did I blog about it here, I posted the question to a couple of my e-mail groups and the QIAD forum.

First, I thank you for the compliments and comments on the quilt top. I still have a ways to go, but I’m confident this UFO will grow up to become a loved quilt.

Overwhelmingly the majority said to leave it alone. The few who said ‘fix it’ did so with the qualification that I had to do what I thought best and could live with. Someone recommended watching Sharon Schamber’s Beginning Quilter: Magical Basting which I did. Very interesting and when I get to the top done, I will review this video again.

Since I am torn between seeing my progress as a quilter and knowing I tend to lean toward the perfectionist side. I still needed to do something.

I flipped the quilt top over.

Look at that seam. The muslin caught maybe an eighth of an inch. Since I plan to USE this quilt and wash it, I sure don’t want the seams to pull out. I’ve tried to get away with tiny seams before and I had to still need to repair them after the quilt was washed a couple of times.

As it turns out some of the worst places have these weird seams. My solution is to fix the seams so they have a better chance of not ripping out. I’ve fixed two and there are a couple of more, including the one pictured above.

I think this is a solution I can live with.

I’ve just added 5 rings to the right hand side of the Double Wedding Ring. I still need to sew the 4-patches, but I thought I’d lay it out to see how it looks.

Awesome! if I do say so myself.

However, everyone is their own worse critic.

The last time I had this quilt out and did any significant work on it (2 or 3 years ago), I saw all my flaws – puckers and lumps and all of those other things which you hope no one sees. I decided at the time, if I went back and fix them, I’d end up taking the entire top apart.

I’d like to quilt to lay somewhat flat, so, I’m leaning toward adding the rings log cabin style. I added these 5 rings to the right, so I’ll add 6 rings to the top, 6 rings the left side, 7 rings to the bottom and then 7 rings to the right side making the top 7 x 8 rings.

But as I look at the quilt, the 3rd ring from the left on the 2nd row has got way more ‘poof’ than I’m going to be able to hide with quilting. There’s also a melon or two which need significant help.

So what to do?

Should I decide which two or three spots simply have to be fixed and limit myself to them, or leave well enough alone as a testament to how my skills have improved?

This is my Double Wedding Ring (DWR) Quilt – or what I’ve got done so far.

In September 1989 I signed up to take a Double Wedding Ring quilt class. I had previously made my first quilt in 1980 and I had been sewing for nearly 15 years, so I figured I could make this quilt with proper instruction.

The quilt was originally to be finished for our 5th wedding anniversary, which was 14 months away. I thought this was extremely do-able, although the ladies at the quilt shop had doubts since I didn’t have much had next to no quilting experience.

We used Mary Ellen Ingle Hopkins’ book The Double Wedding Ring Book.

I had no experience picking out multiple fabrics for a quilt. I knew I wanted blue and burgundy. The ladies at the shop had to guide me toward texture, print size and color value.

The class met at least twice, maybe more — at this point I can’t remember. I do remember an experienced quilter, who had made a DWR, taking the class. She said she was taking the class to ‘force’ her to get the quilt underway. It seems it was to be a wedding gift and the wedding was just two or three weeks away!

Anyway, I enjoyed the class. By the end of the class I had two rows sewn together. I continued to work on the quilt after the class was over for a while. However, life got in the way of completing it. We moved the following summer and the quilt got packed up. It was not finished for our 5th anniversary.

We moved a couple of more times and I would pull it out and work on it for a bit. My next goal was to finish it for our 10th anniversary, then 15th, and 20th. Well, it’s still not finished.

I really want to finish this quilt for our 25th anniversary — 15 months from now. Again I think this is do-able — probably more so now than it was then. To that goal my intermediate goal is to get the top done by mid-October so I can put it on the quilting frame. Yes, I want to hand quilt this top.

So I’ve got to get piecing. Here’s my most recent problem.

A combination of bad cutting and seam allowances. The arc on the bottom was cut out with scissors. The one on the top is an arc I ripped apart and re-cut using a rotary cutter and the templates my friend’s husband made me. That’s nearly 3/4 of an inch difference at the top of the arc. No wonder the newly cut pieces weren’t going together well. I’ve checked and the new arc is the right length, so I think I’m on the right path.

I’ll post my progress. Perhaps this time I won’t get distracted.