1. Home
  2. Quilting Forum
  3. Aaaaargh! Bad Quilting Day Question

Aaaaargh! Bad Quilting Day Question

I tried to post this about 15-minutes ago, but an error occurred when I clicked the "Post Message" button. Hopefully, the original posing will not show up.

I am making a snowball/9-patch quilt using finished 9-inch blocks. I designed the simple quilt in EQ5, mostly to make it easier to play with colors. When I sewed the snowball blocks, I used the simple method of cutting small squares for each corner, sewing on the diagonal, and removing the excess triangle from the seam allowance side. My LQS recommended leaving the background fabric intact, which I did (though it seems a bit heavy to me with those corners left in). My trouble started when I cut those corner squares using the rotary cutting instructions in EQ5, which should only have been used if I cut those squares in half on the diagonal and then sewed them to the 9-1/2" square. That is, I cut the corner squares 3-7/8", when I should have cut them 3-1/2". Unfortunately, I completed all of the snowball blocks before I realized that there was a problem, so now the snowball block corners are too big to meet the 9-patch block points.

I see two solutions to the problem:

1) Remove the existing triangles from the snowball blocks and replace them with the correctly sized ones. This would entail a long trip to my LQS to purchase more of the same fabric (presuming they have some more). It would also take extra time to redo those corners, which could be a problem due to a time constraint. 2) Just accept that I have a new design, which has small jags in the corner designs where the blocks meet.

If it were not for the time constraint, I would lean toward fixing it (I'm a bit of a perfectionist). What do you think?

Thanks, Bev in TX

Reply to
countryone77
Loading thread data ...

There is a 3rd solution, if you haven't already made the 9-patch blocks. Make those to fit the snowballs.

Personally, I would live with the small "jag" and call it a design choice.

Reply to
frood

Bev,

I won't comment on whether you should do one or the other, but since you left the background fabric in, if you unpick, you can "just" cut the corner squares smaller (3-1/2 instead of 3-7/8) and not have to go buy more fabric.

Still would take time though.

Hanne in London

Reply to
Hanne Gottliebsen

That's exactly what I was going to suggest, Hanne. Best of luck with that, Bev -- it could have happened to anyone. :S

Reply to
Sandy Foster

Reply to
countryone77

That's what I was going to suggest too. Whether or not you fix it depends on whether you will be satisfied with it if you don't. If it is a gift and you won't have to see it often (or at all), you might want to leave it. If you are going to keep the quilt or see it quite often and it really bothers you, you should consider fixing it.

Julia > snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:

Reply to
Julia in MN

And I forgot to mention that I usually cut off the "extra" corners, but not until after I have pressed the snowball. It seems to be easier to get it pressed nice and square if I wait to do the trimming after pressing. In your case, it is fortunate that you didn't trim; it will make it easier to fix if that's what you decide to do.

Julia > That's what I was going to suggest too. Whether or not you fix it

Reply to
Julia in MN

Reply to
countryone77

It's a gift for someone and I doubt as to whether I would ever see it again. I guess my only concern would be that someone else would say something to her and she would feel badly that she was given something that was not done correctly.

I'll try redoing a few of the corners to see whether I can get them to work correctly. If not, I guess that I will be stuck with leaving them asis due to the time constraint.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Bev > That's what I was going to suggest too. Whether or not you fix it

Reply to
countryone77

OK, here is another idea - I have no idea what it would look like, but you could try basting a couple and see what you think.

If you make each block a little bit smaller (either get someone here to do the maths, do it yourself or just use a bigger seam allowance to make it work) then you can make the corners match.

Of course, the 9-patches will no longer have perfectly square patches, but they will be perfectly rectangular.

And the quilt will not be exactly the same size unless you do something with borders or whatever.

Then again, this might be a really hair-brained (or is that hare-brained

- didn't we have this discussion before on here) idea...

Hanne > It's a gift for someone and I doubt as to whether I would ever see it

Reply to
Hanne Gottliebsen

Make a new set of nine patches, with uneven patch size... outer corners squares the size of the snowball corners, middles size of snowball edge.

Reply to
Kay Lancaster

I did that once, decided to just leave them, and the pattern looks great!

Trixie

Reply to
Trixie

Reply to
countryone77

Reply to
countryone77

Any chance of your putting in a narrow sashing between them, so that the fact they don't quite line up isn't so obvious? After all, they are mostly put together for the sub patterns; and, if they can't do that, they might as well have sashing? Perhaps only an inch would help? . In message , snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com writes

Reply to
Patti

I'd be inclined to fix them. Don't re-do your existing blocks, just buy enough fabric to do both background and corners. So if the store doesn't have exactly the same, you might be able to find a similar fabric that would blend well and add interest to your quilt. You can surely find some other quilt to use up the "odd" snowballs. Roberta in D

schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...

Reply to
Roberta Zollner

I'm assuming that the snowball blocks are the "simple" blocks. If you feel compelled to re-do anything, those would be the ones to work on.

But I like the idea of leaving them "as is" and laying all the blocks out as previously planned. Does the difference look good? Does it now have a "star" block effect? If so, I'd just leave them and acknowledge that you designed your own quilt pattern and give it with pride.

If you really can't stand it, make new snowball blocks. Put aside the other ones for another quilt. I have dozens of half-finished projects that changed mid-stream and now need a re-design. I can't stand to toss them, but know that they'll eventually come to some good, even if it's just for a picnic-on-the-ground quilt or for the new puppy.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

René

Reply to
René

Reply to
countryone77

InspirePoint website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.