YES, I am having the same challenge! Making the railroad pattern sewing 6 strips together then cutting crosswise for strips that will attach to a 6 1/4" block.

To make a long story short, for some reason I did not get the seam guide back to an accurate 1/4" on some days after my young granddaughters sewing lessons. Needless to say, several of the strips are too short. I now have to re-sew each short seam and pick out the old seam on the cross cut pieces that are too short.

Gonna win the battle on this one, may take a long time!

I am making 2 quilts to match since my granddaughters share a room.

Word of warning to others, make sure your glasses are perched straight on your nose when setting the seam guide!!LOL!!

Krissie

On the second quilt I ever made I learned the difference between 'pressing' and 'ironing'! Sewed all my little half triangle squares, then steam ironed them. Then tried to sew them together into the larger blocks, but you've already figured out why that didn't work, haven't you? Yup, the ironing distorted all the little squares. It was terrible and I cried, but it certainly was an effective lesson! LOL I had to start all over on that one too.

Kate

One of my first quilts was a broken dishes block, lots of little HSTs. I didn't know that a difference of one thread from the 1/4" accumulates when you have lots of seams within the block. When I squared them up and trimmed, I ended up drawing the outside seam line on the back and stitching the blocks together that way with some seams as little as 1/8" to compensate. Needless to say, I lost some of my points. I've done a lot of fudging in my lifetime.
Linda

Don't forget to check the edges of your rulers to see if they are worn and would give a cut that was not precise.

I check all my rulers on Nat'l Quilting Day to make sure the edges have not been worn off by the rotary cutter. Place the edge down onto a flat surface and if you can slide a piece of paper anywhere between the surface and the edge of your ruler, you need a new one!

SharonG/FL-IN

When is Nat'l Quilting Day?
And I didn't know that about checking rulers - ta!

Yes, been there, done that, have the T-shirt, LOL.

Checking your rulers is a very good hint. I recently replaced two which had been used for years, and my results have improved.

Mary

National Quilting Day is the third Saturday of March. 2008 was the 17th year and it looks like they've expanded it to the whole month of March. @:)

Here's an article about it. Seems they give out a certain pattern to make and give to the first baby that's born on that date.

Sharon

Here is a link that might be useful: National Quilting Day

I have absolutely hated to ever have to redo any sewing I've ever done, or do repairs. But, with each quilt I do, I have reaffirm the decision that it's always the best policy to stop immediately when you have found you have a problem with the dimensions, and JUST DO IT. LOL. In the end, it makes the difference between having a finished product or an UFO, sometimes.

I will still fudge a seam on the allowance if I can get away with it not being visible on the front, but I am starting to get a little compulsive about seams matching up and stars with less than sharp points. I guess that is a good thing, and think quilting has taught me more about the virture of patience than most things I have done for pleasure.

I think your fabric choices are astounding. I suspect you'll be happy after the fact that you made them the best quilts they could be. I know that I feel good that each quilt I've done since I started quilting strikes me as a little better than the one before it.

Sharon is right, my favorite ruler is warn on the edge I use to cut and needs to be replaced. Don't ask how I found that out.

Fudge is my middle name, and one reason I like to use sashing between blocks.

beverly

Instead of ripping, use the imperfect blocks as applique. Stitch them onto a wholecloth background or block, and scatter them across the surface; you could even rotary cut the blocks into random sections. Or use them as appliques on worn clothing (who doesn't have some of those?) or decorate a sweater or denim shirt. With a little fudging, most people will never know that they are imperfect, and will think you are just SO creative.
Then, take what you have learned, and start with new fabric. No waste of fabric or your precious time.
BlueBars

Well I only have so much of some of the fabric - so it will have to be taken apart and redone. I have kept extra blocks or my test blocks for various lap blankets and fabric records of quilts I've made for other folk. I'm getting there.

Re Bluebars' comment: LOL--I would scatter them on the back of a quilt to cover all the little snips I had to make to make it lie flat after quilting. Had to do this with two quilts, and it would've been easier if I's had some nice little blocks to use for the applique. This thread has opened my eyes to that possibility.

GrammyP: I like sashing for the same reason, but it failed me when I was making a SlideShow quilt, with all those little squares inserted in the sashing. Had to do some ripping and finagling there!

The worst quilt I have ever made, so far as ripping out is concerned, was an all-batik 9-4. The important I-Spy squares were all dark prints, and I planned a variety of peach-colored or yellowish batik prints for the background, but as I began to put it together, I realized I hated it. Ordered more peachy batik so the background could be all the same fabric. Put together the first several rows (for a queen-sized quilt), realized I didn't like the effect of the quilt as a whole and decided to rip off a number of blocks on one side to make it lap-sized. Then realized that I had destroyed the symmetry of the pictures in the dark squares and had to rip and rearrange. In the process of doing which, I sewed in a block with cat pictures upside-down (Several other blocks had things like leaves and fruit that had no up or down; wouldn't you know I would pick one with directional squares to mess up on?) More ripping.

To this day, I still don't get the usual good feeling when I look at that quilt. It is in service covering an unwanted piece of furniture in the living-room that DH can't bear to part with, so I see it often. As soon as I get around to finding or making something more attractive, this quilt gets to reside in the trunk of my car!

I think your little quilt is cute. What's to say you couldn't keep it to add other appliques to in future and just use it as a lap quilt?
And, I'm still tracing my foundation paper for my quilt and yet to start ripping the pieces apart. Getting there slowly. I don't quilt for speed, just something to do when the nights get darker early, listening to football or hockey on TV and just keeping my fingers busy and not nibbling (I do fall/winter health tune-ups every year for weight and health).

Jan, I think your quilt is cute, too. I commend you for finishing the quilt you had to keeping ripping out. I probably would have given up on it! You go, girl! @:)

SharonG/FL-IN

Mcpeg and Sharon: That is the back of it, and--shudder, because I am not an applique person--I am happy that I will never have to add more appliques to it! It is a biggish lap quilt that I made for a sick friend. Here is the front.

Well Geez Louizeeee - it's a beautiful quilt. Only the quilter sees imperfections. I love the colour choices and your block points are perfect! Don't put that baby in the trunk!