two for the price of one
 

My friend from work just purchased a new home and I decided to make him and his wife a log cabin quilt for a house warming gift..

I needed purple and brown and wanted to do a classic red in the middle. I got lucky with the fabric. Found the colors I needed and at $1.50 a yard! So I bought enough to do the back also.

I read the directions and started to cut. . . started to sew . . . needed more material cut. I'm thinking I must of counted wrong originally.

I'm sewing . . . and sewing . . . What's taking me so long?

I finally finished the blocks last night and decided to iron them before going to bed.

I'm ironing. . . and ironing.

Yep, you probably already guessed. Instead of the 26 blocks I needed for a king quilt, I have 46 blocks, enough to make the king and a double.

I need to go back to math class.

Oops!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

just think of all the throw pillows you can make and at least one big across the top pillow cover.!

Oh well at a $1.50 a yard, you need not feel back and extra quilt will be a bonus. You could add some extra borders and use the smaller amount for the backing.

Those must be really really big blocks if 26 will make a king quilt.

Math is the hardest part of quilting. But in the long run - it is better to have too much than too little!!! I have had to search frantically for more fabric when my "math" figuring was stingy.

LOL, i've done that as well. it's certainly better than not having enough :D

My first quilt many years ago was grandmas fan. I was having so much fun cutting and making fans I made a big box full. When I finished I still had a box full. To this day I still find fans in the bottom of my scraps and have to laugh at myself. What was I thinking?

make two quilts and donate the smaller one. double bang for the buck (or buck fifty)

Just think, you have another whole set of blocks FINISHED

Now you can make a second quilt.

If math isn't your strong suit consider getting EQ, even an older version, or let a friend with EA help you. It is so easy to just put in the finished size of the blocks and 'fool around' to check for finished size.

OK ... I used to teach math and before work in statistics. I taught my students and we had fun. After all, once you drop the fear it is fun. There are only a few things you can do with numbers: leave them alone, make them go away (like multiply by zero, subtract by the same amount), make them bigger (addition and multiplication by greater than one, or division by lesser than one), or make them smaller (subtraction or multiply by less than one or division by greater than one.) Just have fun with it and relax!

ali

I have done that before but not that much! LOL Look at it this way you're ahead for the next quilt gift!

we all do.......lol

You never know when you're going to need a quilt for a gift, so you have a great head start!!

Bonus... finish them both and then you have one already done to give away for one of those unexpected gifts that crop up.

That's too funny! Glad to know I'm not the only one who does that.

too funny and lucky to have enough fabric to finish them. sounds like something I would do.

Awesome to know I have company in the math department! LOL:D

I feel your chagrin... my math skills are terrible as are my spacial relationships - quilting is a real challenge and I love it.

Did that LOL!

never hurts to have extras.

Do they have a guest bed or a chair in their bedroom that could use a throw?

I know how you feel. I've done some math with my sewing projects before that came out just as yours did.

You now have a matching quilt for their geust room-or yours for that matter.

LOL, i've done that as well. My first quilt was suppose to be a king and ended up being a huge tent.

You can make another for yourself or someone else with not much more work to be done.

I made a quilt last year from a munufacturers instructions, who shall remain nameless, the numbers for the cuts were way off, I discovered this after cutting enormous quantities of fabrics but not before sewing the quilt. So far the extra cuttings have made 2 king size shams to go with the quilt (a gift for my son), a bed runner for myself, 2 toss pillows, and I still have some left, which since most of them are 1/2 square triangles, are slated for use in some unchosen future quilt! The good news is that I love the fabrics.:)

wow ,ya know I sure could use a log cabin quilt and love the colors you choosed. LOL!!

make one of those now popular things you put at the end of a bed????for some reason........or sew them into a long pillow tube.....so that the new owners can just slide their bed pillows into it instead of pillow shams...did that for my daughter and she liked that idea.....

I did the same thing recently while cutting strips for table toppers...cut far too many strips but have plans for them!!!

A lot of my scrap stash comes from math miscaluations on the material.

Oh, wow, much better than coming up short. Once I did that and used some of the squares for nice tote bags. What a bargain on the fabric, by the way!

LOL...sorry to laugh, but that's usually my trick. So, that's why I have my friend do the math for me. She has and engineering back round and is a mathlete. Makes my life so much easier and she loves doing the figures...go figure;0)

One for the friend, one for you! Sounds like a great deal to me!

You almost have the back of the quilt done now. Just use the rest of the blocks and add a border.

LOL You don't want to know how often I have had that happen but only over the last 3 years or so. I thought, I must be getting old. It is always nice to have some blocks on hand and ready for a top.

I think I am doing the same thing right now ... I purchased a pattern for a block - a bouquet of balloons (23 of them are in each block). So ... I pull out my box of 30's fabrics and start sorting. I find my scrapbooking punch and punch out A LOT of 1" circles to use as templates (see, I run a basting thread around the circle and pull it up around the template, then press. Let the circle rest (cool down), then remove and move on). I started cutting circles out, asked a friend for her stash too and am still cutting circles. I save those nice pill bottles and I now have three of them full of circles to make into balloons. I am still cutting, I will have enough to make my quilt (probably however many I want) and to share with the next person. I am using any pieces that are small enough to cut one or two out of before tossing the rest. It has been fun to fussy cut some of my little circles. The original quilt (an antique) does not have any sashings between the blocks and has A LOT of blocks. I am considering making 12 blocks and adding a sashing - but, with the number of circles I am cutting out, I may HAVE to make one like the original quilt. I wonder if I will still be adicted to applique when I am done with this one - lol If anyone is interested in the pattern, I purchased it at Latimer Quilt & Textile Center in Tillamook, Oregon. I believe they also have the original quilt in their collection.

Well, that's a pretty big oops, but I've made one too many blocks myself. I make family reunion quilts every 2 years and the last 3 have been king size because I got carried away. If I were you, I'd finish both, the king and the double, the double might come in handy for a wedding gift one day or a birthday resent. This new math can get you every time.

That was a pleasant surprise

Wow, wondering if that's an Arizona thing! I made about 12 extra blocks on a quilt that I'm currently working on. Of course, it was my own fault. I started the blocks about six months ago, put the blocks away and totally forgot I made them. You'd think that when I started making the blocks last month that it would seem familiar to me, but nope.

Where did you find fabric for $1.50/yard?