Ringed Star

Back in June I mentioned that I'm participating in a Long Distance Quilting Bee.  In August, Valerie (whom I've never met) requested a music-themed block and mentioned that she likes guitars and the color green.  This is what I came up with - a bit busy, but I like it.

I searched Marsha McCloskey's Block Party for inspiration.

On page 89 I found a pattern called Ringed Star, which sounded a lot like Ringo Starr.  Get it?  Ringo Starr...music...rock 'n' roll.  Anyway, I knew I had to use it, even if it did end up causing me grief.

It's not Marsha's fault that I had trouble.  Her directions and diagrams were really easy to follow.  Everything was progressing nicely until I got to the last seam - which was way off!  

It's really hard to make precise cuts when using templates.  And imprecise cuts lead to wonky blocks.  I have much more success making perfect blocks that are measured with a ruler and cut with a rotary cutter.

The other tricky bit about making this block was to get it the right size.  The diagram of Ringed Star in the book is 2.5" x 2.5" and the templates in the back of the book weren't quite the size that Valerie wanted.  I needed it to be 10" x 10" (including seam allowances), so I calculated for a 9.5" x 9.5" block.  I'm embarrassed to admit that my hubby (whose mantra is "math is power") had to help me with the math.  Here's my math problem for the day:

2.5 x n = 9.5

2.5       = 2.5

n = 3.8

I had to enlarge the small diagram by 380% to get the right size.

Hey, you can bring your math student (child) to this page the next time s/he whines and says, "Why do I have to take algebra!?  I'm never gonna use this stuff in real life!"