When my Grandmother passed away, my uncle asked if I had any interest in finishing a quilt she had been working on. I thought, "sure, how hard could it be". This was 20 years ago, before I had ever quilted a stitch in my life. The top was a hand-stitched GFG and was missing the final flower. As I looked over the fabric Grandma used, I recognized pieces from my own childhood clothing, so I pieced together the final flower using fabric from my daughter's kindergarten dresses. :)
Then, I did the UNTHINKABLE. I cut a backing and bound the edges of the entire quilt, before I actually quilted it.
Over the years, I began hand quilting. I started on one side and worked my way across. Well, you can image what happened..."shift happened". I was truly horrified when I finally learned how to really quilt two years ago! After fixing what I could and leaving what I couldn't, I finally finished Grandma's quilt this summer. I had to remove the binding and actually trim some of the edging to accommodate the awful shift. But I have to remind myself - "The Quilt Police" are not invited...only heirloom lovers. And I love Grandma's quilt.