After finishing up my What is Love baby quilt last week, I was so happy to have my Night Garden fabric cut and ready to start sewing!
Night Garden Blocks – Quarter Circles and Orange Peels
The first blocks came together quickly and smoothly: a large stack of quarter circle block and a much smaller stack of orange peel blocks. Lovely!
My next set of blocks were a bit more troublesome, though. Doesn’t the saying go, “Into every life a little unsewing must fall?”??
Here’s the thing: I knew better, but instead of stopping to think through what didn’t feel right, I decided to plow on through and cut all my pieces following my written pattern instructions. I’m usually so bad at following my own patterns that I was proud of myself for doing EXACTLY what the pattern said, even though I thought over and over while I was cutting, “this doesn’t seem right.” Oops!
Night Garden – Incorrectly Cut & Pieced Block
I dutifully sewed the pieces together, even once I was fully aware that I had cut the outside curve to be too large. I thought to myself, perhaps I can just mist the fabric, get it to lay flat and trim it square. Well, there is no way that was going to trim up to 12 1/2″ square. The good news is that I only sewed one seam, knowing that something was incorrect. So, as my video above shows, I very carefully unsewed that seam and went back to my fabric to cut the correctly sized outer circles.
Night Garden – Correctly Cut Makes All the Difference!
I will admit that before cutting ALL the pieces, I test sewed a seam to verify I had it correct the second time around. Cutting the pieces to the correct size makes all the difference!
Night Garden Blocks – Inset Circle Curve Star Blocks
I also corrected the pattern instructions and illustrations to show the correct way to cut these pieces so that others won’t be in the mess I was in!
I have half of the seams on a few final curve star blocks to sew, and then I’ll be ready to piece the queen size quilt top together. Fingers crossed it is smooth sewing from here!
Thankfully you had enough fabric to recut those pieces.
You really have curved sewing mastered. I think following our own patterns is hard since we ‘think’ we know exactly what to do;)
I suspect there’s more than a few of us who have sewn on when we just kind of know something is not right, and then we find ourselves unsewing, wondering why we didn’t listen to that nudge. It’s part of the process of learning to listen and trust ourselves as we continue to grow as artists. Those blocks make me want to make orange peels. I like the dynamic look of the two colors; so crisp and pretty!
The colors are beautifully graphic, and these trimmed blocks are just so delicious looking! I’m looking forward to the finished result, no doubt it’d be stunning!
Oh my gosh, this is the story of my sewing life. I can convince myself of all sort of miracles that might just happen rather than unpick a few seams or start the block over. I get this one!!!
Its funny how we try to convince ourselves it is okay….even when we know it isn’t. Sorry you had to rip out, but it is good that it is salvageable. I do admire how neat your quarter circle and orange peal blocks are. I will get there I am sure by the end of Diatom!
Been there done that regarding not listening to that little voice telling me something is off. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Your blocks look lovely after the unsew. I hope your queen quilt top comes together smoothly.