Monday, February 07, 2011

Design Wall Story....

Until Aviva's wedding canopy is finished, my design wall is a few miles down the road on Ms. CCCat's longarm.... I therefore submit a story about my "design wall" along with pictures, in lieu of the real thing.....
I am a math idiot. If there was a book, Math for Dummies, I would need to own it. Geometry to me reads, Gee, I’m a Tree. When I went to college, my degree required no math classes at all. I however, had to take a rudimentary math class! It was computations and probabilities. It was a two week course and I couldn’t pass it!!!

Also, I decided that it would have been soooo much easier to have been born any other religion then Jewish. Christians have crosses (a rectangle and squares) Muslims have a crescent moon (circular and therefore appliqué able) but Jews, Jews have the Star of David…. 60 degree triangles!! Not good when you are a math dummy!!!!

Aviva’s chuppah (wedding canopy) is based on 6 pointed stars.


Each star is based on a 60 degree angle. At some point when I was cursing the borders on the chuppah, I shouted out, “What angle am I supposed to set this at!!!” From the other room, DH aka the guy that READS MATH BOOKS, calmly shouts back, 30 degrees….HUH!??? I stormed into the other room. NOW WHY WOULD I NEED 30 DEGREES IF THIS IS A 60 DEGREE STAR!!!???? Because,”Mr. I read math books for fun explained,” 30+60 = 90. But why do I need a 90 degree angle if I’m working with 60’s? Big ole sigh from Mr.” I know how to do calculations in my head without a calculator.” Because, if you have a 60 degree angle, the opposite is a 30 degree. WHATEVER! All I care is that this star here, lines up with that star there, and that the borders don’t look wonky.

Fast forward to last week. Ms. CCCat and I are trying to figure out the straight line quilting in the borders. The quilting will be mimicking the 60 degree angle of the stars. I started with the top and bottom. It looks great.As we were going, I kept saying “How are we going to line up the top border quilting with the side borders? Even though there are feathers between the borders, the lines will need to be in the same place because the eye notices it. I couldn’t explain it but I voiced over and over about these lines needing to match up. Today I finished the top and bottom border. After much agony, we marked the left and right borders….with the same 60 degree angle. I worked on the side borders for a bit until we decided to quit. For some reason I rolled the quilt. UHMMMMMM!!!!!! 60 degrees on the side and 60 degrees on the top will never match!!!!!!! What the heck??? WHY DON’T THESE **&#$%^%&*))*@&^ LINES MATCH!! Suddenly, Mr. “I knew you weren’t listening to my mathly wisdoms” voice was in my head….60 + 30 =90. 60+60 will never = 90.

I still don’t completely get it. All I know is that I need to rip about 10 rows out of my border…and I thank my annoying 60 degree stars that I don’t have another daughter to make a chuppah for!

11 comments:

Deanna at Rose Cottage said...

You're doing wonderfully! With God all things are possible!
Blessings, Deanna at Rose Cottage

Quilter Kathy said...

Oh no...math calculations...my eyes glaze over and I have no idea what it all means! Yikes! Hope it all works out for you!

Tamera said...

Hang in there...it will be so special when you're done!

Jo said...

Those angles get me too. It will soon be over.

Vicki H. said...

Your math story is funny because I have been there. I guess trying to do straight lines when quilting isn't something I have even tried on my long arm! I like free flowing free hand patterns because all the math hurt my brain!

Anonymous said...

I think your math problems are really funny! It wasn't until I became a quilter that I found out I'm a "math person." My quilter friend, a math major in college, told me so! Yet I almost flunked geometry in high school!

Chris said...

That is too funny. My math skills were not part of my cognitive development so I am with you!

Rabid Quilter from California said...

Too bad you never made Maxine Rosenthall's "One Block Wonder" (as I have 7 times!!) Then you'd own the great 60 degree ruler that would have made this project sooooo much easier. I'm guessing though that you'll feel a great sense of joy and accomplishment when you finish this beautiful project!

Gari in AL said...

Oh, I do understand. When I was in high school I refused to take geometry saying "I don't care how tall the tree is." I laugh every time I begin working on a quilt since I like symmetrical quilts and thus am using geometry all the time. I don't understand it but I seem to be able to do it. Funny.

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

That is an amazing quilt and I am so impressed that you designed it. Just looking at it scares me. So good that you have a math expert in house to call to for advice.

Lori said...

Now I know why I'm protestant--NO MATH SKILLS!!

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails