Thursday, October 18, 2007

My Red Puzzler!


No, no, no - this is not a red and green Ocean Waves... rather it is a completed GREEN ocean waves with pieces of a RED ocean waves - in progress - laid on top - checking size. And guess what? Surprise - the size of the red blocks is different than the size of the green blocks! Yes, I amaze myself - not sure how that happened since I used the same pattern 2X. Must be that 4 year old distraction, otherwise known around here as Little Boy, LOL!
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The green quilt I made last summer and I was so happy with it that I started the red ocean waves in early March - and SEVEN months later I now have successfully completed the 288 pieced triangle units!!! Who knows - maybe Ocean Waves will be an annual summer project - there are still more colors in the color wheel! When in doubt about color selection - I just go with 1 color family - all scrappy. I know, I'm lazy! Anyway - you put 4 units around the setting square and then 8 units around that... so 12 units per setting square. I haven't been working on this steadily, but it is a nice little project to work on here and there - piecing maybe 10 units a time. Even if I am very tired or just unmotivated - if I have something all set up and ready to go - chances are that I will work on it - slowly, yes, but progress is progress! One thing I did - I precut all the triangles ahead of time so they were all set to mix and match and sew. Bit by bit - it adds up you know?

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Here is a close up of 12 units set around a setting square (yes, the setting squares are already quilted because it is from the green quilt underneath! - quilted by Judy L!). You can click to enlarge if you want to see the fabrics - a mixture of some old red prints, bright red prints, oranges, pinks... well, I like variety! Some of these fabrics looked perfectly awful when I started cutting them, but look how great it all looks together, as a whole!
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I still need to buy the 2 border fabrics AND the setting squares fabric. I am thinking about a bright pink skinny inner border with a red outer border - maybe an orange binding. The setting fabric will be a bit more difficult... the green quilt has a light pink-ish feathery batik - very subtle. For the red quilt I am thinking of either a large/bold red print - maybe a toille or something, OR a light yellow batik. Then again, it usually boils down to what the fabric store has - because in my book a finished quilt is soooo much better than looking for the most perfect-ist fabric (and, yes - I know that is improper grammer, but I just couldn't help myself). So, yes, sometimes I compromise and in the end, I am always thrilled to have a finished quilt rather than collection of blocks in the closet waiting for that perfect discovery.
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Puzzler you ask? Well yes... the green ocean waves top went together fabulously well. For the red one - I must have been a BIT distracted because I cut the triangles not only a different size but a different way too than the directions called for. My slight little variation has caused a big difference in the size of the finished segment!!! Check out the photo below to see the size difference between the 2 quilts - keep in mind you have to subtract out the seam allowances so it isn't all that bad. But instead of cutting setting squares 7.5" I will cut them 9.5" and I still need to figure out the math for the edge/corner triangles. When in doubt - cut bigger and cut to fit! That is my motto! The good news - I would have NEVER thought to double check the sizes before cutting the setting fabric, but curiosity got the better of me and I just had to see how the red looked on the green, phew! I have no idea how big the finished quilt will be (if I use all the segments, obviously it will be larger than the green one, which is already fairly large!). I guess if it starts to get too big I can just stop and set any extra pieces aside for another project. Or, maybe I can get 1 big quilt and 1 crib quilt out of these blocks? And, even though I cut the pieces all the wrong size - it doesn't really matter in this pattern as long as all the pieces are consistently the same size! All the triangles are the same size so I only need to re-figure the background fabric.
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Little Boy's observation for the day: "Look Momma, not only are my feet getting bigger, but my socks are shrinking too. See Momma - it's true!" What a coincidence - don't you think?!

9 comments:

Mary Johnson said...

I don't think it's lazy - I love scrappy quilts two color quilts. Both quilts will be lovely and you can look at the extra size as a bonus with the red quilt!

Jeanne said...

Ooooh, I like the variety you've included in "red"!
Jeanne

The Calico Cat said...

lovely fabrics & boy is that a difference in size. King size, you think? Maybe you can do 2 twins...

Laurie Ann said...

Another one to put on my "to do" list!

Laurie said...

LOL...love the Little Boy's comment about his feet! What a great observation! The quilts are going to be gorgeous as well!
hugs
laurie

kcdi said...

Both quilts are absolutely wonderful! I'm always surprised how beautiful scrap quilts end up, even using really unattractive fabrics. Your Little Boy sounds precious. Mine makes me laugh each and every day!

loulee said...

What ever size you make it, it looks wonderful.
Little boy is growing up fast. I love to read about your adventures with him.

Marla said...

I love the ocean waves pattern and size variances aside, yours are just beautiful.

Darcie said...

The red is simply stunning!!!