Unfinished Projects

I have decided the problem with old UFO's is that by the time you get back to them --- if you ever get back to them -- is the fabrics are no longer available. This isn't an issue if you purchased enough fabric for potential errors. The combination of an inexperienced quilter and wrong cutting directions can be hazardous to your quilt project. This quilt is probably my oldest UFO -- I can't remember exactly when I started this quilt. But last weekend I pulled it out of the pile and decided to put the blocks into rows. I love the look of blocks set on point but am not so good at putting together quilts with blocks set on point. Even after years of quilting I still shy away from on-point quilt patterns. What I was thinking as a new quilter several years ago when I started this project is beyond me. Obviously I wasn't thinking about the difficulty level!

The pattern calls for two borders -- one is made of small snowball blocks and the other is just a regular border. The fabric used for the corners of the snowball blocks had been cut by me at an earlier date. All I had left to do was cut the squares and piece the blocks -- simple enough. Not exactly, the instructions said to cut 4 1/2" squares for the inside of the snowball block and to cut 3 3/4" squares in half diagonally for the corners of the blocks. I had previously cut the 3 3/4" squares when this was a new and exciting project. Unfortunately I was a new quilter and had no idea that if you cut 3 3/4" squares in half diagonally there is no way they are going to fit on the sides of a 4 1/2" square. Since I don't have enough of the red fabric left to re-cut the 3 3/4" squares to the correct size, I have decided to put a three inch border around the quilt so that the pinwheel blocks "float" in the quilt. I will then add the 6 1/2" red border.

So does anyone need 64 red 3 3/4" squares cut in half diagonally?