Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Two for the Road...and a Bump

I took two small sewing projects with me on vacation, along with Everett, otherwise known as the "O' Brother" machine.
Didn't actually sew as much as I'd imagined.  Some hotel rooms were better laid out for that kind of thing, logistically, and some evenings I simply opted to use the hotel treadmill or pool or watch a movie instead.
Nevertheless, I did get a few Quilty 365 circles done.  My orange stash is pretty much exhausted, as far as variety, so I'm going to have to repeat some fabrics or...something/insert creative idea here...to finish out the month of October.

I also started piecing a quilt using an Aspen Frost layer cake won in the Hands2Help charity quilt project giveaway a few months back.
I finished up the piecing this week.  It was simple and straightforward, a free quilt pattern called Precious Gem, found HERE.  
Got it laid out on the design wall, things looked good, and started to sew the first rectangular pieces together yesterday.

One seam in, I noticed something was not right.
What in the world?  Why was there a good half-inch gap between my corner triangles?  Had I cut my corner pieces too small?  Was I supposed to trim the rectangles from the layer cake to a different size first?

I went back and reread the instructions.  Nope, I had followed them exactly.

*...mumbling and grumbling...will it matter?...maybe not...maybe so...ugh...*
 
Well, the only way to fix the gap and make the points match was to trim a half inch from the length of each rectangle.  I didn't like the idea of losing several inches in the overall size of the quilt by having to do that, but there didn't seem to be another option.  Other than live with the gap, I suppose, but the way I'd planned the piecing, using two different gray fabrics in the corners, was done to play up the diagonal part of the design.  If there's a gap, then is there a continuous diagonal at all?
So I'm resolved now to giving each piece a haircut before I sew them together.  I'm thankful I didn't sew half the quilt together before I noticed anything amiss.  And I'm still wondering how did  I miss something so seemingly (or seamingly) obvious—if it looks easy, why is it not?

Image source and free printable
Anyway, questions aside, time to grab the seam ripper (or rotary cutter) and carry on.  

How about you?  Hit any bumps in the road this week? 

7 comments:

em's scrapbag said...

Your circles look great. My orange supply is not big either.
Bummer about losing length in your quilt but it will be lovely when you are done.

Dolores said...

Love the orange circles. I wonder if there is a typo in the pattern itself. I'd try it out but I have way too much on my plate right now. Good luck with the rest of the quilt. It will look great.

Quilting Babcia said...

Bumps in the quilting road are generally of my own doing, but I've also had patterns with incorrect sizes indicated. I love your orange circles, so appropriate for this month.

Linda Evans said...

Lovin your circles! Try putting bleach on black fabric, many times it will discharge to a nice orange-y rust color.

Sarah Craig said...

Bummer about your bump in the road! I think you've come up with a good solution, but it is a shame to waste the fabric. But it will all come out right in the end!

Kaja said...

Your orange circles look so happy all together - even if you don't have much in the way of scraps. Is this your last full month of circles?

Kevin the Quilter said...

I like your solution, although, I would be tempted to just leave it and call it a design element! Welcome to my world of hotel sewing! If you need more orange, all you have to do is ask? ;-)