It seems that no matter how long I have been quilting I still have to learn how to do things.
The last time I made a schoolhouse quilt was about 20 years ago and it was a miniature quilt which means it was paper pieced. I did not have to worry about all the wonky angles in the roof section. I did think about paper piecing the roof section, but decided against it because I needed to control how the fabric was pressed. I did not want to have to press toward the white since the red would show through it.
So I looked for acrylic laser cut templates for this block. Marti Michell has some so I ordered them. I wanted to make a 12 inch block and that's what the templates were for. What I did not realize when I ordered them was it made a 12 inch block when you added sashing around the house which I did not want to do. So OK it makes a 10 inch block. Well I can live with that. Then I start reading the directions. The roof pieces are appliqued. WHAT???? No where in the description does it mention this. So that is totally worthless since I do not want to applique any part of this. I wrote an email to them for rotary directions using the templates, but got no response.
I asked around in my neighborhood quilt group about a 60 degree ruler. Two people lent me their rulers. Then I print out the rotary directions from EQ. The angle for the roof section is not 60 degrees. It is 61 degrees. WHAT???
Now what? I know a degree is not that much, but what a pain. The two rulers that people lent me are not even identical which means one of them is off a bit! So I printed out the roof section pieces on freezer paper, ironed it to the fabric and cut them out with scissors. This seems to work pretty well. The second block went much faster than the first one.
Linking to Nina-Marie.
Thanks for reading.
Chris
What a pain! I commiserate with you about how some designs seem to be intentionally made more difficult, and exclusive. It doesn't sit very well with me.
ReplyDeleteLove your van Gogh-inspired piece, don't add letters!
ReplyDeleteLove the van gogh piece-- I really like the idea of subtle letters- almost so that you can't tell if they're letters or part of the building. It looks like that's kind of what you have in your mockup right?
ReplyDeleteHow frustrating for you re: the houses! I enjoy those quilts...but have never had any desire to make one. You're a braver gal than I!
ReplyDeleteRE: the lettering...I wouldn't cut it out at all. I'd put it in the quilting, using thread that matches whatever fabric is being quilted with it....
Oh man, you have reminded me of what I ran into when I made this block years ago. And why I stopped at two! Yes, that angle is not any you will find on a ruler, and paper piecing isn't the best options. I think I did the exact thing you did, print the template from EQ and use freezer paper to cut it out. Well, you're committed to doing more than a couple so you'll be really good at this block when you're done. :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat will the lettering spell out?