At the end of my last post, I promised I was going to do a triangle block next … so you may be confused by the general squareness of the block pictured above.

In my defense, I did attempt to do a triangle block over the last week. I printed out the pattern. I traced and cut out the pieces. I started sewing them together.

My plan had been to complete the triangle block before I went to my quilting retreat this weekend, because I hate trying to figure out new things with an audience. Saturday morning rolled around, and the triangle was not done (it was sort of a lopsided trapezoid at that point). So, I figured I’d pack up the pieces and take it along to retreat.

Once there, I did my best to remain inconspicuous while I worked on it … no easy task since I was seated smack dab in the middle of the room, and people kept coming over to peer at the odd girl who sews quilt blocks by hand instead of machine.

I got 10 of the 12 pieces sewn together, but felt that the triangle looked decidedly misshapen … plus I was having trouble getting the last two pieces to line up with the other ten. I pulled out my triangular Dear Jane ruler, and found that the triangle was indeed, decidedly misshapen, and also way too small. I had no idea how to fix this, with or without an audience.

My friend Carrie says that when her projects misbehave, she puts them in a “time out” and moves on to something else. At this point, I felt that both the triangle and I were ready for a time out. So, I tossed the triangle aside and cut out the pieces for the nice, square block shown above.

By the time I called it a day on Saturday night, I was feeling very discouraged. I was positive that all I was going to have to show for my weekend quilting retreat was a blog post titled “The Failure”. I was even starting to compose the bleak text of it in my head.

Later that night, I figured out the problem (or at least one of the problems) with the triangle block. The software I use to print out the patterns for this quilt prints both square blocks and triangles as 4.5″ x 4.5″ by default. The problem is that the triangles are supposed to be 5″ x 8″. When printing the pattern pieces for a triangle, you have to check a box saying you want pattern pieces for the triangle size that is shown in the quilt. Why would this not be the default setting?

Now I have my new, correctly-sized pattern pieces printed out, but after all that drama, I felt like I really needed a win before I faced the triangle again.

So, Sunday morning, it was back to the beautifully-square block pictured above. It was not without its own problems. I followed the cutting instructions in the software, but there were some things that didn’t add up.

Specifically, those three stripes (one red and two tan) are each 3/8″ wide, which adds up to 1 1/8″ total. Yet they wanted me to sew a 1″ center square to the end of those three stripes. I wasn’t a math major in school or anything, but I’m pretty sure that 1 1/8″ and 1″ are not the same thing, so those pieces were not lining up with each other.

I solved that problem by having an extremely skimpy seam allowance on that center square. Apparently I was so cranky that I chose not to cut out a new 1 1/8″ center square just on principle.

The pattern also called for tiny squares in the corners that were the same red as the pieces next to them. I decided I was going to simplify the pattern and reduce bulk by just combining each corner piece with one of the pieces next to it, and cutting it out as one longer piece of fabric. After all, there was no reason to have extra seams to create tiny squares that can’t be seen with the naked eye anyways.

It was so simple to combine these two pieces: all I had to do was add up the lengths of the two pieces, and subtract out 1/2″ for the nonexistent seam allowance. Then I would know exactly how long to cut those pieces. You can see how that went by checking out the four lovely Frankenstein bolts sticking out of the corners of the block in progress:

Luckily, this was easily solved with a pair of scissors (better to have too much fabric than too little, right?).

It was a long road to get there, but I think the block is the win that I needed this weekend. Last time I went to retreat, I got two blocks done in one day, so I optimistically brought fabric and patterns for six blocks with me. Here we are on Sunday night, and I’m embarrassingly pleased to have accomplished a single block.

This time, I’m making no promises about doing that first triangle block. I may need a few more wins under my belt before I’m willing to tackle it again.