Desperate Housewife's Quilt: Block Five

I’m not exactly sure why, but this block seemed to really take a lot for me to complete. I am sure, however, that I overly complicated matters.

I don’t like raw edge appliqué… yet. Let me explain. Since I was a young lad, I realized that raw edges unraveled and fell apart. Ever since I have made sure to turn all raw edges of fabric in, sometimes double tucking for clothing items where the edge will still be exposed but not visible. So when I see all these quilts with raw edges, I cringe. I know that I am in the minority, as this rag-look is quite chic, but I can’t help it. I am, however, trying to overcome this phobia.

For the Desperate Housewife’s Quilt that Jane is hosting on her blog Want it, Need it, Quilt! (http://quiltjane.blogspot.com) I had quite a bit of trouble with Block Five, which called for a raw edged appliqué blanket stitched into place after being ironed on with fusible webbing. Now, in theory, the fusible webbing should hold all those threads into place, but I still don’t trust it. So instead I did what I usually do for appliqué work and hand turned it after using fusible webbing to hold it into place. I will say it was nice not needing to pin the appliqué pieces into place, but I still don’t know if I would trust it to not fray.

Perhaps it is time to let go of my fears. Perhaps I simply need to say to myself, “Get over it! It’s just fabric!” Perhaps I need to make another block using this pattern and try the technique Jane called for because I really love the look of this block. Isn’t it great?