Sister's Choice Quilts

My interests are quilting, reading, cooking, family, decorating, and matters of style. I post regular quilting tutorials and book reviews of current fiction.

It’s a Save! And Where I Went Wrong.

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All my Kaleidoscope blocks have been trimmed down to 5 1/2 inches, everything lines up perfectly, I can see the secondary circular pattern emerging, and I think it is safe to say this endangered quilt has been saved!  Trimming things makes the quilt smaller, obviously, so I plan to add at least two, maybe four more rows of nine blocks. 

 I am using a ruler called the Kaleidoscope Smart Plate.  It is actually an excellent tool.  However, the instructions were a bit confusing to me (not necessarily the designer's fault).  The premise of the tool is that instead of cutting out isosoles triangles and sewing the wedges together, you make pinwheel blocks, trim them to size, then use the ruler to cut your octogon shapes.

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Notice that at the top and right of the photo, you can trim the white fabric into kind of a kite shape.  This saves you from having to sew on corner triangles.  Very clever, really.  The print fabric gets trimmed straight off, leaving you with a block that looks like this:

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This is the eight piece block.  You also need to make twelve piece blocks, that do get corner triangles sewn on.

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So, here is where I went wrong.

1). I did not trim my pinwheel blocks down to the correct size.

2).  When I sewed the corner squares on, I assumed I was using the draw line/sew on line/flip the corner up method.  What I should have done is cut the squares once diagonally and just sew the triangles on the block to form corners.  Not doing that caused me to have seam allowances on the twelve piece blocks that were 1/4" off.  As someone pointed out, my corner triangles were way too large.

See?  The block above is done right, the block below on the right has corner triangles that are too big.

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I will talk more about the Kaleidoscope Smart Plate ruler, but right now I am just going to go do a happy dance that this problem was sorted out, thanks to all my wonderful math savvy, non-spatially challenged readers who gave me advice!

 

 

63 responses to “It’s a Save! And Where I Went Wrong.”

  7. We learn so much via the internet and make many “virtual” friends. And thus a wonderful quilt is born.

  8. We learn so much via the internet and make many “virtual” friends. And thus a wonderful quilt is born.

  9. We learn so much via the internet and make many “virtual” friends. And thus a wonderful quilt is born.

  13. Cheers and more happy dancing that you’ve managed to save this project and turn it into the Kaleidoscope quilt you wanted in the first place. Puzzlement and confusion aside, you’ve still made all of these blocks and fixed the wonky ones in record time! Applause!!
    DH heading for the doctor today – he may have Bell’s Palsy just out of the blue. It’s my nursing diagnosis anyway. Prayers appreciated.
    Hugs!

  14. Cheers and more happy dancing that you’ve managed to save this project and turn it into the Kaleidoscope quilt you wanted in the first place. Puzzlement and confusion aside, you’ve still made all of these blocks and fixed the wonky ones in record time! Applause!!
    DH heading for the doctor today – he may have Bell’s Palsy just out of the blue. It’s my nursing diagnosis anyway. Prayers appreciated.
    Hugs!

  15. Cheers and more happy dancing that you’ve managed to save this project and turn it into the Kaleidoscope quilt you wanted in the first place. Puzzlement and confusion aside, you’ve still made all of these blocks and fixed the wonky ones in record time! Applause!!
    DH heading for the doctor today – he may have Bell’s Palsy just out of the blue. It’s my nursing diagnosis anyway. Prayers appreciated.
    Hugs!

  22. I’m so glad it worked out for you BUT the directions that came with ruler should have clearly explained how the triangles were to be made.
    I’m so tired of getting ‘burned’ by bad patterns/directions! Sorry, I ranted again. 🙁

  23. I’m so glad it worked out for you BUT the directions that came with ruler should have clearly explained how the triangles were to be made.
    I’m so tired of getting ‘burned’ by bad patterns/directions! Sorry, I ranted again. 🙁

  24. I’m so glad it worked out for you BUT the directions that came with ruler should have clearly explained how the triangles were to be made.
    I’m so tired of getting ‘burned’ by bad patterns/directions! Sorry, I ranted again. 🙁

  28. How wonderful you were able to rescue it. But one question (now I don’t understand the process and need your help): Why did you have to add triangles to the eight piece blocks with the white background fabric in the pinwheel block i.e. make all the blocks as twelve piece blocks?

  29. How wonderful you were able to rescue it. But one question (now I don’t understand the process and need your help): Why did you have to add triangles to the eight piece blocks with the white background fabric in the pinwheel block i.e. make all the blocks as twelve piece blocks?

  30. How wonderful you were able to rescue it. But one question (now I don’t understand the process and need your help): Why did you have to add triangles to the eight piece blocks with the white background fabric in the pinwheel block i.e. make all the blocks as twelve piece blocks?

  31. Woo-hoo! What a great save! What a wonderful resource, to have access to feedback from math-savvy, experienced and thoughtful readers. And kudos to you for your perseverance. You are going to have a beautiful quilt!

  32. Woo-hoo! What a great save! What a wonderful resource, to have access to feedback from math-savvy, experienced and thoughtful readers. And kudos to you for your perseverance. You are going to have a beautiful quilt!

  33. Woo-hoo! What a great save! What a wonderful resource, to have access to feedback from math-savvy, experienced and thoughtful readers. And kudos to you for your perseverance. You are going to have a beautiful quilt!

  34. I’m glad you were able to make use of the blocks in the design you wanted even if it does mean more blocks because they are smaller. I have to say, though, that it looks like you have to cut off a lot of fabric when using this ruler? Those look like wicked big scraps in the picture with the orange and white block that you just toss? Or are those pieces that large because you are having to cut it down smaller? I don’t mind “trimming” blocks a bit, but that looks like more than a trim.

  35. I’m glad you were able to make use of the blocks in the design you wanted even if it does mean more blocks because they are smaller. I have to say, though, that it looks like you have to cut off a lot of fabric when using this ruler? Those look like wicked big scraps in the picture with the orange and white block that you just toss? Or are those pieces that large because you are having to cut it down smaller? I don’t mind “trimming” blocks a bit, but that looks like more than a trim.

  36. I’m glad you were able to make use of the blocks in the design you wanted even if it does mean more blocks because they are smaller. I have to say, though, that it looks like you have to cut off a lot of fabric when using this ruler? Those look like wicked big scraps in the picture with the orange and white block that you just toss? Or are those pieces that large because you are having to cut it down smaller? I don’t mind “trimming” blocks a bit, but that looks like more than a trim.

  37. That looks like a great ruler/template for this block. What a great save. I see an appliqued border in your future> 😉

  38. That looks like a great ruler/template for this block. What a great save. I see an appliqued border in your future> 😉

  39. That looks like a great ruler/template for this block. What a great save. I see an appliqued border in your future> 😉

  49. I’m glad you saved the quilt and had the patience to figure it out. I hope you’ll be doing a tutorial so the rest of us don’t make the same mistakes.

  50. I’m glad you saved the quilt and had the patience to figure it out. I hope you’ll be doing a tutorial so the rest of us don’t make the same mistakes.

  51. I’m glad you saved the quilt and had the patience to figure it out. I hope you’ll be doing a tutorial so the rest of us don’t make the same mistakes.

  55. Nicole, I fear I would have made the same mistake. I am not one your math-savvy, spatially non-challenges readers. But thank goodness they are out there! So glad you were able to fix it – that feels *so* good!! I’ve been there before. o:)

  56. Nicole, I fear I would have made the same mistake. I am not one your math-savvy, spatially non-challenges readers. But thank goodness they are out there! So glad you were able to fix it – that feels *so* good!! I’ve been there before. o:)

  57. Nicole, I fear I would have made the same mistake. I am not one your math-savvy, spatially non-challenges readers. But thank goodness they are out there! So glad you were able to fix it – that feels *so* good!! I’ve been there before. o:)