Here are my first blocks for charity bee do.Good. organized by Stitched in Color. The assignment was to make two blocks in aqua and red and no wonky lines. After some surfing around I decided this is the perfect opportunity to practice HST-blocks using this method. The cutting and sewing was fun and easy but before I got to do that I needed to figure out the measurements. Oh boy was that a challenge.
Participating in charity is truly a great way to learn. Whit this particular project there where some confusion about the block size and because of that I know now that when reading a block pattern the finished size means the size after the blocks have been pieced together. So the block itself is 1/2" larger than that (because of the seam allowance). Very good thing to know. That meant that I needed to adjust my pattern with 1/2". Being a European I'm not used to working with inches since we use the metric system. We do learn at school about fractions but after that we never need to use them. Never. Except if we get crazy about patchwork that is. So you can imagine I was completely lost. It took a nuclear physicist (my husband) to get the measurements right. We had a fun evening together me trying to explain what I wanted to do and he calculating and explaining it back to me. A little bit like playing boardgames but more fun since there where no losers (I'm a terrible looser).
The experience got me curious about how do you Americans do it? If you have some tricks I would love to hear about them!
2 comments:
Oh, Mari, please tell your husband "thank-you" from all of us in the bee! I agree - I've been learning a lot from participating. Can't wait to get your blocks!
It's a lot easier to work with decimals, in my opinion. (And to find a good quilting resource book that gives you formulas for figuring out the triangles, etc.) But having a nuclear physicist handy is a good option too!
I love how used the Sis Boom fabric with a more traditional fabric in your block!
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