Hating Quarter Inch Seams, or Any Seams, Actually!

I have finished nine blocks and five sunburst pieces in the 13-block 8-sunburst project. It is nearly impossible for me to finish a block at the required size, in this case, 12 1/2 inches. I measure and cut the pieces as carefully as I can. The culprit is undoubtedly the quarter inch seam. Maybe I'm just a bit off in cutting, but that shouldn't cause the problem as much as the quarter inch seam. Every block I complete ends up NOT square and a little too small. Not fun.

Here are my two latest blocks, the Nosegay and the Spring Flowers.



I sure hope when the sashing goes on that I am able to work with these deficiencies. I can't Photoshop the missing fabric like I did the Spring Flower block above!

So, here is the 'design wall' with all nine blocks. This is not the final placement, but it helps to see them coming together.


Most of the time I am enjoying this project, but it is disheartening to find the blocks have 'issues' when I finish them. Perhaps I belong in the art quilt arena where quarter inch seams are not a big factor.

I'm going to my quild picnic tonite. Should be fun. Since I am the webmaster, it will become my job to make sure I get lots of good candids for the website. I really like to jazz up the site and increase viewership via photos. Of course, I do like the food everyone brings... a lot. The weather will be perfecto - in Santa Barbara it will be about 70 degrees. Right now in Santa Ynez it is 81 degrees, will probably get hotter today, but there is a lovely breeze and it is perfect!

No humidity here on the left coast. The many summers I spent on Long Island visiting relatives taught me I do not tolerate humidity in any shape, way or form. I don't know how everyone in the midwest, south and east deal with it. I remember taking showers at 8 am and needing one again an hour later. How do you live in that environment? I guess you get used to it.

My first teaching position was in W. Lafayette, IN (at Purdue - I taught PE and coached volleyball) and I left for home base in CA at the end of every school year to escape Indiana summers. They were HUMID. But, I do love the rain and thunderstorms you all have. We have none of that. If we do, it makes for big headlines in the papers.

We're told we may be entering an El Nino year. The ocean warming brings more rain to us - we like that, but it will also bring unpredictable highs and lows (we have that now anyway with global warming) and flooding. With three MAJOR destructive fires in the last year, the Santa Barbara hillsides cannot take a big storm. The hills will try to slide into the ocean.

Well, I guess we all have our climate problems. One thing we rarely if ever have is tornadoes, hurricanes, and rivers flooding over their banks. Our rivers are big wide swaths of dirt with an occasional golf course built down to the edges. Typical California landscape.

Neverland's front gates are still flooded with visitors, flowers, balloons, messages of grief on MJ's passing. If you are curious about the area, one of our local pilots, John Wiley, has taken overhead photos of the ranch, and of many other well-known spots in the area. Take a look at his Flickr photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jw4pix/. If you look through his photo albums you will see Oprah's mansion and other areas of note.

By the way, local rumor has it that MJ will come to Neverland Friday. Stay tuned. There is so much speculation. Katharine Jackson says No!, Jermaine says Yes!