Yesterday I cut 50 2-1/2" strips out of my Christmas fabric stash, and used them today to made a jelly roll strippy quilt. Whew. That's hard on the ol' shoulders! :shock:

I like the quilt top overall, but two of my red strips ended up right beside each other, and end in exactly the same spot. Meh! :roll:

Does it look bad? Yeah, I think it does, too. I'm probably going to take one of the strips out and replace it with a different color, and shorten one of the strips above it so that they don't end in exactly the same place. Every time I look at the quilt top, my eye jumps right to those red strips.

Of course, if I'd been TRYING to match them up like that, it wouldn't have worked! LOL! :lol:

Guess I'll have a date with Mr. Seam Ripper later this evening. ;-)

Here's a photo, but it's kind of dark. My camera's battery is fizzled. Some of the fabrics have metallic outlining, and some have glitter. It's prettier in person ... except for those dingdang red strips! :lol:

Lovely!

I see what you mean about those two pesky strips- how about making a feature of them by doing something like appliquéing some baubles on there, or a word (Noel?).

Your strips are so straight is there any way you can stitch a strip over the "offending" red one rather that ripping them apart? I never get all those seams so straight and would hate to see yours end up looking like mine (wavy). What a pretty Christmasy quilt though!

Or, you could just rip out that one seam where the 2 are together, turn the smaller part around, and restitch

I see it but don't think it needs fixing.
Maybe consider it an "amish" touch....don't they usually include an error in their tops for humility?

This sounds like a plan too...if the side of the smaller quilt top looks ok along side the bigger part of the quilt top. Look see before you sew.

I would HAVE to 'fix' those 2 reds. My eye would be drawn to that exact spot every time I looked at it. I like "organized scrappy". I would have laid the strips out before I sewed them together. I know that defeats the 'scrappy sewing process' but I like "organized scrappy". One day I'll tell you about my braid quilt! ROFL

I would just take some strips of white and sew them on a diagonal and make it a candy cane!

It would make a perfect space to say Merry Christmas or your favorite holiday slogan.

Good idea Michelle!

I'd do the same, or sew it to the other end of the quilt. You can probably flip it around different ways and find a place to put it without too much difficulty.

I agree with noveltyjunkie, applique a word over them for a feature and it will look like you did it on purpose.

bummer. I agree with you it would bug me and I would have to fix it. Otherwise you did a bang up job and your strips look so nice and straight!

I agree; turn and flip if you can still see that they are the same length. It's funny how once we spot a "problem" we can never not see it after that. Beautiful quilt!

I have wanted to make this quilt and wondered if this would happen, now I know. I would definitely rip it out now and replace it with another strip. It doesn't look that hard to do at this point, and if it is bugging you now, think of how it will affect you after the quilt is finished.

This is going to be lovely, but I too would want to make a change to those two strips. With the randomness of how these are sewn together you would wonder how they could have lined up so perfectly.

I love this idea!!!
I had to chuckle when you said it wouldn't have worked if you TRIED to do match them- isn't that the truth?? :D
Get it fixed and you'll be happy. Beautiful quilt!!!

I would definitely rip it out now and replace it with another strip. It doesn't look that hard to do at this point, and if it is bugging you now, think of how it will affect you after the quilt is finished.

That happened to me, too. One I caught as I was sewing and switched the strip around. The other one like you have I didn't see until the top was finished. I'm not fixing it now. It is really irritating when it happens.

It is fantastic, If it really bothers you now than go ahead and ripp it out. :x You want be satisfied until you get it the way you have envision it.

I too like Michell's idea. That would look great

I would take it out and flip over the quilt, sew bottom to torn out edge, and see how those strips look next to each other.

I love the colors, I think you should embelish it like you did it on purpose. After all as the others are saying it went together perfectly and that is really hard to do if you planned it~ I love your cat material it is so cute!

I like the applique word and candy cane ideas! Making lemonade out of lemons. I think if it were me I would just take that whole seam out and flip the darn thing over sew it back on and be done with it.

We put in laminate flooring and there is a spot where 2 patterned boards ended up one right on top of the other. I see that everytime I walk into my sewing room, it bugs me, but I am NOT taking the flooring up, again!

Moral to the story, a stitch in time saves 9! Fix it now, before it is too late.

Suggestion: Take that one seam out ... that would give you 2 sections and then take that whole smaller section of strips and move it to one of the sides. I'm assuming when I suggest this that you have not finished the edges yet. That way, you'd have only one seam to rip and one to sew. Depending on which way you turn the section or which side you put it on, that would give you 4 different options, so you should not encounter a similar problem.

It's beautiful but I would have to fix that too. It would bother me every time I looked at the quilt. Other than that it's a wonderful scrappy quilt.

I agree with them!! Turn the strip the other direction!! At least you have a Very nice date planned for tonight and you're on a first name basis!!!

You could use the fancy stitches on your sewing machine ( if it has them) and do something on one of the strips to make it different.... :D

I don't think it will ever show when quilted. I have to laugh because usually I am the one that will pick everything out and I would leave this one. I think I am just not normal sometimes. LOL

Oh, that's a great idea!!! Make it for a reason....you can be very creative with this little mistake!! :thumbup: :thumbup:

I was thinking the same thing :D they are lined up perfectly. Lovely quilt!

I've just ripped out the outside match and sewed it onto the other end of the quilt. My strips went the full width of the quilt though. I agree that you gotta move one or the other.

I did a strip quilt for our great granddaughter and I have several that lined up together. I just left it but have seen that maybe I will do some extra quilting there to make it not look so bad. I had all pink in spot and all green in another. This is my first quilt.

This is what I was thinking. If you haven't sewn on a border, only one seam (separating the two red strips) would be taken out and re-sewn once the piece if flipped. If you do, re-post a photo so we can see!

I think I'd just rip that seam between the two and turn the pieces around and sew it up otherwise those two strips would bug me!

Don't you hate that when it happens? I do.. and I'm with you, it would bother me. Every time I looked at the quilt, that's what I'd see. dang!

When I have something like that happen, I remind myself that ripping is part of sewing.. and while I hate to take something apart, I'm always so glad I did when it's back together..

It doesn't take that long to take it out and you'll be much happier with it fixed.. I alway figure that no matter how long it take to remove the problem, it's still a much shorter time than having to look at it the rest of my life or it's life!

Wish I were close, I'd be happy to take it out for you.

If it were my quilt, I would have already ripped and re-sewn. My eye went immediately to the two reds.

Otherwise, it is pretty.

Thanks for all the suggestions! :thumbup:

As soon as my caffeine kicks in (I'm a night owl - just woke up), I'll be talking to Mr. Seam Ripper. I've been quilting for years, but I'm not that experienced with applique, so I'll just flip or replace that part of the quilt. Shouldn't take long. :)

Thanks again! :D

Its turning out really nice though!

Don't forget to post a pic of the new layout! Good luck with it. (Tell Mr Ripper I said hi and I'll see him soon)

My motto is: If it bothers you-change it. That is how I teach beginning quilters. They will leave things that I could never leave, but it isn't my quilt.

I am just fascinated by what bothers each of us. I made a pink and white quilt top like this yesterday afternoon. I have white strips beside each other and I didn't change it. Two colors side by side doesn't bother me, but a seam that doesn't meet will drive me crazy until I change it. Or a mistake in the pattern will drive me crazy until I change it, and many people leave them. There is a quilt hanging in a shop here that has a mistake. My eyes go to it every time and most people walk by and don't notice it. I have been known to take it(my quilt tops) off of the longarm frame and fix a mistake just because I have to.