Friday1961

These are Union Jack blocks I've been making for a quilt for my Irish DIL. Yes, she's Irish, but she loves the Union Jack.....and the UK.

The four quadrants of each block are paper pieced, something I'd never done before but which I discovered are pretty cool and easy to do. This photo shows a layout which I did not ultimately use, but had I looked more closely at this early picture, I would have caught the error before I sewed the sashing between blocks and rows and sewed the four rows together.....unfortunately, I didn't, and I had assembled the entire top (sans a final color border) before I saw it.

Thank goodness I did take one final close look at each block, and, to my surprise and horror, saw the mistake. I was able to take out that quadrant, fix it, and put it all back together, uttering a few choice words while doing it!

Can you see my error? Hint: it's close!

I find it astonishing how many times I overlooked this. And I had a chart that I consulted each time I put a block together, too. This is known as getting too close to your work....a problem for many quiltmaker's, I suspect.

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nativetexan

i just see some wider white strips in different places in one block. is it the one with striped fabric? looks great!

PaperPrincess

The one with the blue stars has a wide/narrow strip reversed (lower right)?

Tartan

Well done and with directional fabric too! The combination of St. Andrew's Cross and St. Gerorge's cross makes for a tricky pattern to sew.

Friday1961

Yes, that's it. In the near block in the photo -- the one with the red and white striped center cross and the blue stars -- the narrow white line in Quadrant D (lower left) is on top but the wider white line should be. It was a fairly easy fix, just taking everything apart, and re-sewing the 1-1/2 inch white strips to the correct side and top of the quadrant, but it made me paranoid! I then carefully examined, again and again, all the other blocks.

The history of the Union Jack flag's appearance and design is interesting, but it didn't have future quiltmakers in mind!

sewbizgirl

It is a very hard block to sew, esp. without a pattern. I made this one for my daughter, several years ago. It was a big challenge for me to figure it out, and I probably didn't do the stripes right.

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marilynr

Well, no wonder you missed it at first because I had to look hard to find it. Well done. I am in the process of
removing sashes on a quilt top that I found did not do anything to add to my quilt, so I have great empathy with what
you went through to correct this.

Friday1961

Very pretty, sewbizgirl! I like yours a lot!

Since my DIL is a transplanted Texan, I included stars fabric -- the Lone Star -- in some of the blocks. I found a free pattern online....but then I realized there was an error (won't name names) in the measurements of quadrants B & D so I had to refigure and redraw those two. The paper piecing is really quite easy, especially with the Carol Doaks paper, which tears away without tearing out stitches. I'm torn about the color of the final border -- red or dark blue? Haven't decided. But I have red in my stash.....so that decision may be made. Totally unsure about the backing, though, and will have to buy that.

Thanks to everyone for your comments....and empathy! This was my first paper piecing project, and while slower, was not difficult. But like everything I do, I'm now growing tired of it and am anxious to have it done. That, I think, is often the quiltmaker's lament!

themachinelady

I would have said the third block from right on bottom. The pink square is placed differently than the others but also see the strip in the blue left hand block

Tartan

Friday1961-I think she needs a mug rug to go with her cute quilt. If you have any more of the striped fabric, you can fussy cut the red and white stripe for the St. Andrew's and St. Patrick's cross part .