seam allowance

tada!

One of the first things you learn about sewing with a machine are seam allowances. For those that don't know, a seam allowance is amount of space from the edge of your fabric to your stitching.
As a young sewer, for some reason, I never really payed attention to seam allowances and it usually got me into A LOT of trouble. I was a speed sewer and didn't have time to pay attention to such things. This made for lots of seam ripping and back-tracking and groaning.
I college I HAD to be better about paying attention to seam allowances. I was either being graded on the things I made or they had to go on stage for a show. It was a good thing because I finally started to slow down and take my time. My work became better and better.
------> Fast forward to the present time!<-------
I've been working on a new quilt lately with a pattern called a disappearing 4 patch. With all the other things I've been working on I only sew a block now and then just for fun. Well, this bit me in the butt the other night. I had made two blocks before Christmas and they came out beautifully. This past week I had a little time on my hands and decided to make another block. I cut out the fabric(four 6" squares) and sewed them, cut them, and sewed them again. For some reason things weren't lining up like they were supposed to tho. I looked at the finished product and it clearly wasn't as nice as the other two. I compared them and this new one was VERY much smaller than the others. The edges were uneven and it was much smaller. It was all very puzzling. Until it hit me. MY SEAM ALLOWANCES!!!! I forgot that the first blocks had smaller seam allowances. Luckily I had enough fabric to cut new squares so, today, that's what I did. The difference was astounding.

Granted the edges on the new one are still a little wonky, but that can be fixed. The important part is the difference in size. Clearly the smaller block will not fit in the quilt with the others.
The moral of the story: watch your seam allowances!!!!! They are not to be under-estimated. At all. Ever. Really.I'm serious.  :)
Hopefully the rest of my blocks won't give me as much trouble as this one did! If this is the worst then I think it will be a wonderful quilt.