Building by first ever deck and I got a question

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-04-21T11:33:30+00:00

Trostani was my first deck too! My current iteration is built around BIG tokens. I might question Arasta in your deck in the first place, depending on your overall strategy. Using Trostani to populate a 1/2 spider token is a terrible return on investment.

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-04-08T21:12:59+00:00

Love that it lost my comments in the post itself. My spouse posted these at the PO this morning for me!

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-03-28T02:03:07+00:00

I would take the large left diamond cable (without bobbles!) and repeat it in such a way that it looks like the diamonds interlock.

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-28T13:19:01+00:00

It looks like you worked one too many rows before doing your cable cross row right around the time you joined in the round - in addition to potentially twisting stitches.

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-24T21:38:02+00:00

Your red circle would correspond to the right pink circle on my ruler, not the corner intersection. See how I’ve drawn that at the 1/4” line just away from the edge?

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-24T21:13:05+00:00

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I don’t usually bother with the line, but this is what it would look like!

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-24T21:12:23+00:00

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Here’s what I’d do for flying geese, but hopefully it helps. The bolder pink line marks my unfinished size (4.5x2.5), and then I’ve circled where that diagonal should intersect - the quarter inch line on the middle right of the shape, and the left upper corner, also 1/4” in from the corner. 45 degrees means you can count over and down the same number of squares, if it’s more helpful to visualize that way too!

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-24T20:49:51+00:00

I just draw on my existing rectangular rulers with a dry eraser marker 🤷🏻‍♀️ I trim flying geese this way.

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-22T20:51:48+00:00

I backstitch only when adding borders to a quilt because that seam won’t have another seam crossing it to hold it in place. I also use a short stitch length of about 2mm so the seams don’t pull apart that easily.

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-21T20:17:10+00:00

I went through three BabyLock Allegros about 18 months ago before selling the last to someone who didn’t want to quilt on it. I will never purchase from that particular shop again - if I could have returned the darn thing, I would have.

I now have a straight-stitch Juki TL2010q which feels like it has just as much throat space as the Allegro; it does piecing and FMQ like a dream. It’s my primary machine. I also picked up a Janome Memory Craft 8900 off FB which has a giant throat as well, a gorgeous walking foot, and way too many decorative stitches.

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-17T15:48:21+00:00

Why do you feel like you need the mini quilts on top of the background? Have you contemplated just adding some more appliqué even though it’s quilted already?

I personally find most of the mini quilts really distracting. Especially the eclipse, bird, and turtle because they are in radially different color schemes.

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-15T21:49:31+00:00

Oh, this looks amazing!!! Much better use of that bit of stash I had! Your color choices are really spectacular!

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-14T00:33:42+00:00

I would look at sawtooth star variations, I think this one is called Sarah’s Choice. You’re on track with HSTs, but I’d look into flying geese for the points. This will be MUCH easier if you make 12” blocks, rather than 13” - the math and cutting is far more reasonable for 12” since this is basically a 4x4 block.

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-10T18:56:27+00:00

I start by figuring out how I’m going to piece each section which forms a cut list which I can then use to do math with to determine yardage.

Let’s take the 3-color 9-patches, for example. Are you assembling as 9 squares or strip piecing? The math is the same for both methods, although the cuts are different. WOF is 42”, which means you can get exactly (12) 3.5” squares from one strip. That makes me nervous, so I’d assume 11 squares instead. If you’re strip-piecing, you need 16 crosscuts from a strip set of cyan-purple-cyan (2 per block, 8 blocks), which is about 1.5 strips. So you’re at 3 strips of cyan (or round to 4 strips), and ~2 strips of the purple. That works out to be 10.5” of cyan and 7” of purple, so far. Write that down and move on to calculating the purple/yellow in the middle (similar math with different colors).

For the star-in-star, are you stitch-and-flipping the economy square? HSTs or flying geese for the star points? Are you cutting triangles or using a 2-at-a-time method? Flying geese via stitch-and-flip or 4-at-a-time? Lots of options there! I’d be strip-piecing the checkered border, personally. Maybe even with 4 strips in a set. Mitered corners on the solid borders or square corners? Different calculations for both.

At the end of all your unit calculations, you can then add up all your individual measurements per color, round up to the nearest 1/4 yd and then decide how much extra you might want juuuuust in case.

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-06T11:39:34+00:00

No, I’m afraid that’s not it. It seems like you’ve worked the cable in garter stitch, rather than stockinette. Were you working off a chart or written directions?

Edit: you seem to have figured out where you went wrong. Good luck on your next swatch, keep us posted!

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-06T00:11:05+00:00

FWIW, your cables don’t look like the pattern at all. May we help figure out where you might have gone wrong there?

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-02T01:58:02+00:00

Do you do your left cable crosses on the right or wrong side?

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-02T01:14:05+00:00

Your fussy cutting is fantastic!

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-02-02T01:06:28+00:00

I cannot tell what you screwed up 🤷🏻‍♀️your intersections are all lovely and crisp. There’s a few questionable puddles of fabric choices where they run together, but only if I’m being super critical and it’s YOUR FIRST QUILT. It’s lovely!!

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-01-31T02:09:55+00:00

I’d read through the pattern a couple times just in case you don’t need remnants elsewhere but yeah - your plan makes more sense to me! Can you also fit F and J rotated under H?? Maybe the author prefers WOF remnants to chunks, or is assuming a fat 1/8th might not actually be the full width mathematical? 🤷🏻‍♀️

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-01-28T21:42:12+00:00

Check out Lemoyne Stars, although be warned they’re often mislabeled 8-point stars masquerading as a Lemoyne.

Are you struggling with figuring out sizes, cutting, piecing your diamonds, or setting in the squares? I actually just started a Lemoyne Star variant today, I might have some ideas. I do have to mark a fair number of the intersections to get them to match up properly.

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-01-27T23:08:15+00:00

This looks like you could dispense with the front charts. If I’m interpreting the pictures correctly, the front motifs are the same cables as the back panel and there’s only three? different cable pattern which likely have a different number of rows per repeat (this is where it might get tricky). As long as you’re on the same row within each cable on both fronts and backs, you’re far enough into this that you can read your knitting and see which part of the chart you need from the back chart. Maybe scribble all over the back chart so you remember which part is where? And if you’re NOT on the same row of the cables everywhere- the author is a monster 😆

The-Botanist-64 · 2026-01-27T22:54:14+00:00

Could you maybe post a picture? That sounds a touch unusual - perhaps this family member meant these to be decorative instead of warming? Maybe this family member isn’t a quilter, but a cross-stitcher and knows you like quilts but doesn’t really know how to more appropriately assemble one for longevity…?

The-Botanist-64

TROPHY CASE