A Little Complication

I’ve spent lots of my off time endlessly piecing…and piecing and piecing.  That’s great but after a bit I was just wanting to accomplish something.  That’s when I remembered my Santa Fe String Star quilt.  I had the center star done.  I had the borders done.  All I need was to inset seam the backing into place.

I’ll admit that I’ve been putting it off.  I am not frightened by inset seams..do I like them, not really.  What was bothering me more was cutting out the pieces.  I HATE cutting out large pieces. It seems the larger pices, for me anyway, are actually harder to cut than smaller ones.  I don’t feel I am a very accurate cutter once I get to a piece that is larger than 12″.  It’s harder to keep the ruler steady and often the piece can be larger than my ruler…that makes me nervous.

Well now I have some extra time so I could cut it out..and I could piece it.  That would be great.  I’d FINALLY have something to show from all the piecing I’ve done.

I decided to cut the corner pieces out first and get them into place.  Dealing with the squares seemed easier.  I thought that would build my confidence and I could tackle the triangles next.

Well here’s what happened….I cut out the corner blocks.  I almost cut them at 15 7/8″ then realized that they needed to be larger and 16 7/8″,  I cut two of them then went to the machine to sew them into place.

Well within moments I realized that they are too small.  UGH.  I went and remeasured.  I had what was listed in the book String Fling as the right size.

Then I went to Bonnie Hunter “book correction page” to see if any book corrections were listed.  There is not. UGH.

My next step was to go to Quiltville’s Open Facebook page.  I left a message there asking if anyone had made the quilt and if they had trouble with the size of the squares.  One lady shared that she had made the quilt twice.  She had cut all the background pieces larger and then trimmed them to size.  AWESOME IDEA!!

I am not alarmed that the measurement is “wrong” in the book…it likely is right.  It’s really hard when sewing strings.  They have so much “give” to them.  I am sure my 1/4″ seam was right as I’ve checked it time and time again…I think the real solution when working with this pattern is to do what the gal from the Facebook group suggested.  Cut them larger then trim to size.

Now I am off to see if I have enough of the fabric to give that a try….I’m hoping I do….otherwise I’ll be back at square one-needing to purchase background fabric.  I’ll keep you posted.