Fat Quarter Cut-Ups 2: A Book Review and the Puzzle Quilt

 

I picked up this quilt book on sale at my local quilt shop.

It was a good thing it was only a dollar. I probably bought it because it was an awesome price and there are some nice looking designs in it.
As I've mentioned before, fat quarters are probably my least favourite pre-cut. Altogether too many "fat quarter friendly" projects leave one with bits and pieces of each fat quarter left, instead of using most or all of the fat quarter. And the same is true of this book - except that it's not really bits and pieces. It's at least a more usable 3" by 18" strip. But that's not the main problem with this book. 
Normally, when we buy yardage for a project, we buy more than enough. That's not only to allow for our mistakes, but the fact that the majority (99%) of the time, we have to make an initial cut to even out the edge of the fabric before we start cutting the pieces for the project. Because, for various reasons, it is very rarely perfect and even. And I have yet to meet the perfect fat quarter. Virtually every time, at least one edge is wonky. So, I have to trim the edges to even it out. Which means that I really can't count on having 18" of width to cut. Maybe 17" or 17½" if I'm lucky. But definitely not 18, unless I'm working with metric fat quarters, in which case, they start out at a little over 19" wide. But this book is not from a country that uses the metric system. So it is dependent on an 18" x 21" fat quarter from which to cut 4 - 9" squares. And that's a virtual impossibility. There is just not a fat quarter perfect enough to give you 18 inches of usable width. Even if it was perfect when it was first cut, by the time you get it home, unfold it, starch it (and the author highly recommends starch since you will be working with a lot of bias edges), and press it, there will likely be some fraying, some distortion, some shrinkage. So getting the required 4 - 9" squares out of one fat quarter is an unrealistic expectation. Yet that is the expectation of this book. And I found it impossible to accomplish.
So my the points in this quilt are not all very pointed, my corners mostly don't line up. It's kind of an amateurish-looking project. It is still an attractive quilt, but I would have been much happier if the book had started out with a more achievable premise. Then I would have had a better chance of having more accuracy. However, it actually is kind of a fun method to create the blocks by cutting a pile of 9" squares into the right size of pieces, and then rearrange the order of some of the pieces. 
Otherwise, the instructions are relatively straightforward and easy to follow. There are a couple of oddities with this book, however. The first is the layout: it has the picture of the finished quilt on the right hand page, opposite the instructions for the previous quilt on the left hand page. I found this rather confusing and nonsensical. The other is that the instructions say to press all seams open, without explaining why. And I still haven't figured it out. How you press your seams is more of a personal preference, in my opinion, unless there is a definite reason why it needs to be done. But the author never states why. I appreciate in this particular pattern, there are several seams coming together at the corner of the block, but the author gives this instruction for all designs in this book, even when this is not the case. There is a fair amount of fabric wastage, as well, at least with the design that I used. 
I'm not sure if this book is going to remain in my library. I know I could cut my own 9" strips of fabric, from which I could cut my 9" squares, and that would likely work better for accuracy. But I've already made what is probably the most fun design in the book. And I have plenty of other quilting books and magazines from which I can draw inspiration and find ideas. 
As for the quilt itself, aside from not having the seams lined up as well as I would have liked, I'm quite happy with it. It's for one of my great nephews, and he asked specifically for green, blue and red. 
For the quilting, I was uncertain what design to use. This is a young man's quilt and I didn't want fluffly feathers or pretty flowers. When I was working on Swan Lake Surprise, I joked on Facebook about quilting a little girl's quilt with frogs (which is, of course, what I ended up going with) and then suggested spiders, and bemoaned the fact that I don't have a snake pantograph. As Puzzle was already in the works, I thought why not use the spiders on it? It's a fun and funky surprise if anyone wants to look closely enough at the quilting. 

The pantograph is Along Came a Spider, and the only problem I have with it is that it's not anatomically correct. Spiders have 8 legs, not 6. 
I've had it quilted for over a month, but then set it aside so that I could get my sister's quilt done. But the binding is now on, and it's ready to ship off to my great nephew.