Trimming -

Is not my favorite pastime - but sometimes it's necessary -

And I swear - if I had noticed that this layer cake had "pinked" edges -

I would NOT have bought it.

I complained to one of my friends -

I detest "pinked" edges - especially when the outside tip BARELY makes them the size they are supposed to be. I have bypassed buying jelly rolls when I noticed that the edges were "pinked" - they are NOT worth the trouble. I obviously didn't notice that this layer cake was "pinked" - because if I had - I would NOT have bought it - UGH!! My 4-patches are supposed to be 6-1/2" - they BARELY make 6-1/4" - and that 1/4" adds up fast - I'm losing 2-1/4" width-wise and 2-1/2" length-wise on a 9x10 layout. Hopefully I won't have to trim them down to 6" - that's another 1/4" - ;))

Anyway - my horoscope said to "Focus on creating solutions rather than complaining about problems." - so I did -

And - yes - I read my horoscope - as entertainment to see if it could apply to my day - and it is usually so generic that it actually does - LOL - ;))

So I tried to figure out how to make the best of what I had - and that meant trimming ALL of the blocks down to get rid of those "pinked" edges -

Then I changed my mind about trimming the "twosies" and trimming them again after I made the 4-patches - why trim them twice? - sewing the 4-patch and trimming it once should work -

And it did -

I like to trim blocks from the back-side so I can line up the seam lines with markings on my rulers - in this case the 3-1/8" mark - both vertically -
(sorry for the blurry shot) -

And horizontally -

Then trimmed UP the LEFT side and ACROSS the TOP -

Turned the block around and lined up the newly cut STRAIGHT edges with the bottom right corner on the 6-1/4" marks -

And trimmed again - UP the LEFT side and ACROSS the TOP -

There were only 10 4-patches - so it wasn't that bad to trim them one by one -

Next came the 2-patch blocks -

The way the layer cake is cut for this pattern gives me two piles - mirror images - each with a SHORT STRAIGHT edge along the TOP - and one LONG STRAIGHT edge - on the RIGHT in one pile - and on the LEFT in the other pile - so it was easy to pair them up - flipping the patch on the right over onto the patch on the left - with a STRAIGHT edge on top and along the right side - the stitching side -

I tried to sew a blue/green/purple one to a red/orange one in each set -

Ran those through the sewing machine -

And one "odd-ball" - the extra "twosie" and one rectangle - my version of "I SPY" - one of these is NOT like the others - LOL - ;))

The first 2-patch was trimmed in stages - I wasn't sure of the best way to do it -
but I soon realized that I could trim them in two swipes instead of four -

If I left them folded -

And lined up the STRAIGHT end with the 6-1/4" mark and put the seamline at the 3-1/8" mark on the right side -

And the left side -

Then I could trim UP the LEFT side and ACROSS the TOP - two swipes - and no more "pinked" edges -

These are the trimmings from the 4-patches -

Next up - the "supposed to be" 6-1/2" squares - LOL -

The cutting pattern gives me two STRAIGHT edges and two "pinked" ones -

So I took two at a time and lined up the bottom and right STRAIGHT edges with the 6-1/4" marks -

And trimmed UP the LEFT side and ACROSS the TOP - two swipes - again - to get rid of those "pinked" edges -

Now I have piles of blocks that ALL measure 6-1/4" -

And NO "pinked" edges - ;))

Layout is next -

But I have to clear off the kitchen island first - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -