Grandma Peg

What a beautiful square and quilt it will be. Can your son pick out some fabric for me please? He did a great job!

kathyathome

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The upper right block is finished, working on the other 4 of the same block. Advice: Notice that the pattern calls for batiks, which have no right or wrong side, and if you use regular fabric you need to make marks on the wrong side, and of course all piecing is done right sides together. Cut all the pieces and label them carefully. Do 1/4" seams as exactly as you can. Read ever so carefully each step, looking at the pictures as you go. It was comical how many seams I ripped out - as I said, good thing I love ripping seams out. Finally turned off my audio book to finish with my full attention. It's fun and not difficult if you pay attention.

AngeliaNR

It's almost scary! Wow--enjoy the making. I love it, though I'd be afraid to have it on my bed--I might never find my way out of the room--it messes with my brain!

kathyathome

Yes I was aware of that - apparently it was with the instructions that appeared in a magazine several years ago. I was assured by Bear Creek that the instructions for the pattern I bought are correct.

kathyathome

Instructions call for a white, a light gray, a dark gray, and a black. The thin strips you see in my photos are white and form the tops of the "walls." The black forms the "floor" of the labyrinth.

kathyathome

It does mess with you - part of the reason is simply the 3D effect, but another reason is that it isn't a true labyrinth. There is only one place that looks like an entry point from the black border, but it doesn't go very far before it dead ends. It isn't a labyrinth that you can actually walk through if you take the right turns. I sort of wanted to do a different one called 3D Maze, but when I offered my son the two patterns he said he wanted this one. They are both definite conversation starters. Nothing wrong with hanging out in bed if you find you can't escape - haha.

javin22

Wow that is so 3-D looking.

kathyathome

Since I invited you on this walk, and some of you are with me to watch the process and learn from my mistakes, I’m going to post something sort of embarrassing. I had to take apart the 2-1/2 blocks I had done, because I discovered my 1/4" seams were just a hair bigger than that, and when you multiply even 1/16” of an inch by 10 (the number of vertical seams, you end up with a block that pulls in on the sides and isn’t square. With this pattern you can’t very well trim it square. What I’ve done is change my needle position and measure each piece that is the result of putting two pieces together. It’s imperative to get each pieced rectangle exactly right – you can trim each one a tiny bit if necessary, or even redo the seam, but once you’ve added onto that piece it’s pretty much inaccessible. So here’s my second piece of advice: measure carefully after each piece you add. I thought I was following my own advice about keeping to an exact 1/4" seam, using my usual needle position, but I didn’t measure to make sure, and it’s essential for this particular pattern. I’ll repeat that the pattern is easy to follow, but you have to be really careful to get it right as you go. Please don’t let this discourage you! I’m a very precise seamstress, but I was so taken by the pattern emerging that I didn’t stop to think that maybe my seams weren’t 1/4" after all. The photos of the triangle process show that if you do that part wrong too you can end up with a rectangle that is shorter on one side. The arrows show where my piece isn’t right – the end where the triangle is should line up with the yellow line on my cutting mat. I’m very pleased with the new finished block – it’s perfectly square. On to identical block #2 of 5, then we start on the other block with a different pattern to make 4 of those.
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QuiltE

Good for you for catching that oops!
I bet it feel good to know that you did ... and can easily recover?

Cheering you on!!!!

Jordan

That is going to be a beautiful quilt. Love the fabric choices and looking forward to watching you pictures of progress