“Miasakes Happen”, or, “What Would Patrick F. McManus do?

How does that song from Sinatra go?  “Mistakes….I’ve made a few”.  That song is running through our head right now even though technically -for once- we didn’t make the mistake.

Let’s back this story up a bit. 

There is a massive shop hop coming to Oregon called, “The All-Pacific Northwest Shop Hop”.   It includes shops in both Oregon and Washington.  One of the unique things this hop does is publish a magazine, full of pictures of quilts made from the exclusive Shop Hop Fabric,  and it includes some resource guides, and the passport.  The link for more information about this hop will be at the end of this blog. 

We submitted a design, and boy was I pumped when it was accepted!  The fabrics from Jason Yenter (In the Beginning) reminded me of everything my Grandpa Church loved.  He was a logger, who hunted and fished in his spare time, and was briefly a game warden.   When he got old enough, hunting and fishing were no longer doable he would entertain himself reading stories about hunting trips from Patrick F. McManus, a very humorous writer.  While we crafted this sucker with blood, sweat, tears, some prayers, and cussing….I thought about Grandpa.   We were pleased with the results of the quilt once it was done.  I felt I had done Grandpa some justice!  I named after the title of one of Patrick’s books, “They shoot Canoes, Don’t They?” 

Later we received a photo of the cover of the magazine. Our quilt was not featured.  My lower lip stuck out a little bit, but  still, the quilt had still been accepted, and that’s an honor.   Then we received a copy of the magazine, and it was clear why our quilt was not gracing the cover.

It had been photographed sideways. 

Below are three pictures.  The group photo with all the projects is on the left.   (Our quilt is the star  hanging in the back.)  The lone ranger photo of our quilt is in the middle, and to the right is the cover of the magazine.   It really looks to us like they caught the error late and edited our quilt out.   And I don’t particularly blame them!  However, my first instinct was to feel like crying.   It was disappointing. 
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However, the timing for this error was perfect!  We had just finished our monthly Progressive Quilt Club.  In that club, we do a presentation, and pass out a pattern, along with a newsletter that pertains to that month’s subject.  We have five people check for errors, and we use spell check.  Still, occasionally, stuff sneaks in.  It’s always a little nerve racking to be speaking in the presentation while watching “spell checkers” circle all the errors that slipped in. 

I imagine this magazine had at least five people editing it as well.  And they still had an error slip in.   So my thought was, what would Patrick F. McManus do?

Patrick would embrace the error.  He would absolutely have seen the funny side of this and turned it into a story to boot. So we are rolling with it.  We will be CELEBRATING this error.   How often do you get a picture of your quilt published in a magazine?  Rarely.  Sideways?  Rarer still.   It’s official folks.  We are one in a million. 

We did try to post something humorous about this on the APNW shop Hop Facebook page, but apparently, they are not seeing the funny side of this yet and removed the post.    

(we thought our post was funny!
​So here's a pic of it!)
Sigh. ---->

So, back to celebrating this error. 

We are having a contest!  Stay tuned to our website and Facebook page and consider signing up for our newsletter for the announcements.   Our contest is designed to celebrate mistakes, and we will be awarding some cool prizes!  ( Anyone want a mini  Oliso iron, cover, and pressing matt?  Yes please!)  

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Because while “misakes” happen, they won’t happen if you don’t try.  If you don’t try, you won’t succeed.   Might as well celebrate all the mistakes we have made on our way to success!   (No, pictures of your ex-husbands can not be part of this contest.) 


Here is a cartoon of our quilt, turned the correct way.  When we get it back, we will take a better picture.   

​But maybe it will be upside down?  Just for fun! 

Click the button below for a link to the shop hops website- in case you want more info.

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All Pacific Northwest Shop Hop

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