Frustration!

These blocks are what I've been working on lately. These blocks are going to be put away for a while. Those hourglass pieces are KILLING me. UGH!

I love the bright colors of the hand dyed fabrics paired with the black. This is going to be my lap quilt... someday. Right now, I need to put them away before I really screw them up and get even MORE frustrated with them. All four of them are four different sizes. I just don't get it. The pattern tells me I should have a 12.5" square block once all the bits and pieces are put together. Not even close, sister. I think my largest is 12" and my smallest falls somewhere are 11" something. It's those hourglass pieces, I'm telling you, that's throwing me off.

But I like them because they are all cheery looking; even with the black. A friend of mine told me to try starching them before cutting on the bias. That may help. I'll give it a try. But not today and probably not next week either.

The colors in the pictures aren't quite right. The green is nice and bright. Looks a bit dull here.



Enjoy your day!
Jen

First Day of 2009 and I don't like it

And I'm ready for the day to be OVER! I've decided to tackle my very first quilt using a pattern and fabric from my little stash. I washed my fat quarters and pressed and spent an hour yesterday cutting all my quarters to length so that I can start piecing tonight when Amelia is in bed for the night.

Today, I have some time during Amelia's nap so I decided to sit down and start on the first couple piecing steps. All my strips are 2 inches too short length wise! WAH!! Okay, it can't be me. I could not have precisely cut all my fat quarters two inches too short! So either my fat quarters shrunk in the wash OR they weren't cut right to begin with. I can't say for sure because I didn't measure them beforehand to begin with.

Someone tell me not to panic and all will be well! The pattern I'm working from is "Yellow Brick Road" by Atkinson Designs and I'm supposed to have strip pieces that are 21 inches long. Mine are all 19 inches.

I should get two 6.5 inch units and two 3.5 inch units from each strip... and my ultimate block size should be 9.5x9.5. I'm thinking of cutting off the 1/2 inch everywhere and get two 6 inch units and two 3 inch units from each strip and whatever my block size will be... I don't know. I'm very bad at math. But I don't want to scrap this fabric as I love it and bought it for my Punkie Girl and it's already cut for this pattern.

Please, please, please... someone tell me it's going to be fine and what I'm thinking of doing is okay! I'm not a seasoned quilter so it's hard for me to think outside the box when I'm following a pattern.

Big Sigh.
Jen :(