Saturday, February 7, 2015

Argh (*$^%@!!

I'm not going to say the swear words that I am thinking, but I really screwed up today (again!) Let me give you the background.  FANE, one of the art quilt groups of which I am a member puts on a special exhibit every year at the big guild, NSQG, show.  We have a special room and each year has been a huge success.  We have made totems that hung from the ceiling, kimono shaped quilts on T-shaped wooden forms and opposite themed pieces hung from the same forms.

One of our members, Joyce, came up with the idea of making fabric covered cubes since making the small wooden cubes were so much fun.  We will use cardboard boxes as the base and they can be any size from 12" square to 30" square and they will be displayed on pedestals. They do not have to be quilts, but can be just surface design, which is what I opted for.

They can not be attached to the box ahead of time so that we can transport the boxes in their folded flat state and be assembled at the show.  You can make a slipcover or two pieces that will drape over and completely cover the box.  We only have to cover five sides since the 6th side will sit on the pedestal.I opted for two pieces that will be draped over.

My little wooden cube had a time theme and I had done a small time themed quilt a couple of years ago. I have some nice clock, gear and number stencils, so I decided to use my stencils with Shiva Paint-sticks. I found a nice large piece of snow-dyed fabric in my stash that I thought would make a good background.  I spent the better part of today stenciling away and was pleased with the results.  I measured the box and each side was exactly 12" so I cut each square 12 1/2".  When all was sewn together they were TOO SMALL.  Argh (*(&^%^#(+!!  And I was planning to back them with plain muslin and that would make them smaller.  There was no way to save it.


I printed out sayings about time on the same fabric and fused them here and there.




I know that it really doesn't look too small in the first three pictures, but this one shows you how it is TOO SMALL.  So back to square one.  I found another piece of snow-dyed in my stash, a completely different color, but I think it will work.  Stay tuned and I'll hopefully show you the next one, where I will cut the squares much bigger.  I can always trim them if they are too big.  Wish me luck.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the piece. Do the rules for the exhibit allow a box slightly smaller than 12 inches?

Cindy Green said...

Agh! I know how you feel - I do stuff like that all the time! Speaking of time, I spend a lot of it backtracking to fix my mistakes. I think the loss of time is one of the most frustrating things about errors! I've usually made more than one error, so if i go and take the time to do it again, I can fix more than one thing, so it seems worth it. I'm sure your next one will be even better! Can't wait to see it.

Anonymous said...

Carole HoffmanHi Norma
I was surprised that you didn't use the smaller sizing as an invitation to experiment by expanding the piece you already have. As a former actress...the expression "use it" was always very important.
Carole Hoffman

Linda M said...

Can you just add extensions? It looks wonderful and I understand the frustration of having to redo it.