The things we do for friends... it's time for my annual charity friendship quilt. Blocks appearing almost daily in the mailbox (the bestest part). Directions this year said they could make blocks 6.5" or 12.5", whichever suited their design concept the best. Most had no problem, because most did some kind of applique and left it big enough to trim. But one lady sent me 2 pieced blocks. Sigh.
They were about 13.5" not-quite-square. Too big to fudge. And chopping down to size would have been sooooo obvious (also cutting off her signature). So I have been frogging, pressing, trimming each patch, and putting back together into a dead accurate 12.5".
I could feel her frustration, bless her heart. She obviously didn't have any inch rulers in the house, only centimeters. She clearly made a cardboard template. Probably drew it with a nice thick pencil line and cut right outside the line. then traced each piece on the fabric with a nice thick ballpoint line and carefully cut right outside that. A generous centimeter seam allowance (works on her European machine's seam guide). The machine stitching shows a lot of thread breaks and wobbles. She doesn't sew much, probably owns a piece of junk from the discount store. Seams backstitched 2 or 3 times at beginning and end, making it impossible to press flat. And in spite of cursing every minute of this task (little blue glow hanging over the blocks), she soldiered on and made me 2 blocks!
Well, now they are exorcised of crappy thread and poor stitching and wonky seams, nice and flat and square, and her lovely color choices show. Got all her signature in too! Roberta in D