Big Mistake! Learn from Me!

As many of you guessed, I am using a design from Yvonne Fuchs at Quilting Jetgirl for Morgan's quilt.  He picked this pattern out two years ago so he has forgotten what he picked!  Yay!  It will be a surprise as to what he is getting.  I have been keeping my quilt room door shut so he doesn't accidentally see it and instructed him not to look at my Instagram account.  I don't think he reads the blog so I'm pretty safe there.  Made sure to tell him NOT to just in case he does.   He is very excited to get it which is actually keeping me motivated to press on. 

The pattern I am using is called Triangle Transparency.   The original pattern looks like this. 

I decided I needed to make it a little larger than the original pattern so Yvonne graciously helped me calculate the new cutting instructions for a larger quilt.   Morgan loves blue so I am making this quilt in four shades of blue and the color arrangement is the opposite of what this picture shows.  The darkest blue will be the background instead of white as shown here.

I got everything cut out very quickly!  And all of the HST's sewn together (there are a lot of them).  Look at all that luscious blue!  The stuff on that design wall is going to have to come down. 

Next I started assembling the rows.  There are four sections of the quilt which are all identical so I sewed all four of the first row lickety split!

Sewed 2nd set of rows, then third set of rows (forgot to take pics)  I decided to lay out one of the units to see how everything looked so far and realized with a groan that I had forgotten that the colors were reversed on my quilt to what they were on Yvonne's pattern.  I had followed the placement for lights and darks very carefully forgetting that I should be doing the opposite of what the pattern called for.    

So here is my valuable piece of advice so you can learn from my mistake.  If you have multiples of units that are identical, and you have not made that particular design before, it is better to make at least ONE of the units from start to finish to make sure you are doing everything correctly. Then you can chain piece the rest of them.

I had decided to make all four blocks at one time so I could chain piece and be more efficient (or so I thought).  UGH!!   Mr. Seam Ripper and I had some quality time together yesterday and I was able to correct my mistakes for at least one unit.  I went ahead and finished sewing 1/4 of the quilt together and finally got it right.  Here is a view from afar to get an idea of scale.  This quilt is going to be about 72 x 72.

Second piece of advice.  Be diligent on lettering your units the way the pattern calls for.  I was so thankful I did that or it would have been a nightmare trying to figure out which unit I needed next. 

So I have some more time to spend with the seam ripper before I can move on with this quilt.  But to be honest, I am THRILLED with the progress I am making.  If I keep going at the rate I have been, I'll have Morgan's quilt top done before the end of the month!  YAHOO!!  My secret?  That sew at least 15 minutes every day method has worked like a charm!  If I'm working on something I don't like (like pressing seams open, or trimming HST's) I can quit after 15 minutes and pick up tomorrow.  But more often than not, I have continued on working beyond my 15 minutes.  My motivation from my latest finish is still fresh in my brain!

So I had a fun find this weekend.  I live out on the edge of a small country town so usually have to travel somewhere to do any kind of shopping for decor.  Well, THIS weekend one of my neighbors had a hand crafted fair in her yard with a variety of different crafters and homemade food.   Do you remember this corner in my sewing room?  See that large green chair in the corner?  It's extremely comfortable, but also a big space hog.

So I found THIS at my neighbor's craft fair this weekend.

It's a vintage chair that had old outdated fabric on it and instead of reupholstering the fabric, they dyed it a more modern color.  Love it!  So this chair is all original except for the color of the fabric.  And it's short people friendly!  I can actually touch the floor with my feet when I'm sitting in it.  And comfy!

Here's a little closeup of the detail.  

I'll work on a more attractive lamp at some point, but for now maybe add a pillow or throw.  Hmm!  I'll have to ponder that. What do you think this chair needs?

Linking to:

Monday Making
Main Crush Monday

Moving it Forward Monday