As you can see, I decided to use up the extra strips I'd cut and make the larger version. The original Town Square quilt had 16 blocks and this one has 48, so that's quite a size difference. It didn't take all that long to make up the extra 32 blocks - I had got into a sort of a rhythm with this one - the piecing hummed along and I finished them all yesterday. Today was spent assembling it.
PLANNING FOR PRESSING
This one isn't assembled with the chain method. Harriet advises to lay out all the blocks, then examine the seams to make sure they lie in opposite directions for pressing. Now that's good advise, but I didn't take it. The idea is to move the A & B blocks around till the seams are all lying the correct way. This is not a good idea for me, as shuffling the blocks around made me lose sight of the design and I ended up with a confused mess.
As it was, I had to snip and turn about half the seams for butting, which took forever. Here is a pic of the back of one of the blocks - it's not pretty!
You can see where I've had to snip the seams to flip them in the opposite direction. It's a concern, as it makes the top a bit bulky, which could be a problem when it comes to quilting it. We'll see.To assemble the top, the 48 blocks are layed out into 12 large 4 patch blocks then sewn together.
The top layed out into big 4 patch blocksThis is a nifty way to do it, as it makes it easier to get the seams lying in the right direction.
DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE..........?
I finished assembling the top and took the picture...........
I didn't see the reversed patches until I took the photo. How could I not see this. I had been looking at them all day. I should at least have seen them when I layed out the blocks. Nope. In the photo they are so glaringly obvious. So, how to fix it?
I think all beginner tutorials should include a section on how to fix stuff ups. But not this book, so I'm on my own.
I unpicked the offending blocks from the top, rotated them around and sewed them back in. Now this sounds easy enough, but it's not. It's awkward to sew them back onto patches which already have seams - it all gets lumpy. I did the best I could, and it's not bad and unnoticable from a distance, but take a closer look.....
Oh dear, it's so frustrating when that happens. It is such a small part of a wonderful quilt though and I am sure when it is quilted only you will notice it.
ReplyDeleteOnly a bit of an OOPS, took me a while to pick it, but then it was glaringly obvious.
ReplyDeleteBut I can't see where you fixed them, and if you dont point it out, no one will know. (this from someone with experience with Ooopses)
beautiful blog, great work, others won't notice the oopsies but you know their there and don't they bug you, when it happen, just don't point it out!
ReplyDeletehttp://bucknchooky.blogspot.com/
I agree... I get frustrated when I do similar things - however, and I know we all want to do perfect things - they aren't too bad and I agree with Linda once the quilt is quilted and settles down who will notice... Hmmm I was lucky enough to view a 100 year old redwork quilt which was worked in blue - parts of the embroidery sections were incomplete and a couple of embroidered patches were completely different to the rest... Well the six of us pondered the possibilites to why they were like that... So think long term - in 100 years someone will wondered about your quilts little quirks - if they can find them :)
ReplyDeleteI am just so annoyed with myself for not seeing the turned blocks before assembling. I was going to re-do my hasty fixes, but now I think I'll leave them as a reminder to pay more attention!
ReplyDeleteThanks to all for your encouragement and comments.