Tuesday, 10 February 2015

Maths Challenge

I would never claim to be brilliant at Maths, but I have always managed to get by but Quilt Maths really causes my brain to fizz. Those pesky 1/4" seams cause me no end of problems.

Unintentionally I set myself a Maths Challenge this month when I decided that I would make not two as requested, but three Churn Dash Blocks for this month's Queen Bee in the Fat Stash Brit Bee

Diane sent us a FQ of purple fabric with instructions for a 12.5" Churn Dash block and a request to create different centres for the blocks. So far, so good.

For the first block, I fussy cut a vintage lady for the centre of the block.


FSBBee Block Feb 1

No Maths Challenge there!

The second block was, however, a different story. I decided that I needed to be a bit more creative for this block.


Churn Dash Centre

This is not, as you might think, a second fussy-cut Churn Dash block, it is in fact


FSBBee Block Feb 2

a Churn Dash within a Churn Dash, and that's where the Maths Challenge came in.

As you can see, I miscalculated a bit and ended up with an even smaller mini Churn Dash than I needed, so had to add a border to the centre block. Those titchy pieces were hard enough to piece, but I was definitely kicking myself when I discovered that they were even smaller than they needed to be!

One of these days I am going to get my head around the Maths involved with 1/4" seams and when I do piecing blocks of all shapes and sizes is suddenly going to seem so much easier :)

Another two Bee blocks done and dusted and we are not even halfway through the month yet, there is definitely something wrong somewhere!

Linking up to

Quilter in the Closet   
Fresh Poppy Design

13 comments:

  1. Amazing, Fiona! I struggle with the math aspect of quilting too, but one of these days it will all click :)

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  2. Glad it's not just me. Quilt maths or not, your churn dash block is super cute:-)

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  3. Wow, Fiona, the churn dash inside a churn dash is fabulous! It can be a challenge to size things correctly, but the extra border looks really nice withe block.

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  4. You are on a roll, Fiona!!! So creative, the churn dash within a churn dash. Sometimes my Maths is spot on and at other times, not so. Love your vintage lady with the purple!!!

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  5. I think you've created a new block - it's awesome! A PITA, I'm sure, but still awesome - WOW!

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  6. The churn dash within a churn dash is very cute, and, if you hadn't told us otherwise, I would have thought the border was intentional.

    I actually did really well in maths at high school (maths and visual arts were my favourite subjects), but those pesky seam allowances still trick me!

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  7. Sometimes the best projects happen when we make mistakes and have to solve it. Pretty blocks!!!!

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  8. The block looks great. Regarding quilt maths, I find it easiest to ignore the SA altogether. For your large church dash, finishing at 12", you need three x three 4" squares or units. Therefore for your small church dash you need three x three 1.33" units. Once at the bottom of this, you then add the seam allowances back in. So your churn dash overall size is 12.5", each subunits needs to be cut to 4.5", and each sub unit in the mini churn dash needs to be 1.83". (Don't ask me what that is in eighths though! 1 7/8? I think that's just slightly over). Which just goes to prove that even with accurate quilt math you may still have struggled to reach the right size of 4.5" for the mini block, without corners chopped off! Q.E.D., right? ;-)

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  9. I quite like the titchy pieces framing the inner churn dash! It looks like a little window to me!

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  10. Gulp! I've got a headache even*thinking* about making that! Well done x

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  11. I mess up my Maths frequently. But I like the little border around the inner churn, it frames it nicely.

    Thanks for linking up to Building Blocks Tuesday.

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  12. I was brilliant at maths at school, but quilt maths challenges me every time! I love the churn within churn block though - well done!

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  13. It looks kind of cool with the border though

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