On Ringo Lake, Part Four - Treading Water

I'm treading water. I'm working hard, but I'm staying on top of this project. Here is a link to this week's clue: On Ringo Lake, Week Four

This week we made triangles. 
I will need an awful lot of them, and I have only made about one-third because this is a very busy week. They do go much faster than last week's pieces, and I'll take that.

I used the Essential Triangle Tool to make the brown wing triangles. I like this method because it minimizes waste. I also like the way you end up with notched corners on one side.

My "Problem of the Week" is the failure of the wing triangles to align sometimes:

Yes, I pinned, but I still have about a 20% reject rate. (Pout.) I tried flipping the pieces over and sewing with the aqua square on top. That helped somewhat, especially when sewing over that seam while adding the second wing triangle, but I am still getting rejects. It's really frustrating because I have been cutting and sewing so carefully.

Last week I mentioned that the Oversized Method didn't waste much fabric. Here's the proof:

On the left: waste from the No-Trim Method - On the right: waste from the Oversized Method

I continued making Week Three pieces after I published my last blog. I really liked using the Oversized Method and found that I could use that method without pinning. How great is that?

I have also been thinking about two particular neutral fabrics I have been using. I really don't like them. They have a very low thread count, and I just don't like the way they look.

Not happy with the way these fabrics look

I got them at a "good" quilt shop. I KNOW that fabric from places like Jo-Ann's usually has a low thread count. I didn't expect it from the more expensive fabric sold at a good quilt shop. I was mainly paying attention to color and pattern at the time, not to fabric quality. I bought a fat quarter of each. I don't think I'm going to use them any more.

Lessons Learned:

• Always pay attention to thread count and fabric quality, no matter where you are purchasing it, and no matter how great the fabric color/print is.
• Don't lean your cutting mat against a wall where there is a baseboard heater.