So I failed...twice!

Today was the first day of the new year that I had a chance to sit down and sew. Catching up with work from the holidays was intense. I even missed our first guild meeting of the year which was depressing. I did get to spend some time with a dear friend visiting from Korea in between the chaos that was my week back to work.

Round 1

Sew...I decided to work on small tasks to see if I can make a dent in my "To Do" list for the year. I started with my Block of the Month for the guild's February meeting. It's such a cute pattern!
I started cutting and sewing along thinking, I've made a Bargello-style block before. I've got this.

I needed six strips so you know what I was thinking:
rainbow time!

I sewed my strips and made the tube needed to subcut each row. And voila:

My super cute block came together in less than an hour. I placed it on my board to square it up to 12.5" and low and behold, I was very short! I'm talking barely made it to 12" short. I thought I had it lined up for a true 1/4 in seam but something must be off. (I can't be that rusty, right?) I pressed and stretched as best as I could but it's really 12 1/4 which makes me want to cry a little inside.

I decided, I'll remake it later. Perhaps I'll use Sew Day this month to try again.

Round 2

I joined the Stash Bee in Dec and was placed in Hive 6.  I really liked the idea of joining this group to start using up my stash. I have so many scraps that should make something adorable  but are not big enough for some other projects I'll be doing this year. Plus, it's an International Group so I am curious about fabrics that others will use for their blocks. I'm pretty excited!

Sew...I sat down to work on my BOM there. It's really cute and exactly what I wanted to make next. I was eager to use my Accuquilt cutter for some 2" blocks since I needed 45 of them. I took out my buckets and grabbed a ton of fun fabrics to chop up. I cut out a bit more than 45 so I could play with the color placement since I have to make 5 nine-patch blocks with scraps.

Once I found the order for each block, I started sewing away. (I even moved the needle over more to ensure that I would be ok for these blocks.)

It's a great trip down memory lane to
pull from the bottom of the baskets.
I remember each project I originally
used all of these fabrics.

I love the heart that made its way to the center of this block.

After making all 5 blocks, I took out the cutting board to square them up to 5" so I can put them together and again I was off for each one. They measured about 4 3/4 each. (At least I was consistent in my failure.) Logic states, I should have checked them after the first block to avoid making 5 duds but I didn't think that far ahead.

They are too adorable not to use for something else.
Any suggestions?

I think that's the universe telling me to stop sewing tonight.

I clearly need to work on my 1/4" seams since my machine came back from getting serviced last month. I will have to play with the needle placement when I am not so frustrated.

Please feel free to leave comments on how you achieve the perfect seam when piecing. I'm open to suggestions.

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On a brighter note, I was able to spend a fun night with some guildmates to celebrate our birthdays.  After missing Wed's guild meeting, Judy sent me a message to meet up this weekend. (Judy's 1/10 and I'm 1/12.) I was so happy to get out of the house for the first time in a week.

It was great company, delicious food, and a live band that turned it out! Check out this super sweet gift:

I made 2 projects from it during our guild retreat back in November so I can't wait to play with more of the designs now that I have my own copy. Thanks, Michelle!

Wishing you a great rest of your weekend. May all of your 1/4 in seams be accurate!