I must have been due ....

B ack in January I posted about fabric quality and how getting the thin / low thread count muslin could bite you on the nose in later years .. if not sooner.

This is one of the blocks from my swap quilt from 1997 that I used the cheap muslin for filler blocks for this swap. As you can see it shredded away. So I'm fixing it .. I have Guide to Vintage Quilting by Sandra L Hatch, where she shows you how to fix vintage quilts (I'm not sure I would go THAT far with THIS quilt) and also neat period patterns for the older vintage tops / quilts you may find in your travels. Because this was my first swap quilt and the blocks are signed, I really wanted to try and save / fix it.

I got all sorts of WOW, muslin and batting scraps ready to do this block first .. this is the only one where I have to replace all the white parts - the rest are just QSTs. I decided to quilt these pieces in one shot as they are all going under the other pieces as they are white and I was replacing the batting too.

I did really good with the first QST - cut away the shredded batting, frogged the quilting just ever so carefully and then took out the stitching from when they were pieced. The first part went just about perfect - that should have been my first clue .. It was rather tricky with the quilt stretched out of shape from over the years of these bits n pieces missing - this poor QST had more pins than a porcupine - but as you can see the QST worked just fine ..

So with more confidence I went to the square .. it was the square that did me in .. yes a stupid simple square! For some reason I just could NOT get all the material under the seam for this one .. and this was TWICE this did this to me .. YOu can see the two spots where it wouldn't tuck under. I had it all pinned in and it looked fine - but get it on the machine and start quilting it down and it goes all wiggly piggly on me .. okay nuff of that .. i'm going to lose my temper and I was getting tired. So I just might put them in all by hand then quilt them down .. I just wanted to keep the batting in place as all this shifting and moving was going on with this quilt .. I can use my Sullivan's basting spray for this I guess - or a glue stick :)

Two days ago I cut the greens out for the Ohio Star blocks for my 1800 quilt and yesterday I did the pink paisley for the background .. While i was sewing this I did the leaders n enders for Grans quilt and actually got 7 nickels stitched on one side .. I used Around the Block by Judy Hopkins for this block as these blocks are rotary cutting and she has 6 different sizes for each block

The Ohio Star went together just nicely .. I squared the QSTs after they were stitched to avoid any issues with it being out of kilter - I find that taking that extra step after doing a section construction helps to fix ooboos that would later have me on the endangered list for baldness and sanity .. well okay - not sanity .. baldness then ...

I press the block out and all my points line up (but one little corner - bet you can't find it!!), then I head over to the cutting table to square it up .. and it's a perfect .. 11" ?!?!?!?!?! My heart does the demon drop .. that can't be .. I didn't do a scant seam on this block! I did a flat out ¼" seam - bloody hell .. what the devil is going on .. So I grab the book from my bookshelf and see that it's for 10½" FINISHED block .. NOT unfinished .. oh jesusmaryjoseph I needed a 10" finished .. crap crap crap .. and I was soooo proud of myself that this block just zoooomed together quicker n all get out .. yeah it got out all right .. pfft!

Well I've figured out that I need to have 4½" squares for the QSTs and then 3¾" or 3⁷/8" for the squares .. not a big deal .. I'll just cut down what I've already cut .. but will do the 3¾ block first and test it for size ..

Bloody Hell . only me!

**Throws paws up in frustration, shuts the sewing room down and leaves while there still IS a sewing room .. which in this house is called the cat cave ..