25 February, 2020

Hitting the Road, and Hitting a WALL!

I'm packing today, and hitting the road tomorrow; yes, it's that time again! Are any of you going? I'm excited to reconnect with old friends, make new ones, see the always AWESOME quilt show and to visit the vendors mall. I'm taking a machine quilting class from Bethanne Nemesh on Friday.
This is the class that I've signed up for: "Fast to Fancy Freehand Feathers", isn't this photo tempting? We'll see how much I can learn in four hours! I'll give it my best, and I'll return with a full report. In the meantime, I've hit a wall with the Temecula Scavenger Hunt sew-along. If you've been following the last couple of posts from me you'll know that two of our grandchildren are currently visiting. In a slap-dash attempt to get ahead with this weeks' clue and get my quilt on schedule before I leave tomorrow, I quickly got all of the nine-patches stitched up and set yesterday afternoon. I thought I was ahead of the game; how clever of me!
From here, it was a hop, skip and a jump to bordering two sides and calling it a day. Think again!
 I pieced together the framed nine-patches with the spacer strips, as instructed. It did not fit-- at all!
With both ends pinned, I had a bit of excess in the center! Okay, this clearly wasn't working!
Back to square one. Here's the cautionary tale: ALWAYS square up, at every step! I did not!! The instructions were clear, the blocks should measure exactly 3 5/8" after adding the four side triangles. 
We won't even mention what mine were measuring! I was over-confident, I never even checked. 🙄
Check out the difference that going back to basics makes! I took each block apart. Just like I taught my granddaughter last week, I marked my seam lines and realigned my thinking to an ACCURATE 1/4" seam allowance! See what a difference it makes?
With pieced blocks this small, it makes a HUGE difference to be 100% accurate, and that's everything!  All that debris, in the lower part of the photo is what I trimmed away, block after block. I was truly giving my seam ripper a workout!
Good to go; at last!

So, here's where I am right now. I laid out those re-sewn, and perfect, nine-patches alongside one edge and measured. It's all good; but then-- it's not! I'm unhappy with that light brown framing these blocks. I feel that there needs to be more contrast at this point, a much darker brown to echo back to the center rows. I have to continue taking these apart anyway,and so-- these framing triangles are going into the trash can and a darker, espresso brown is going to be reintroduced. This next step will have to wait until I return from MidAtlantic though; I need to finish packing, and I need to add a new seam ripper to my to the top of my shopping list! In the meantime, I'm going to pop up some popcorn and enjoy some after-school time with my grandchildren while I still can! 

I'll be back soon. 
Life is Good!

4 comments:

Quiltdivajulie said...

What if you inserted a very narrow vertical strip of the darker brown before adding the framed nine patches? That might give you the additional definition you're thinking about. (either way, I do love a good sharp seam ripper)

Janet O. said...

Looks like you will be having a wonderful class.
Your Temecula project is enough to make me wish I had played along. I get what you are saying about wanting the darker brown to come out to the sides of the quilt. You have probably got it all taken apart by now, but I did think Julie's suggestion would have saved a lot have time and may have provided the look you wanted. :)

Tanya said...

It's looking good to me! And you relearned an important lesson that I too often seem to forget also. I can't wait to see how your quilting class turns out! How I would love to try a class like that someday!

Lindah said...

So happy to find you again. In early Jan, my computer suffered a melt down. All my old blog friends were lost to me. Not able to remember blog names, I have been on the lookout for mention of familiar blogs as I make my way thru blogland once again. Today I found you! Yay! In reading back to where I left off, it looks like you have been busy as usual. I resonate with your quilting from fabric on hand. I'm doing that, too, but every now and then I find myself getting bored with it and wishing for a shopping trip. --Then I remember the current prices and the old fabrics look a bit nicer. :-)