Saturday, February 28, 2009

Am I Anal or What?

I have had this 'Quilts From the Heart' kit for several months. There is nothing difficult about it. In fact the pieces for the top were meant to be put together in one large block. Very simple. So why couldn't I just pick it up and finish it?
Okay. Here is where the 'anal' part comes in. The focus fabric had a school theme. There were pencils, and crayons, books and slates, other related school items and a couple of test sheets. And that is where my problem started. One of the test sheets had received an A+. There were no mistakes on it. Or were there? Take a look. Since when does 4 x 4 = 8?

I know it's not a big deal, but I just wasn't able to put the quilt together with this mistake in it. I imagined some poor, unsuspecting child sleeping under it, all the while learning the multiplications facts incorrectly! I was laughed at when I told anyone about my little neurosis! "No one else will ever notice it", I was told. "Just put the darn quilt together and get it done."

So a couple of days ago that is exactly what I did. I tried not to think about the mistakes. I tried to focus on the task. I tried to enjoy myself. But the only one enjoying the fruits of my labour was Mimi!

She slept on it at every stage. I just couldn't keep her off it. She helped me sandwich it and she tested it out to make sure it was okay.

"Meow! Just putting the love in. Meow!"
Yeah! I know your are!!!

So the quilt passed the Mimi test! And I finally figured out how to satisfy my own obsession. I put a little red line under each 8 on the test papers in the fabric. Just a little red line to say that the answer is not correct.

I guess it is the teacher in me - although I never marked a student's math paper with a red marker! The kids in our class had enough problems with self esteem! They didn't need to be reminded about their errors! I used to put a little 'dot', in pencil, under the wrong answer. Then the student could fix it and I could eventually mark it and no one ever needed to know how many tries it took to get the correct answer. I never liked finding mistakes.

Since it is the last day of February, this quilt counts towards my finishes for this month! Yippee! My 'Math Problems' charity quilt is done! I completed three items this month!

7 comments:

the dutch purple rabbit said...

mimi only wanted to show you how beatiful it is. She can't read so see didn't see the mistake. It is a lovely quilt after all.

nynke

Barb said...

That is funny....well, to me but not to you. Just reminded me of a quilt I made for my son. He graduated in 2001 and so I made him a quilt that said class of 2001 but.....(mind you, I did not notice this but one of my sons did after it was finished and quilted)....part of the class was cut of....the cl part...so I had the other part all over his quilt...talk about being mortified...and there was nothing I could do about it...done deal....the boys still get a kick out of it.....hummmmmm

Reddirt Woman said...

If you're anal, so am I... I don't know if I wouldn't have tried to "cut 'n paste" somehow to make it a plus...

Other than that... Beautiful quilt.

Beeshebags said...

I'm sorry, but if not being keen to put that together with such an error on it makes you anal....then I must be anal too! LOL I'm not sure what I would've done with it, but if it was a repetitive pattern, I think I'd have been either cutting it into squares so I could "magically" make the error disappear, or I would have been trying to work out what I could put over the error to hide it! lol So no hun, you're not anal...just a little pedantic...like me! Hugs Naomi from Adelaide, Sth Australia

Librarynan said...

Wow, Hetty...Three finishes in February. Cool.
So far as the "anal" part goes... nope, teachers (even retired ones) can't "let it go". Just part of our nature (or habit at best), I guess.
If the quilt passed the Mimi test, it is a winner! tee hee.

The Calico Cat said...

I love finding those mistakes. I have 2 different pieces of fabric where the traffic sign for "Yield" is spelled "Yeld."

Anonymous said...

As long as my favoured Mimi liked the quilt,it's okay with me.
And that quilt is beautiful just like all your quilts.
Ranke