Make It Merry Month Four

Well, the honeymoon is officially over. In Month Four the assignment was to make six Block #6's and two Block #7's. I had problems with Block #6.

Mistake number one: I thought I was cutting out the fabric for the Block #6's but goofed by having my binder page open to Block #5 from Month Three. I was very lucky and very happy that the Fat Quarter Shop had provided me enough fabric that I could still cut out the correct components for Block #6. I was able to salvage some squares by trimming them down and by cutting some Block #5 mint squares on the diagonal. The large green triangles I had to cut anew but, hopefully, some of the green squares I could not use I can save for future use. The three trays in the next photo contain, from left to right: duplicate cut Block #5 pieces, correctly cut Block #6 pieces, leftover squares from duplicate cut  Block #5.

Mistake number two: I began making the Block #6's in a chain piece fashion all at once. I should have made just one to check out the pattern because there was an error in it. I checked the Fat Quarter Shop and the internet in general for any errata but found none so I emailed the Fat Quarter Shop with the following information.

corresponding to figure on the left.
1. Directions are to attach triangle Ds (PinePines and Berries fabric) to edge where there is the corner of Red squares A (Red Tossed Berries Fabric)
2. Directions continue to attach triangle Fs (Green Polka Dots fabric) to edge where there is the corner of Green Squares B (Green Stars Fabric)

corresponding to figure on the right
3. The diagram  says to add Triangles G (Green Polka Dots Fabric) and Triangles E (Pine Pine Berries Fabric) next
4. The adjacency of the D and E triangles and the F and G triangles can not be met if D and F had been attached as previously instructed.
5. A squares should point to outer FG combo and B squares should point to outer DE combo.

proposed error correction
6. Perhaps the addition of D and F was interchanged?
7. Alternatively I could interchange the G and E final corner additions but this would not match final product.
8. I found no place where the resolution of this errata was discussed.

 

Here was the prompt response from the Fat Quarter Shop

Thank you for choosing Fat Quarter Shop!
Yes, we are aware of this discrepancy in the pattern. I'm sorry about that!
The directions are correct but the image at the bottom is wrong. The other images on the page are correct!
I'm sorry for the confusion this has probably caused-I hope this helps!
Have a great day!

I have seen this kit and its accompanying pattern available from other vendors, not necessarily in a six-month BOM format, yet it is very disappointing that not one vendor has seen fit to post errata data for a known discrepancy! 

I took off the first round of triangles and corrected their order of attachment by interchanging the D and F pieces so as to duplicate the final configuration. Removing bias pieces however is tricky and I may have stretched them a bit when trying to detach and re-attach. This is my worst block and it really is quite sloppy.  Yuck ... center four patch is not square and not uniformly centered. I will most definitely make a new block for this one.

So far, in previous months, cutting pieces oversize and trimming them to size has worked well. That is not so true with adding oversize triangles. The directions warn that the points of the four patches may not fall exactly at the seam line but assure that that is OK. They also repeatedly iterate at each step "Do not trim". I can accept if the mint background four patches float uniformly centered within the four corner triangles but that does not turn out to be the case. The blocks did not finish as precisely at 6½" as I would have liked, a few even less that 6¼" in one direction. Unacceptable! Wisely though, all the outer edges are either on the straight of grain or on the cross grain. I plan to revisit my extra fabric situation and remake all six of these blocks — the one in the upper right for which I showed a close-up, at the very least.

The Block #7's, two of them, went much more smoothly. Here are those two blocks. I have oriented them as they will appear as the bow loops in the completed quilt. The six Block #6's go on the outer edges of the wreath on the left, top, and right.

Despite this setback, I am still looking forward to receiving Month Five. Month Five provides me with the added incentive that I can procrastinate remaking those Block #6's.