I Cut It Twice and it's Still Too Short: Let's Pretend I Meant to Do That

I should not have set foot in my sewing room at all yesterday.  If there was such a thing as a Quilter's Horoscope, mine for yesterday would have said "Avoid rotary cutters and scissors at all costs!  Spend the day looking at other people's quilts on Pinterest and Instagram!"

New Emergency Plan for Outer Borders: Pieced Corner Squares

So you may remember that I had my outer striped border print strips already seamed together along the stripe line, ready to be cut to size and attached to my quilt top with mitered corners.  I sat down to do the math after church yesterday, using the same instructions from the same book I used to do the mitered corners on the borders around the medallion for this quilt, but when I got to the part where I was supposed to pin the first border strip to the quilt I discovered that I'd cut the strip too short to do a miter.  I went back to check my calculations, and this is what I saw -- in my own handwriting:

63 1/2" minus 1/2" equals 62"??!

I swear, you guys -- I wasn't even drinking!!  Ugh...  It took me SO LONG to cut those border stripes single layer along the stripes and piece them together to get the borders the way I wanted them, and I cut ALL FOUR of them too short.  I didn't have enough of that border print to start over, and I'm pretty sure I can't get any more of it, either.  And of course I don't want to order fabric and then wait for it -- I want this project DONE already!!

Well, there's no use crying over spilled milk or butchered borders, is there?  A bunch of different ideas occurred to me and were abandoned for whatever reason, and I decided to make pieced corner blocks from the scraps I'd trimmed away from my pieced border lengths.  And here's where my EQ8 software came in handy yet again: My pieced border stripe finishes at 3 3/8" wide, so I needed my corner blocks to finish at 3 3/8" square.  My quarter square triangle ruler has lines printed in quarter inch increments, not eighths, and I wasn't going to be able to cross-cut an oversize square like you'd do in regular rotary cutting.  I also wanted to fussy cut those stripes to create the effect I wanted, so I decided to make myself a see-through template and cut these odd-size triangles out the old school way.

One of the cool things about EQ8 software, and why I recommend it for EVERY quilter even if you have no desire to ever design a quilt in your life, is that the software allows you to print out any of over 6,700 different blocks in any size your heart desires, either as foundation paper piecing patterns, traditional piecing templates, applique templates, or rotary cutting charts.  If you add the additional Blockbase (which works as a standalone piece if you just want to print patterns and don't want to invest in the full software package), that gives you an additional 4,300+ block patterns to choose from.  All copyright free, just about every block you can imagine, and you can easily make it whatever weird size you need in order to fix the border you cut too small... 

I located the 4-X block I wanted from the EQ8 Block Library.  This is one of those basic blocks that is already included as a default option in the Project Sketchbook when you create a new project:

I selected the block I wanted and clicked the Edit button, which brought up the Block Worktable screen:

Then all I needed to do was change the finished width and height of the block from 6.000" x 6.000" to 3.875" x 3.875" for my 3 3/8" corner block.  I clicked the Print & Export tab at the top of the screen next and printed a paper template for this resized block, and then I traced the paper template onto gridded template plastic since I wanted to fussy-cut my pieced stripe.  If I didn't need to see through my template, I would have just printed directly onto cardstock and saved the step of tracing.  Ta-da!

Odd Sized Quarter Square Triangle Template Printed from EQ8, Traced Onto Gridded Template Plastic

Next I just traced my template onto the pieced border stripe and cut each one out with a scissors, like the quilters used to do in Ye Olden Days...

Fussy Cutting Quarter Square Triangles From Pieced Border Stripe

And of course, I was cutting these triangles out of the SCRAP pieces I'd cut off when I cut my borders down to the (wrong) size, right?  RIGHT?!!!

-- WRONG!!!  AAARRRGH!!!  In yesterday's brain fog, it wasn't enough that I cut all four border strips too short to be mitered.  I grabbed one of my actual borders and started cutting triangles out of it, thinking it was a scrap.  I cut three triangles out of my border before I noticed that it was an AWFULLY long scrap...

Okay, so this was a really upsetting discovery to make, but I dug around in the studio and found that I did have a long, skinny scrap of the border print left, enough to make one more replacement pieced border.  There is not enough fabric left for any more mistakes!!  So today I've got some interior design work to catch up on in my office, and then I'll be heading up to the studio this afternoon to hopefully get these borders done and this quilt top finished once and for all!

Four Pieced Corner Blocks, Ready To Go

I have to admit, though -- I think I like my accidental corner blocks better than I would have liked the mitered corners I had originally planned for this border.  Aren't they cute?  They remind me of carved millwork rosettes like these:

Rosette Ornament for Woodworking from Decorator's Supply

One more photo, to give you an idea of how the scale of my corner blocks relates to the rest of the quilt top:

My Happy Accidents

Love, love, love!  All's well that end's well -- and this quilt top DOES need to come to an end today!!  

Meanwhile, back to work!  I'm linking up with:

• ·       Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com  
• ·       Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts http://www.cookingupquilts.com/
• ·       Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/
• ·       Moving it Forward at Em’s Scrap Bag: http://emsscrapbag.blogspot.com.au/
• ·       BOMs Away at Katie Mae Quilts: https://www.katiemaequilts.com/blog/  

Ta-Da! Triangles On My Design Wall!

The past few days have been busy, so I'm pleased to report that I've made some paltry progress on my new Tabby Mountain quilt.  

Triangles!

There are more triangles on my cutting table, along with a stack of other fabrics waiting to  be cut up.

More Triangles Ready For the Wall

I know this might not look like much to show for myself, but it's not like I've been holed up in my sewing room for the past five days; I've been busy as usual with other things.  Since my last post on Friday, I've sung at three church services plus four and a half hours of rehearsals, baked a chocolate peppermint fudge Bundt cake to bring to a post-Christmas choir party that I attended with my husband: 

I Should Have Left Out the Peppermint Extract.  It Tasted Like Chocolate Toothpaste Cake.

...Cooked chicken soup from scratch (with my first-ever attempt at Matzo balls!) and delivered it to a sick friend (that soup was delicious, but alas, I forgot to get a picture for you guys).  I also managed to fit in three hours of exercise, a book study, and two doctor appointments.  All since Friday, and all in my so-called "free time" -- I'm not even listing any of the time I spent on activities pertaining to work, housekeeping, or parenting.  So although my progress may look pitiful to some, I am delighted to see those triangles slowly but steadily multiplying on the design wall.  Sewing them together will probably go faster than cutting them out, don't you think?

I prewashed my fabrics so one thing slowing down my cutting is that I have to press and starch each piece of fabric before I start cutting into it.  I'm a fervent believer in starch for precision piecing anyway, but I knew I wanted to start out with starched fabric for this project in particular to control the tendency of all of those long bias edges to want to stretch.  

My Ancient Chinese Secret: Spray Starch

Cutting the solid fabrics and a couple of the prints goes faster than cutting out stripes, directional prints, and kitty cats.  The Tabby Road print is my favorite fabric in the collection, so I'm cutting those triangles one at a time and trying to get one kitty cat in each triangle.  

Fussy-Cutting My Kitty Cats

Of course I want my stripes perfectly straight, directional prints right side up instead of sideways, and prints like the rows of cat food need to be cut straight as well.  

Fabric Edge Is Torn, Print Is Slightly Off Grain

As you can see in the photo above, despite the bottom edge of the fabric being torn so I know it's perfectly on grain, the rows of cat food cans are actually printed onto the fabric slightly crooked.  I want my Cat Snacks to be right side up and nice and straight on my quilt, so I cut my 10" strip parallel to the rows of cans.

Cutting First Pair of 30 Degree Triangles from Double Layer of Cat Snacks Fabric

...And, as you can see in this photo, there isn't a lot of room for error when cutting triangles from these FQ (fat quarter) prints.  I need four triangles from each FQ, and once I've straightened my fabric edge up and cut a 10" strip, I barely have enough to get those four triangles out of it.  Yes, I'm accumulating large fabric scraps of each print for another project, but there are no scraps large enough to cut out another 10" 30 degree triangle if I was to mess one up.

Cutting Second Pair of Triangles From The Same FQ Strip

See what I mean about not much room for error?  I'd rather cut up these luscious prints slowly and carefully than fast and recklessly.  Speed isn't worth what you lose in accuracy, or the finger you sliced off with your rotary cutter, slicing through fabric left and right like a crazy person.  

Future Triangles Waiting in the Wings: Needing to be Starched, Pressed, and Chopped Up

I am really loving working with these saturated colors and fun prints, I can tell you that.  It's like a feast for my eyeballs, calorie-free and everything, which is perfect for January!

Anyway, this was just supposed to be a "quick" post, so I'm signing off now.  I'm linking up with:

• ·       Let’s Bee Social at www.sewfreshquilts.blogspot.ca/
• ·       Midweek Makers at www.quiltfabrication.com/
• ·       WOW WIP on Wednesday at www.estheraliu.blogspot.com
• ·       WIPs With Friends at www.mamaspark.blogspot.com

For the Love of Starch: Jingle Pieced Block 7 Completed!

Jingle BOM Pieced Block No. 7

Good morning, and Happy December!  I hope everyone had a safe and relaxing Thanksgiving break with family and friends.  Our turkey was delicious, but after eating leftovers for four days in a row I really don't miss it now that it's gone.  Now, the pumpkin pies my mom baked are another story altogether -- I could eat that pumpkin pie every day for breakfast and never get tired of it.

We made a start with Christmas decorating on Friday and Saturday, but on Sunday afternoon Anders went to Grammy's house for oil painting and cookie baking and Lars and I headed up to the sewing room.  Lars is pretty self-sufficient with his cross stitch project now, so I was able to work on Pieced Block No. 7 for my Jingle BOM project. 

I did have some setbacks with this block.  First of all, Erin Russek's pattern instructions are for traditional cutting methods where you cut out a square of a certain size and then cut it diagonally once (for half-square triangles or HSTs) or twice (for quarter-square triangles or QSTs).  I wanted to use my specialty rulers instead, which allow me to quickly and accurately cut these triangles from strips of fabric instead of first cutting squares -- but you have to know what size to make your strips first.  I cut my red poinsettia triangles too small the first time and had to recut them from wider strips.  But my biggest challenge with this block was figuring out how to cut those outer corner triangles accurately.  The directions called for making them as HSTs, but I wanted to fussy-cut them from a medallion motif on my fabric.  I cut my triangles way too small the first time, and worried that maybe the corner triangles were the right size and the rest of the block was all screwed up, but I finally figured it out.



Jingle BOM Pieced Block No. 7

Oh, and the spray starch!  Harriet Hargrave recommends starching each and every piecing seam throughout the construction of every block.  I grew up in the Age of Permanent Press Fabrics, and I didn't even own any starch until I bought some to prep applique shapes.  I tried starching my seams for the first time on this block and I am officially in love.  Not only did the starch get my seams to lay flatter once I'd pressed them open (and STAY flat as additional pieces were sewn onto the block), but I had a lot less trouble with bias edges of triangles stretching and distorting when everything was crisply starched.  My block finished at 9 1/2", just as it is supposed to, and my triangle points are as good as I can get them.  As the Pretty Woman once said, "Color me happy!"

I sewed this block on my Big 'Nina, the Bernina 750 QE, with foot #37D and Dual Feed engaged, Aurifil 50/2 thread, and a size 70 Microtex needle, stitch length 2.0.  (That's for my own benefit -- I often forget what worked for me last time and it's nice to be able to look back through my blog and find that information).

My husband says I need to finish decorating my Christmas trees so he can take the boxes out of the house today, and it's either laundry today or naked family tomorrow...  ;-)  I'm not sure whether I'll make it back into my sewing room before tomorrow, but here's what I'm cooking up for the next block so far:

Next Up: Jingle Pieced Block No. 6

Picking out fabrics is my favorite part!  Incidentally, the motif I'm centering in the red star for Block 6 is the same one I broke apart for my corner triangles on Block 7.

Have a wonderful Monday, everyone!  I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday on Judy's blog, Patchwork Times.  Pop over there to be inspired by what others are working on today.