QuiltingVagabond

Yes, I just was not feeling the love - I think the yellows were the final straw, but I am not a big fan of purple either, so I just gave myself permission to not finish this one. I love the design though, maybe I will do it in another colorway someday.

ddtrina

So is it really neccessary to trim or can I just match my seams/points if all I'm trimming is slivers? The last time I tried to trim squares, I ending up cutting my squares much smaller because I messed one up and had to go back and redo everything I had already trimmed. I'm so afraid that will happen again that I'm really taking my time this time, measure twice, cut once, and all that good stuff. If I'm accurate enough in my initial cutting in sewing, is there really much to be gained by trimming before I piece everything together?

pennycandy

Back before rotary cutters and all these fancy rulers, I made a log cabin quilt. All the strips were cut the width of fabric and I cut the strips to length after I sewed them. After I pieced the top it had grown from a full size to queen size. All those tiny little mistakes added up. I was able to use the quilt but if it had gone the other way, it would have been too small.

It is your quilt and you can do what you want. I know it takes time to trim but it may save you time later when trying to piece things together.

pennycandy

When I decided to do this mq, I said yes but I'm only going to do 1/4 size and one fabric per color. After seeing clue one I decided I better pick up more fabrics so I can do this scrappy. Once I saw the reveal, I preferred the full size.

Just when I thought I was done with fabric buying, cutting and piecing, I'm back to the process all over again. Those of you who are just starting or still working on the clues, you aren't alone. I'm right there with you.

ddtrina

Thanks pennycandy. I'll just keep plugging away. I'm cutting in reverse of what I sew and I'm down to week 4 so I should be done eventually.

givio

ddtrina, I'd say if you are accurate in your cutting and sewing, you don't need to trim off slivers... I didn't... If you are making the quilt for yourself, just do as you like! If you can match up your points well enough to suit youself-- do you really care if the seam on both sides is 'just so' and equal? I don't. It's on the back, inside the quilt, who will see it?

Besides not squaring up the units, I didn't pre-wash and iron my fabric, I didn't twirl the center seams on the 4-patches, I didn't cut off dog ears, and I'm planning on not mitering the corners of my binding. lol Oh, yeah, and I didn't use a design wall (or design bed, or floor). I just sewed together the units at random from my little stacks.

My changes are the center of the block star and the tri-rec star are one constant fabric, all my QSTs are green/neutral, and the blue 4-patch I switched to a neutral 4-patch in the sashes so that the 'circles' are not all attached with each other. (I wanted less blue in the top.)

I have 2 sashes to sew on vertically, on the outer edges, which I'll add to the border then sew to the quilt center. So, basically, I've just the border left to do! Pretty excited about that! :-)

ddtrina

Givio, thanks for your advice too. I noticed my 4 patch blocks are much closer to the correct measurement so I just whipped through 20 with barely a trim. I love your colors in your quilt and how you are confident enough in your abilities to be able to change up the design. I'm only on my 6th quilt so I'm still a work in progress, trying to learn from all the experienced people this board has.

NZquilter

Your quilt is lovely, Givio! I like your touch to the sashing; it reminds me of a tiled floor. So pretty blues too!

joe'smom

I love your top, givio! I think all of your changes and your colors are wonderful.

ddtrina, I used to piece without trimming units, and things still went together well. Now that I'm used to doing it, I think it does make it easier to join units, because you don't have excess fabric hanging over when you're sewing seams. You can get an idea of how your units are trending by checking a few. I didn't do much trimming of 4-patches or tri-recs and could easily see when one of those needed trimming, but quite a few of my QSTs had a side or two that were too large, so I am checking all of those. Do whatever works for you!

Bluebonnets

NZquilter I love your top! The fabrics and colors are terrific in this!

Oh my, givio, that is beautiful and the changes you made make it sing! Love it too!

Way to go QV! You're not thrilled with it and you let it go to do something else with it! Freedom!

Mine is plugging along a block every day or so when I have an hour to do it.