Uh oh…
I finished piecing the last (or so I thought) winding ways block this morning, and headed into my other sewing room to cut the remainders of the charm squares into two and a half-inch squares for the borders and the sashing squares.
Not really any surprise, but not a single one of the charm squares measure five inches in either direction, they’re each about one eighth of an inch shy, so there goes that plan! I can’t even get two full size patches out them, much less four.
So! I’d already cut the sashing strips, so I cut enough two and a half-inch squares of the same fabric to replace the colored ones, and I have enough charm squares to add two more blocks since I can’t use them for the borders, making it eight by two instead of six by two.
That will change my quilting plan as well. Perhaps I’ll do something simple inside the colored sections of each winding ways block, and use all the neutral background for more elaborate quilting.
I don’t know if I have anything in my stash to add a border or not, so it may look just like this plus a binding. I don’t think I’ll ever make this block again! However I do want to try curved nine patch blocks, I think those are so cool looking!
DId you use the winding ways studio cutter?? It’s on special today, and was thinking of getting it.
Yes I did Stefanie. I have to say mine doesn’t cut very well at all. Unfortunately I have had this die for a couple of years and never used it, otherwise I would send it back for a replacement. I had to finish quite a bit of the cutting by hand on these. I had one other die that didn’t cut well before and AccuQuilt replaced it with no questions asked, but I think I’ve probably waited too long on this one.
I have noticed before that pre-cut this, that and the other are often not the size they ought to be. As you have found out it is really annoying and I hate when I buy a Jelly Roll that the centre has to be cut off because it is a V shape. I have decided to get a die cutter in the New Year because I fell on the stairs last winter in our old house and did something to my elbow so it really hurts when I use a rotary cutter now so I have been relying on pre-cuts.
Despite your small hiccup the runner is going to be really lovely.
Thank you Marianne, yes the pre-cuts are never perfect, I don’t ever buy them anymore with the intent of being able to get the full use out of them. You will love a die cutter! They really are fabulous additions to any quilter’s tools.
Love the Winding Ways! Curved Nine Patch is on my bucket list…maybe next year I can start on the list.
That is the most annoying thing about precuts; and for the price, I think they should be darn near perfect. I didn’t have problems using precuts until this last batch of charm packs that I started using before Thanksgiving from the Yuletide Magic collection. I measured a few of the charms but not every single piece then proceeded to cut them into my anticipated yield of approximately 2.5″ squares. Not a chance…one entire print in every color was exactly 4.75″ Needless to say, ruined two charm packs. The project has become the Christmas quilt that didn’t happen. The messed up pieces went into my give away scrap pile and the rest of the fabric went back in the drawer. I either need to buy more or create a new pattern to use the remaining fabric. Aggravating!
Oh Debra I am so sorry to hear that! I haven’t bought new precuts in years, but in the days when I first started quilted that is all I bought… they worked well in the RV. I still have a fair number left, but now I know they are only good to cut into smaller shapes and strips!
It’s funny–when I became a teacher, I was told to learn to “monitor and adjust”. I have gotten very well at doing just that. I just never realized that it pertained to quilting just as much as teaching.
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Vivian recently posted…One of those days . . .
“Monitor and adust” is a good mantra to live by Vivian! I’m very familiar with doing just that being married to a contractor! LOL