New Project: Love Quilt

I've started a brand new project! Actually, like most quilters, this project has been on the back burner of my brain for quite a while, just simmering and bubbling quietly. I first saw this quilt at a Desert Quilters of Nevada Quilt Show. It's gorgeous! Sorry about photo quality, my camera broke and I'm working from my Iphone.



Unfortunatley, this is the only picture I took, I didn't get the quilter's name or the pattern. So last week I pulled out all my red and pink fabrics and dug out my giant piece of Kona White and got to work.

I see that this block is made of four main pieces, two of which are the same design. The top piece was obvious to me and I cut a 3.5 inch red square with two 2 inch white squares. I drew a diagonal line on each white square from corner to corner. I pinned the white square to the corner of the red square and sewed ON the diagonal line I drew.



I trim the excess fabric and then press the white squares up so that I have one 3.5 inch square with two white triangle edges.



The bottom pieces were a bit harder for me to figure out. I know they are HST's, or half-square triangles. I know there is a mathematical formula for making perfect HST's, so I googled it. The formula, as I understand it, is 3.5 inches (that's what I want the finished size to be) + 7/8 inch. So I cut out that exact size, drew a diagonal line from corner to corner on my white square, and sewed a quarter-inch on EITHER side of the line. I cut the square on the line, pressed it open and measured it.

Way too big.

Sigh. This is how I quilt. Everything makes sense until I cut and measure, or until I match seams. Then it all falls apart.

So this is how I fix it. I cut all my squares to 4 inches. Do the HST dance. Then, I get out my handy dandy 3.5 inch square ruler and cut around it. Perfect 3.5 inch square, little waste. Still, it would be much easier to have perfect pieces without trimming.



So that's where I am. I've sewn and pressed and now I need to trim my squares down.

If you're wondering where I'm quilting, I've got my trusty Bernina set up on a corner of the dining room table and I do everything else from the living room couch. I drag a TV tray out to use my rotary mat and put everything away when I'm done. It's a pain, but there's no way I'm going to give up quilting!