Quilter's Academy - Volume 2 - Sophomore Year

Vol 3 - Junior Year


Friday, January 4, 2013

Vol 2 - Sophomore Final - Frame Corners

I had some trouble making the corners of the internal frame but failed to see where I was going wrong.  The blocks refused to fit and nothing I did seemed to fix the problem. 

The 9 patch on the right side is 1 inch out.  The orange and yellow corners should meet as they do on the left side.
Hmmm. 
Maybe taking out 4 of the sashing pieces was a mistake.
Or maybe I had turned one or more of the blocks the wrong way when I was sewing them together.
Bad sewing?  Inconsistant seams?  Poor measuring? Crooked cutting?
Not to be beaten, I sat down and unpicked a lot of the almost completed quilt top.

Back in pieces :(
 
Taking a lot of care to place the blocks correctly, I relaid them back onto the design wall with the removed sashing pieces returned.  This threw out the design and anyway made no difference to the corner frame unit, which still didn't fit.  So the extra sashing pieces removed, I laid out the blocks again,  got the pattern correct and Yes! - it still didn't fit. :(

At this point I was giving myself a score of E for Effort but a Fail on the project.  It was hot - who makes quilts in summer anyway - I was grumpy and frustrated.  Those measurements SHOULD work.

Time to call in the big guns.  John entered the sacred sewing room armed with graph paper and a metal ruler and proceeded to ask numerous questions about 1/4 inch seams.  Drawing on the graph paper he came up with the exact same measurements I already had.  The difference was that on paper they fit, on my design wall they didn't.

Hubby to the rescue

John approached the design wall with his sturdy metal ruler.  "What size is this piece supposed to be?" he demanded.  "15 inches" I replied.  After grumbling about having to work in inches rather than centimetres, he declared "well it's not".  Stupidly, it was only this one side which was out - the other 3 were all exactly 15 inches.  And stupidly it was the only corner I worked on trying to get the measurements right as it was the easiest one to reach.  Sigh.

After making an adjustment and using the same measurements as before, I tried it again - Voila!  Success!

Whee! Hurrah!
  
The side setting triangles are next but not today.  It was seriously hot today - 41 degrees outside (that's about 106 Fahrenheit) and hotter than that inside my glass-walled sewing room.  The ave January temp in Southern Tasmania is 21.6 C (about 71 F) and my sewing room is not set up for high tempertures.  I retreated to the air con upstairs for the rest of the day. 















9 comments:

  1. Congrats on figuring out what was going on with your square! It can be quite frustrating at times this quilting!
    I can't imagine trying to work in heat like that!? where i am in Northern Canada its a balmy ( for this time of year) -9 c. Even in summer though doesnt get as hot as 41c.
    I am still plugging away through Vol One, working on Asian Nights at the moment and having my own issues with figuring out how many strips to cut etc LOL.
    looking forward to seeing your finished quilt top.
    Vicki

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    1. Hi Vicki. I've heard wonderful things about Canada but -9c sounds a bit too chilly for me - lol.

      Keep plugging along with Asian Nights, you wont regret it. It's still my all time favourite quilt and the one I use for curling up on the couch.

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  2. This will be quite striking when done. I like the contrast. I'm nearing the end of Volume 1. Didn't get much done in 2012 (though I did sew more than I blogged), so hoping for a more productive 2013. I will hopefully get to meet Harriet in May at the NC Quilt Symposium. Am eagerly awaiting the opening of the registration later this month.

    Cheers, K

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  3. You are meeting Harriet? I'm so jealous :).
    I'm with you on a non-productive year - it's taken me forever to get through Vol 2.

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  4. So glad you are inspired to resume the blogs about QA. Thanks so much!.

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  5. please stay hydrated! that is way too hot! we are barely above freezing here, it feels great to sit with a big quilt on my lap here, must be miserable there. I am so impressed with your Vol 2 final! It doesn't hurt to bring in a fresh pair of eyes, does it? I am working on Vol 1 final, my son helped me pick the colors. It is so much fun!

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  6. Well QRITS - the weather has settled a bit, but still hot, too hot to be covering myself with quilts.

    Good luck on your Freshman Final - any chance of a pic when you're finished?

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  7. Amazing great. I love this very nice job.

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