A Week from Hell – And a Beautiful Work of Art from Jaydee

Good Saturday morning! The sun is out and it was a very pleasant walk this morning. Hearing aids are working – the Audiologist changed the Receiver to a lower one because she found out that the one she had used caused Meniere’s patients HEADACHES. what a surprise! I lost a lot of quilting time the last 2 weeks and it frustrates me so much!!!

Status on my exercise goals is moving in the right direction. My goal of reaching a VO2 in the 20’s again is getting closer each day. By the end of April I will be where I was in December. I figured out how VO2 level was measured on my Apple Watch. As I began to walk a faster pace my VO2 went up to 20!!!! Now to get to over 20 and I will be back where I was a year ago. The VO2 measures your Cardiac Fitness. The faster the pace the higher the number. I have been in the Below Average in the 18’s since last year. I had never been below 20 but that is what “not exercising” and “stress” can do to a body. I have always been in the above average 21 – 26 range. The App keeps an average of the last 90 days. In January when we had the “whatever” I lost most of the month as far as exercise went. By the end of April my average will be in the Above Average because January will not be counted in the 90 day count. YEA – Reminds me of the 90 day average for the A1C level. I know that everyone wanted to know all about VO2!!! LOL. So on to what I have been up to the last week or so.

Now on to Alaska by Sitar. This is a beautiful quilt pattern, but it Sitar has some SERIOUS problems with her directions and templates and now her new Creative Grid Ruler. Kathy and I were going to make this quilt together. On the 18 of March I started working on a sample block for Block 1. I have learned through the years that when making a complex quilt that a sample block will point out all the pitfalls of the pattern and especially which seam allowance to use. Click on the Block 1 link above to see my previous post about how I started this project.

For an update to this Disaster Sitar Alaska project. I purchased the Creative Grids ruler (they are the only rulers I use) rather than using her templates because the cutting would go much faster. BUT Ms Sitar, has horrible quality control in writing her pattern directions, and now in the development of the new ruler. I prefer a ruler over templates and anything you purchase from Ms Sitar is EXPENSIVE. One would expect that the ruler and the templates would be one and the same but they are not. The new ruler is off 1/16 of an inch OR her templates are off. I feel that her templates are wrong and Creative Ruler is correct. Ms Sitar does not provide the “finished size” for the diamonds, or the finished size of any of the pieces in the 9″ finished blocks. This can make it very difficult to reach a perfect 9″ finished lock with 1/4″ seam allowance on the outer points. In my samples I tried using a scant and ended up with very little seam allowance to prevent cutting off my points.

Then I cut the diamond shape using the directions for the ruler for the diamonds. Problem here.

I wasted over 4 hours in making the sample blocks and the blocks below took about 6 hours to cut the fabric and sew them. I spent a lot of time working to have the outside points with 1/4″ seam allowance. As an added PITA, the quilt is cut on the bias on all pieces. Total time wasted – about 3 days of my life!

I thought I had mastered things as I moved on to Block 2, but that is when I found out the real problem – Sitar does not provide adequate information to make this quilt. To use the CG Ruler I needed the finished sizes of all pieces that make up each block!

So now I will return to making Sentimental Scraps ONLY because I bought the fabric that would only go with the 200 Nine patches I had made in 2014. Then I guess I will finally put Stars Around the Garden together. When I have issues such as what I just went through with Alaska, it takes me a day to move forward. Anyone else experience this?

On the brighter side of a Quilter – Here is my friend Jaydee’s Civil War Bride quilt. She started this quilt about 7 years ago, stopped working on it from time to time (I did the same) and about 2 years ago she started designing her own border. She did a beautiful job on the Border design and so much prettier than the original Australian pattern. She hand quilted the quilt and has just finished it. Jaydee is an awesome quilter and I have learned a lot through the years from her. I met her when I belonged to the Applique Society pre 2010. I give you a Best of Show (as soon as they have a real quilt show in her area) as this one is a Winner.

Have a wonderful week-end and I do hope that my next post is more positive and that I have been able to complete something!

Hugs, Nanette

PS – Anyone want to purchase an Alaska pattern with templates let me know. Leave you email in your comment section! It will be cheap!

Linking To:  My Quilt Infatuation; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; Finished or Not Friday ; Em’s Scrap Bag; BOM’s Away;  Sew Fresh Quilts; Crazy Mom Quilts;  Oh Scrap; Scrap Happy Saturday; Slow Sunday Stitching  Quilt Fabrication Mid Week Makers; Peacock Party; Design Wall Monday, Scrap Happy Days, Quilting Patch Linky Party To-Do-Tuesdays;PHD in 2021;