What a BOM can teach

I am currently involved in three BOMs (block of the month). All three of my March blocks are finished and the two that are swaps were shipped on the same day. 

The third one is a BOM that I am doing with a local quilting friend, and we are each making our own quilt from the pattern. I am doing a 9" block and she is making hers 18".

As you can see, I am still struggling with the new camera so this photo is not as bright as I would like it. I am taking the instruction booklet with me to the car dealership this morning and will read it while I wait for my oil change.

This particular block comes from "Pioneer Sampler" 2009 BOM Quilt site online. I cut the pieces following directions and trusting that it was all accurate. As I laid them out together to start piecing, the darker pinks were 2 3/4" wide and should have been 3 1/8" to match the light pinks and greens. It wasn't that big a deal to save what was cut first and re-cut. 

What it showed me is that what I read in black and white is not always true. Even in quilting, I have to think for myself, use logic & reasoning as well as intuition and inspiration.

A similar thing happened with the other two BOMs I made this month. No matter how accurate my piecing is, from cutting to the seam allowance, things happen. And if it doesn't come out like the pattern says it will, there are things I can do to correct the situation. The challenge doesn't have to immobilize me.

In my earlier days in quilting, I figured it had to be me, had to be something I did wrong. That first mystery quilt took me a year to finish and the actual issue WAS a mis-print on the pattern.

With that quilt and these BOM's, I know now that I must engage all those mental skills of logic, reason, and intuition to make it work. A simple block. One block.

A simple life. One life. Other people give me their patterns made to the best of their abilities. Mis-prints can happen without their permission and then we all find ourselves in conflict, crisis or mis-communication. A person who wants to raise their personal vibration, needs to work with an evolved wisdom. That simple.