Of Slapping Up And Popping In....

These are the terms my dear husband uses when describing how simple the next home improvement project is going to be. You know, "slapping up" drywall, or,"popping in" plumbing. But I have come to learn, from experience, that even though the concept is simple enough, the execution is often laborious and more involved than ever imagined. There are always complications and obstacles. Sometimes the obstacles are our own feeble-mindedness (How in the world did I ever think that joint compound could be applied after 9pm with any degree of accuracy?) So it is with quilting...

Well, I'm working on this quilt that requires a number of half-square triangle units. It seemed a simple matter of "slapping it up and popping it in." So I decide to do a study on how efficiently 40 half-square units could be made. Now to be fair, I had a bad cold and maybe I wasn't thinking too clearly. ok, no maybe about it. First, I try the bias cut method of two fat quarters. It seemed simple. 3" strips, alternate, sew back together, cut into 3 1/2" squares. Simple. But, bugger it all, don't you know that I proceeded to cut out 40, 3" squares. Not 3 1/2" squares. I'm sure I'll find a use for them. But they won't fit into my current quilt project. I was bummed. Now I can't rest until I make a set that is the correct size. By the way, as for my efficiency test, it takes about 1 hour to make 40 squares using this method. So, I make a set of 40 squares-in the correct size!- and, amazingly, it takes just as much time as the incorrect size. sigh. And I wasn't thrilled with the length of time it took. Half Square triangles made using the "cut a square 7/8" larger than the finished size of the block and drawing a diagonal line, sewing 1/4 inch from both sides of the line and then cutting them apart" method. WOW!! So much faster in only 20 minutes. And a much more pleasant time. (And yes, Sarah, that is your fabric I cut into the wrong size, but, unfortunely it was the only fat quarter I had of the alternate fabric. Maybe fortunately, as I could show it without giving away the challenge. Yes, there are alot of half square triangles.)