The last few weeks much of my sewing has been finishing up UFO quilt tops. It came to a screeching halt this week when I realized that each of the remaining UFO's were all in need of fabric purchases. So what's a gal to do but start a new quilt. I'm mean seriously, who wants to go buy new fabric?...wink, wink. I could make one of my own quilt designs that were drawn up in EQ but that requires a bunch of quilty math...I just don't have the time for that right now. And I want to make something with out thinking. So I pulled out a quilt kit purchased about year ago. I bet you can guess the quilt block in the pattern by looking at the picture below.
Dresdens! I love dresdens. This pattern is so cute with the little yo-yo's.
I fell in love with it the first time I saw it years ago. So when our Local quilt shop made it into a kit with the cutest fabrics ever....(against my better judgement)I had to have it.
I snatched it up as quickly as I could. Now here I am months later finally opening the sweet little bundle of joy. I never buy kits and rarely buy patterns. How exciting it is to have so much of the work done for you. No math, no fabric choices. I'm liking this lazy way of quilting!
And then....
As soon as it's opened I knew I had made a mistake buying this as a kit. I found this little note tucked inside the package. THEY CHANGED THE PATTERN TO SAVE ON FABRIC SCRAPS! The pattern calls for mitered borders, the shop decided to change the pattern but didn't want to do the quilty math for what the new border lengths should be. As you can see below it just tells me to measure my quilt and figure it out myself. It would be nice to know what the borders should be in a perfect quilt. Sure it's a simple pattern and I can do the math in my head but that's not the point. I paid for instructions. I'll never buy a kit from our local shop again....unless it's too cute to pass up....LOL!
I quickly got over the pattern change by reminding myself that I really don't like to make mitered corners anyway. Yes they are nice but more time consuming. So I start gathering up the the things I'll need to work with this kit. Rotary cutter, 6 x 24 ruler, dresden ruler and perfect circles templates for the yo-yo's. Now I'm ready for a quicky quilt cutting party.......Wrong. The standard dresden ruler doesn't work for this pattern....boohoohoo. Well I'm not using scissors to cut all these wedges. Luckily, I dug through my cabinet and found some Acrylic(plexi-glass) that I use for making my own rotary cutting templates.
With every quilt I learn something new. Sometimes it's a technique, but this time it was "open the kit before buying".
~ Lea Anne ~
Pin It
That is aggravating, but it is going to be one adorable quilt! Looking forward to seeing your finish.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said, you paid for it darn it they need to provide!! It's gonna be super sweet when you are done though.
ReplyDeleteHello Leanne, I was very interested to know you cut your own templates. May I ask what thickness of Plexiglass you use and is it easy to cut with the Stanley knife?
ReplyDeleteThe fabric selection is super sweet. At least that is really done for you... It's a pretty pattern.
ReplyDeleteit will be beautiful when you finish , they always are Lea Anne
ReplyDeleteLea the fabrics are so pretty. That's a shame about the border instructions or lack of. I don't buy kits because i prefer using my own fabrics. I love your cute red polka dot scissors!
ReplyDeleteThis is just precious!!! LOVE!
ReplyDeletewhat a lovely collection pf fabrics for this delight, the yo yos are so pretty, shame about the pattern, they should up a postnote on the pattern cover so that you could make a choice about the purchase.
ReplyDeleteThat's an adorable pattern, I can see why you succumbed to buying the kit! I've been burned by some kits also. The shop I work at always labels the outside of the kit clearly so you will know if there have been changes made--too bad all shops don't do that. Personally, I never do any math for borders. I lay out my top on a smooth flat surface and place two border strips on the top from edge to edge through the center, matching raw edges at one end. I slip a small cutting mat under the opposite end and trim to length. After those borders are sewn on, I press them out and do the same for the other direction. I've been doing my borders like this for years and they work out perfectly!
ReplyDeleteThe Yo-yo's are too cute! When I saw the IGwip photo I pictured them at the ends of the fans. The pattern is adorable.
ReplyDeleteI buy quilt kits when they are on sale (never from a local shop just because of your situation) and it is only because I want the fabric - not the pattern. Sometimes those kit sales make fabric a dollar a yard. (and free shipping). I love the look of yo-yo', but I hate to make them.
ReplyDeleteIt's a very cute pattern and will be beautiful when it's all done, but boy how frustrating to find all the changes once you open the kit. I've bought just one kit in the 14 years I've been quilting and it's still sitting in a drawer waiting for me to do something with it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that after all these years the Electric Quilt people still can't figure out a way to create accurate yardage estimates. What I decided to do a few years ago was create "extra" quilts in EQ7 that are one-patch quilts with each size of patch I need to cut--much faster than attempting to do it in my head and accurate enough for me to buy the necessary fabric (and a little bit more, of course).
ReplyDeleteA friend just phoned me from across the country, and one of the things we talked about is how immensely talented you are!