All this math hurt my head....but it was soooooo worth it.
03-04-2010, 08:12 PM
#1
Super Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Omaha, NE
Posts: 1,618
I am a quilter who hates math...well I don't hate math, I'm just really bad at it. Repeatedly I add or subtract yardage wrong, I don't measure correctly...it took geometry to get me to understand algebra and it took quilting to teach me basic math skills
That being said, I am super duper proud of myself. I made a Road to OK block for one of my projects. Got the pattern straight from quilterscache where I get a lot of my blocks for samplers. I made it and I couldn't figure out why it looked so wonky. Angles weren't right, the block looked like a flower and I didn't remember picking any blocks that looked like awareness ribbons or flowers...I couldn't figure it out!
Took it to club the other night and someone nicely pointed out the bottom of my block was backwards and my trapezoid pieces were too big. I used a template, so I couldn't figure out why they were too big. I figured, sewing a bias edge of a triangle to a bias edge of a trapezoid, something stretched somewhere.
If there's anything I've learned from this board and the cache blocks is that many times you can make a block by using squares and rectangles and sewing them together before cutting on the bias. I've never been able to figure out the math to get the right size squares to end up being the right size triangles....until now.
Sat down tonight and did a lot of math and changed the trapezoids to rectangles and the triangles to squares and remade my block. I have never been so proud of my math in my life. If my old math teacher could only see....
Here is my old block:
[IMG]http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...1267761870.jpg[/IMG]
And here is the right one. And I only had to measure and stitch it together one time. I seam ripped the other one to death. I dont' think it could have taken another rip out:
[IMG]http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...1267757686.jpg[/IMG]
Yahoo! :thumbup:
That being said, I am super duper proud of myself. I made a Road to OK block for one of my projects. Got the pattern straight from quilterscache where I get a lot of my blocks for samplers. I made it and I couldn't figure out why it looked so wonky. Angles weren't right, the block looked like a flower and I didn't remember picking any blocks that looked like awareness ribbons or flowers...I couldn't figure it out!
Took it to club the other night and someone nicely pointed out the bottom of my block was backwards and my trapezoid pieces were too big. I used a template, so I couldn't figure out why they were too big. I figured, sewing a bias edge of a triangle to a bias edge of a trapezoid, something stretched somewhere.
If there's anything I've learned from this board and the cache blocks is that many times you can make a block by using squares and rectangles and sewing them together before cutting on the bias. I've never been able to figure out the math to get the right size squares to end up being the right size triangles....until now.
Sat down tonight and did a lot of math and changed the trapezoids to rectangles and the triangles to squares and remade my block. I have never been so proud of my math in my life. If my old math teacher could only see....
Here is my old block:
[IMG]http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...1267761870.jpg[/IMG]
And here is the right one. And I only had to measure and stitch it together one time. I seam ripped the other one to death. I dont' think it could have taken another rip out:
[IMG]http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...1267757686.jpg[/IMG]
Yahoo! :thumbup:
03-05-2010, 09:02 AM
#7
Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Wiltshire, UK
Posts: 52
You should be proud of your maths now. Discovering the answer yourself is the best way of learning. But I think you had a "serendipity " moment when you pieced the block wrongly - I liked it! Try it again, but with the correct shapes this time.
03-05-2010, 08:15 PM
#9
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Douglas County, GA
Posts: 1,722
Math, Schmath! What you should be most proud of is that you won! You did not let that wonky, irritating block and the seam ripping, more seam ripping, and even more seam ripping stop you in your tracks. Good for you!
03-06-2010, 06:13 AM
#10
Super Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Omaha, NE
Posts: 1,618
Thank you guys so much. I'm so glad it worked.
Now I'm working on the final block for my sampler and I can't make head's or tails of any of the template pieces. It'll be more math or at least drawing out more stuff today.
Now I'm working on the final block for my sampler and I can't make head's or tails of any of the template pieces. It'll be more math or at least drawing out more stuff today.
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