I was so excited to start my grandson’s grown up quilt. I had waited until after the Quilts Etc. Sale was over and my two sets of company had gone home. He had selected Unwind by Jaybird Quilts. His mother had made a baby quilt from this pattern and he liked motion with the whirling stars. We spent a summer afternoon selecting green and blue fabric–all his choices. But we could not find a neutral that worked.
Shopping in her stash at home, his mother found the perfect fabric. It was white with green and blue lines made up of dashes. It was a “blender” from a quilt designer in 2015. Wonderful! She had several yards of it. Hurrah! Not being able to wait , I started cutting fabric at their home using her special ruler. When packing up the fabric to return to Kansas, she insisted I take all the blender fabric, “just in case” I needed it. I had all the triangles cut–even though I was making it a bit larger than the pattern, but I brought it with me.
Fast forward to after the Quilts Etc. Sale and Auction. Finally, I could start sewing “the quilt”. I was so looking forward to making these simple blocks for his quilt. I would sew perfect 1/4 inch seams, I would press very carefully, not stretching the fabric and I would listen to “a” really great novel while doing so! I joined the different green and blue fabrics together, trying to make every color/print combination that was available. I loaded a new blade in my rotary cutter and flipped the ruler every other time as not to waste fabric when cutting the block. Then I started sewing the white triangles on to the cut strip set to make a 6.5 inch block. The photo below is the two parts of the block.
But I very quickly discovered half of my triangles were cut wrong! Half the pieces were mirror images of the correct pieces. I had cut the triangle from strips of fabric that were folded right sides togethers–creating with every cut, one facing left and one facing right!
No problem, I would use all I could and then cut new ones correctly from the extra fabric I had brought with me—but wait–It gets more complicated!
No matter how well I sew and pressed, my block were wonky. So I decided the best thing to do was to trim my imperfect 6.5 inch blocks down to almost perfect 6 inch blocks. (Remember this quilt was for my grandson!). But I would lose half an inch per block–therefore I will need to make at least 20 more blocks to insure the quilt is the same size. I will need 20 more “left facing” white triangles in addition to the 180 I need to replace my “right facing” triangle that I cut earlier and can’t use!! No matter how I finagle –I don’t have enough fabric. Even if I didn’t quite cut them to the original size–I use every piece of scrap I brought with me. Still not enough. What do I do? I search the internet- Etsy, eBay, the distributor’s web site, the giant on-line stores–not out there. I could start all over but this was the perfect blender.
I decide I will join two left facing triangles to make a rectangle and cut a right facing triangle —All I must do is match the lines. Yeah–notice the lines are not evenly spaced or is every other other a different color. But I try and after many attempts by hand and by the machine, I get the following–photo below.
Can you see the seam on the triangle on the left? He will; he is very detail oriented. It will be less noticeable using white batting underneath. “It will quilt out” is a saying quilters usually use when the pieced quilt top is not flat or a little wavy. This top will be flat, but the quilting in this case will hopefully help hide the seams.
Finally I start sewing blocks together. At this point I am on my third novel! Maybe I was at the crucial ending–I enjoy British mysteries –when I joined these two blocks together. Also, I tried not to have the same fabric in the two blocks I was joining but look..
But only two like this out of 364–not bad..
What have I learned so far…. 1. Self imposed deadlines are just that– self imposed. I wanted to gift the quilt this Christmas, but my grandson isn’t expecting it then. Not getting it in December will not ruin his Christmas. Rushing to meet my deadline resulted in some huge mistakes. I need to slow down and enjoy the process.
2. One mistake will not ruin the entire quilt. He is going to have a quilt big enough for his 6 ft. 3+ inches. His Grandma Judy made it for him. He chose the pattern and the fabrics. Hopefully he will remember the fun afternoon we had picking the fabrics–and this goofy mistake and the others his Grandma Judy made will cause him to smile.
3. Done is better than perfect. I am not the first person to say this, but some lessons must be relearned. This quilt, although not perfect, will wrap my eldest grandson with love and warmth all the rest of his life.
Stay tuned, I will show the finished quilt on this site…someday!
Quilts, Etc. 