Just this past weekend I was helping a friend do her first Twister quilt. I haven't done one either but with all the cutting it seemed like a good project for us to share. Maybe we got a little too involved in chatting because we started to cut out the little squares before we added the border. Yikes. Once we realized it we were able to gather the scraps, sew on the border and make it work.

Good luck, Lois! I hope you find your fabric!

Kate

Hope you find your fabric too!!! I'm not good at matching joints at all.

My biggest mishap was a time when I cut all of the fabric as the pattern directed. I don't know how I did it but I cut the majority of the units about 1/2 inch too short.

This was days of cutting and I dislike cutting fabrics A LOT lol!!!!

I never did finish the quilt and I used the majority of the fabric for scrappy!!!

looking forward to the pics!
Rosa

As the pirate says, "Arrrgh." I got to the shop, and the owner said she sold the rest of the bolt to a woman from Fargo about an hour earlier. I was able to get a fat quarter, but that was all.

What really drove me crazy was that I was going to go yesterday during lunch, but I was too lazy. Then I was going to get there about an hour earlier, but someone asked me to lunch, so I did that first. If I believed in "it wasn't meant to be," I'd say, "It wasn't meant to be." Oh, well... I'll do the best I can.

My biggest mistake was recently, I was in a hurry at a fabric center and was buying backing fabric. So I find the perfect piece that matched like a charm. It did feel 'different' but thought nothing of it.

When I got around to putting the backing on I discovered that I bought polyester fabric. So... being that there was so much yardage I decided to use it anyway. Much to my dismay and let the be a warning to everyone, that it does NOT work and sure made a mess of the project... next time I will be more careful, take a bit more time and check the bolt information before I buy.

I almost always cut at least one piece wrong! I cut as I go, so I do avoid cutting alot at the wrong measurement :).
The most recent was the sashing that I sewed onto 16 blocks that was the wrong size. what did I do???? So, I spent alot of precious time, figuring out what the heck I needed to do~it was a simple fix, but I had alot cut wrong - and the cornerstones already sewn on, so I did not want to trim down and be wrong. I hate it when I do something stupid like that! Fortunately for me, I was able to trim and use everything and no ripping out.

Lois~I think you should put it away for awhile, and look for a solution with fresh eyes. You aren't in love with the project (quite the opposite), so it wasn't meant to be!

My first big cutting mistake was about a year & 1/2 ago when I decided to design my own practice quilt (for a couch covering) using scraps from old clothes. Most of the pieces were squares and HSTs sewn into 12.5" (unfinished) blocks. All went well until I tried to add the large border triangles. They were all too small....hmmmmm...what did I do wrong? Well, I was cutting HSTs from 12.5" blocks of fabric, not realizing that I was supposed to add 7/8" to the "finished" (12") size of the block. All those triangles went into the stash, and I had to cut all new HSTs from 12 & 7/8" blocks.
So much for trying to design my own quilt:(

It's a good thing I was practicing on old clothes, and not using new fabric!

Lois, I hope someday you are able to finish the quilt...it sounds interesting with the three panels.

Julie

Lois, what's the fabric you are looking for? I bet one of us can find it.

Kate, the fabric is in a collection called Gallery Fiori from P & B Textiles. I found their website and noticed that they sold the whole collection to a shop in Madison, WI, not far from my sister's place. I'll call tomorrow and see if they still have any. The one I am looking for is the second big floral GAFI341EW. In the meantime, I'm going to see what I can do with what I have and the fat quarter I got today.

Here is a link that might be useful: P & B Textiles

Barbara, just curious, what exactly happened when you used the polyester? I've never used it and don't plan to, but what exactly is the problem with it? And was it pure polyester or a blend?

One thing I have to watch myself on is when cutting rectangles or squares with a set pattern into triangles, to remember to cut diagonally from bottom left to top right on half and top left to bottom right on the other half!
Karlene

I usually get myself into trouble when I start doing math in my head! LOL Even though I'm a math person, it's always better if I either measure (!) or write it down instead of just listening to the voice in my head. Especially if it's late in the day. :)

Donna

You know the carpenter's adage of "Measure twice, cut once". Well, times too numerous to mention, I have ignored that advice, much to my dismay. I can't think of a really major boo-boo, right now, but I know I have made them.
And my math skills are pretty poor as well, Donna. i tell my friends to never let me work in a bank!
Theresa

Rita,
The fabric was a poly... when I machine quilted it the center was OK looking because I could keep it tight. As I got close to the outer edges the fabric kept moving and ended up a bit wavy and puckered. I should have quit then, but decided since I was going to keep it, I just plugged on and thought I won't worry about the wrinkles.

Machine basting the front/batting and backing edges together before applying the binding, the fabric just slid all over the place with shifting - and I could not keep it flat, then when I applied the binding it became worse looking.

Lesson learned for me... check the fabric before buying!
Barbara

Lois, the fabric is great!

Is this it?
I like the inspirational quilt. In fact I like the fabrics-alot!

Here is a link that might be useful: P&B Floral Fabric

Thanks, Kate and Marsha. Yes, that's the fabric - the one called brown flowers. It is interesting to see the inspirational quilt. They didn't match the pattern at all. I have laid it out with the fabric I have, and because it's such a busy print, I don't mind the mis-match as much as I thought I would. I think I'm going to finish it with what I have - mis-match and all. I'm just finishing a row of log cabin blocks, and I'll post a photo of my progress. Thanks so much for your help.

Here's a photo of the progress. The quilt will be three sets of what you see here, plus one extra row of log cabin blocks at the top. The gold stripes in the focus fabric will be offset to the right and left on the other two thirds of the quilt. The binding will be the dark brown. I think it's fine, but you can see it would have been better if it matched. I think this quilt will be a donation to our yacht club's fund raiser. I'm not crazy about it. But you never know, maybe by the time it's finished it will have grown on me. I do love the focus fabric.

My advice - place the gold stripes offset in distinctively different amounts so it looks deliberate - not like a mistake. It will look modern and chic!

I agree - "modern and chic".

I like the focus fabric so much that I just ordered a bit of it in red to use in my office. I have that poppies wall quilt I just finished so this (in the gray with red flowers) will look great on some small accents.