Section 7 of the mystery quilt arrived and I spent a couple of morning putting together the clues. I’m still pretty unsure of the colorway so I’ll just have to hope the reveal is a pleasure for me.

I’ve begun work on my next quilt Deco by Lo & Behold Stitchery. Practically since my first day learning to quilt I’ve heard about the “scant 1/4 inch” stitch which is kinda like a black rose or the treasure at the end of the rainbow — something greatly desired but (perhaps) unattainable. Brittany, the quilt designer at Lo & Behold, has written extensively about the scant 1/4” and how important it is — and now I know how desirable it is and how to attain it. Behold two test blocks which should be 8.5”

The first test block was a dismal failure, as you can see. It’s nowhere near 8.5”. I searched and found explanations: each line of stitches uses up a couple of extra threads of the fabric — perhaps 1/16” or 1/8” depending on factors. This block has 9 lines of stitching to create the block — so somewhere between 9/16” or 9/8” are used up making the block smaller than is called for.

Fortunately for me the fix was easy - use a different 1/4” setting on my machine. I won’t bore you with what I went through to find this, but find it I did.

I will begin working with the real fabric I’ll use for the quilt and have more to report in my next post.