Last month I was trying to decide on a background fabric for an eight pointed star I had made for the center of a medallion. I finally decided upon a background fabric and it has been applied but not without a struggle.
For a long time I've had a quilt called Blueberry Farm from the book Scrappy Fireworks Quilts by Edyta Sitar. That quilt consists of several different smaller Lone Star blocks. So I thought I would give one block a try for this center medallion. Arghhhh. It was no problem to make the actual star. The problem came when adding the background to the star pieces. Arghhhh. I tried and retried, tinkered and re-tinkered, read and reread, ripped and re-ripped, cussed and re-cussed but there was no way in heck (wherever that is) that I could get a setting triangle to work with this star. Then I went in search of errata. I searched and re-searched and finally found some corrections at the publisher's website. Background corners were supposed to be 6 1/4 inch squares and not 6 inch squares and the triangles were supposed to be cut on the diagonals (X) from a 9 1/4 square and not an 8 3/4 square. Arghhh. I was glad that I had just enough of the orange background fabric after I finally made a background choice.
I usually only buy books or patterns with quilts that inspire me but quilts with templates or more complex directions that I can't figure out for myself. So I expect that the quilts in the books have been tested for accuracy before publication. I really feel sorry for beginning quilters that encounter errors. I was shocked when I saw so many books with corrections on the publisher's page. Several of them dealt with "the basics". And that was just one publisher.
Ok. Well, off that rant and back to my Star which has finally been made to my satisfaction...
I was inspired by a vintage (c. 1895) quilt at the Denver Art Museum so decided to make my own version except instead of using HSTs (half square triangles) in the borders I will use QSTs (quarter square triangles). Well, actually, I will use Wonky QSTs made from waste triangles I have saved for years and years.
For months now I've been sorting through boxes of waste triangles and so there are QSTs in various stages in my sewing room. Some are leader/enders.
Some are ready for seam twisting and ironing.
Some are ironed and need to have dog ears trimmed off. (And remember I said these were wonky so they won't be squared up. )
After trimming some are stored in bags...
...and some are stored in boxes that used to hold waste triangles.
And so it goes.
That is a beautiful vintage quilt to reproduce...I can't wait to see how yours comes together--that is a beautiful star for a medallion...so often we blame our own selves for things not matching up when, in fact, the pattern leaves us in the dark good for you finding the correct measurements...
ReplyDeletehugs, Julierose
Your star is lovely, sorry you had such a frustrating time adding the inset triangles and squares. Hopefully the rest of the quilt will be smooth stitching.
ReplyDeleteI Hate That When It Happens....
ReplyDeleteWith what you have to pay for books or single patterns now It adds a another notch to the "Aghhhhhh " factor.
At least as an experienced quilter you knew where and how to look for answers.
Glad you finally got that star to cooperate! Argh! At least it's gorgeous in the end!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to seeing all those wonky hourglasses dancing around it!
Your star block is beautiful, and the background fabric is gorgeous with it. So sorry you had such a hard time getting it to work out. Very frustrating!
ReplyDeleteI checked out your inspiration source--wow, that is amazing! Will yours have as many rounds as that one? I look forward to following your progress.
You were having so much trouble that it had to be a mistake...glad you found the error! I have recently had that happen on two different patterns and it's so frustrating!! The medallion is looking great and I look forward to the quilt finish.
ReplyDeleteWowzers Cathy - that is a lot of triangles - no matter how you cut them! I look forward to watching your progress. And fwiw, I struggled adding the background pieces to a recent Lone Star block, and my instructions didn't have errors. Some blocks are just troublesome!
ReplyDeleteI can appreciate your angst but thankful you had enough of that gorgeous orange to finish up your setting triangles and squares. Had a similar issue with some flying geese recently, no way I could get them to the correct size using the cutting instructions, though I've always figured it was my problem with following instructions at fault. These days folks generally attribute it to artistic license, lol!
ReplyDeleteUgh! Who thinks to check for errata before starting a project?! Have fun with those QSTs, Cathy.
ReplyDeleteCathy - I have worked in quilt magazine/book publishing for more than 20 years, and I can tell you that with the financials now associated with publishing (ie. tiny profit margins) some publishers no longer invest the time/money to undertake a close checking and double checking of the instructions submitted for publication by the project maker/designer. Instead, they've put the onus on the designer to have checked their instructions thoroughly. Unfortunately, some designers don't have the skill or application to do that and they may not have the time or money to be able to have their patterns independently tested before the deadline for submission to the publisher. So, I always recommend that you check the publisher's website for corrections before using instructions published in a book or magazine.
ReplyDeleteMegan
Sydney, Australia
Disappointing to learn of all those printing mistakes in your Quilt pattern. Very frustrating and time wasting for you figuring it all out. However, the result looks great. All those waste triangles, now being put to use. I’m looking forward to seeing this quilt progress.
ReplyDeleteso many hsts - I have a big box of triangles too - I will be watching them come along
ReplyDeleteThat makes me feel a bit better that I just created my own Lone Stars. Lots of hypotenuse's to calculate so it felt like college again. Your fabric sets the stars off beautifully.
ReplyDeleteYour hourglasses and Audrey's HSTs have me intrigued. What fun to work them improvisationally.
Thanks for sharing the errata information. I have that book and being in an LBQ Obsession phase, if I decided to make that it would have definitely not made me happy. That is one wowser of an inspiration quilt! It is the perfect leader/ender project and definitely will empty your cut-offs stash (although not for good, LOL!!).
ReplyDelete