Measure twice...cut once! Measure TWICE...cut ONCE!

Although measuring twice and cutting once is excellent advice, for some reason I have always gravitated more toward: "Measure once, cut once, check size of piece that has been cut, realize it's wrong, throw it away, measure again, cut again, re-check size and hope it's right. Repeat as needed." Now, I must admit that I have wasted a lot of fabric and time with my "do-over" method and I often wonder why, after 30 years, I still tend to balk at the "measure twice" method. I'm not sure if I think that I'm perfect and don't NEED to measure twice - or if I'm actually lazy and don't want to take the time to measure twice - or if I'm always in a hurry and just don't have the time to measure twice. Whatever the reason - I just wanted to share with you that, unfortunately, "I did it again!"

I have been working on a Block of the Month quilt that has been designed and presented by the Decatur Quilter's Guild evening group this year. The block for this month was a bit complex and we received excellent instruction at our last meeting. Mary T., one of our guild members and an excellent quilter, demonstrated how to make and sew together 45 degree diamonds. She has stressed precision piecing and each month encourages us to try something new. I have truly enjoyed learning new cutting and piecing methods and the hands-on experience that comes with making the block. Mary showed us how to cut the diamonds, mark them with pencil, pin them along the sewing line (rather than perpendicular to it) and then she demonstrated how to carefully stitch the pieces together while gently slipping the pin out of the fabric as the needle approached it. I wanted to give it a try! Now, you would think that since I can be very fanatical about my points matching and my blocks laying flat, I would ALWAYS measure twice before I actually cut my beautiful fabrics...

Well, once again, I only measured once and here's what happened:

I had been asked by one of the leaders of our church women's group to design and make a quilt block for a special quilt that was being made. Since the backing fabric was given to us, the square either had to be embroidered (don't know how...don't want to learn); written on with fabric markers (I have TERRIBLE handwriting - in fact I got a well-deserved C- in handwriting in the 3rd grade and my writing has never improved.); or applique. Applique is artwork - it is more than just making a precision-cut quilt block - and just not my forte. BUT - it was really my only choice.

I decided to make a Tree of Life block. I found a beautiful pattern in a book called "Big Block Quilts by Magic" that used 45 degree diamonds to make the tree. Lo and behold - I just LEARNED how to make PERFECT 45 degree diamonds! I was very anxious to give it a try. The block dimensions in the book made a tree that was larger than the piece of background fabric that I was given, so I needed to scale it down. In addition the block was pieced and really didn't lend itself well to applique. BUT - I was feeling pretty ambitious and decided to use the new method I learned at my guild meeting and then applique the finished tree to the background fabric square. How hard could it be??? I measured the size of the background fabric, measured the size of the tree I needed, divided out the measurements and came up with the size of the diamond that I needed. I cut out 34 diamonds and a tree trunk - and sewed them all together. It was PERFECT! When I placed the tree on the background fabric I was simply devastated to see that my tree was about 3 inches larger than the background square. ARGHH!!!!! An entire morning spent on making my beautiful tree of life, and NOTHING to show for it.

So, as per "Mary B.'s do-over Method" I measured again, cut again, re-checked size and - yes - it was right. Whew! I stitched each diamond together, then cut little diamonds of freezer paper and ironed them to the inside of the points. I turned under the edges of each "tree point", basted the raw edges down, sprayed the tree with sizing, removed the basting stitches and papers, and machine appliqued it down.

Here's a picture of the finished block.
I think there are many times that we're happy with the status quo. We use our old methods because they're tried and true - even though there may be other methods out there that are easier, more accurate and fun. I could have cut templates for my diamonds and stitched them together, but with Mary T.'s encouragement at guild meeting, I tried something new and guess what? It worked!

In revisiting my reasons for not measuring twice and cutting once...I really don't think I think I'm perfect (I KNOW I'm not), I don't believe I'm lazy (although I have my moments), and I would never try to hurry up on a quilting project. I think that the reason I don't remember to measure twice is that I just get so excited to try something new, that I simply forget. After this most recent fiasco, will I remember to measure twice and cut once next time? Hmmmm....I'll certainly try, but there are no guarantees.

On a side note - my mom and dad were married on May 30th (Memorial Day), 1953. They will be celebrating 56 years of marriage on Saturday. Congratulations Mom and Dad!

Happy Blanketmaking and Happy Memorial Day!

Mary