Oops! Not Really A Stretched Star

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

How are your Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks coming along?  It's great seeing what everyone is doing with them each week.

This week I put together some of the "stretched star" blocks I made for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year.  When I did, I discovered a BIG MISTAKE.  You might be able to see it in the photo above. 

The big pieces in the blocks are 5 in. squares.  White squares go across two of the corners to make the blocks.  The resulting white triangles are supposed to touch. Mine can just sort of wave to each other. 

Why?  Because I cut them one quarter inch too small!! (Sound of hand smacking forehead).

This is what they were supposed to look like.  I cut my white squares at 2 1/2 in. x 2 1/2 in.  The RIGHT way for a 5 in. square is 2 3/4 in. x 2 3/4 in.  I was off by a quarter inch.  Ack!

Now, I am not a newbie.  I have been making quilts for more than 40 years.  Yeah, I admit I'm bad at math, but maybe I should have thought to test out how the blocks went together before I made nearly 200 of them?  (Sigh).  Ripping is not an option, since I cut off the corners underneath after stitching.

Anyway, once I realized what I had done, I went ahead and finished this little donation quilt.  Kids and their parents are probably not going to know or care about the goof up.  

On the plus side, every block has a different print, which I hope will be fun for kids to look at.  There are lots of space-related squares, like Marvin the Martian and other cute aliens.  

On the back, robots!  I've had this fabric a long time.  Originally I thought I'd cut out the robot squares/rectangles, but I didn't want to make Swiss cheese out of it.  Plus it would need more MATH, and I'm kind of skittish about that now.  Yeah, on the back works just fine.

By the way, have you noticed all the interesting designs on selvedges?  The robot fabric had these tiny rockets.  It's just something fun and extra, and I love it.

Lesson learned!  You can bet I will definitely double (or triple) check next year's RSC blocks for accuracy.

I have plans to use the rest of the blocks, don't worry, but not as stretched stars. 

Buddy and Little Guy love to put puzzles together.  This one was 100 pieces, just right for their ages.  We all had a good time after school yesterday, and they couldn't wait to show their mom when she came to pick them up.

Our Christmas cactus is blooming again, and it's a joy to see.  The last time it bloomed, Snicky the cat was a kitten, and he chewed all the blossoms off.

The following is political, so feel free to skip it.

My mom reminded me of a quote yesterday, that I believe applies to the darkness that is coming in my country.

Martin Luther King said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."  

Let us be the light.

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap