I have a lot of black and white, 5" charms, so I am making this little series of blocks from them. for this block, I needed ONE 5" charm of white, cut into 4 equal pieces... and TWO black charms, cut into a 3" square and 5 little squares. I went to cut the white charm and the ruler slid... next thing I know I had cut it into 4 unrecognizable shapes. So I thought, I have one more with me, I will just cut it. Well guess what? The lady who cut those charms to send them in for the swap, cut them short on one edge by almost 1/4". So out of 2, 5" charms, I couldn't even get 4 little 2.5" squares. I had to end up piecing 2 of them.
That wasn't enough trouble. I cut the pieces for the center, little 9-patch block. I made this perfect little 3.5" 9-patch. Then I realized that for this block, I needed a 2.5" 9-patch. Head slap! How does one make a 2" finished square divided into 3 parts each direction? I don't even want to do the math on that one. So I just lay the thing down and whacked 1/2" off each edge, making my 9-patch somewhat wonky. Then I put it all together and mismatched one triangle in the corner.
While I was trying to finish the block, my kids go, "Mom, do you realize we should have left to get Dad 10 minutes ago?" So this is what I get.
I am in a Black and White challenge, where we can add ONE other color. That is what I had in mind for these little blocks. But my daughter has also opened a Bumbling Bounty Hunters Miniature Quilt Challenge. The books this is based on have a character called Sally Sweet, who is an immensely tall and hairy Italian guy who dresses in drag for his night club act, swears like a sailor, and drives a school bus for his day job. So Finally I Have a (dual) Purpose for these blocks! They are for Sally Sweet! This block is called Shortcut To School, and the fact that it is wonky makes it even better suit him. Very appropriate, don't you think?
