Start as You Mean to Go On

I'm scared of my sewing machine but I really, really, really want to sew.  Today I saw a part work (I know) in the newsagents called 'Quilting Made Easy'.  I thought it was the answer to my prayers.  I love part works, I really do, and love getting the bits and sorting them out.  Part works call to me.  They are notoriously bad value for money, but I asked the nice lady at the Newsagent to save for me.
I thought I would get stuck in straight away.  It comes with fabric, but I thought it would be a good idea to try with the bits of material I had in so I could practice.  I am not confident that I can cut accurately, sew accurately or press accurately.  The magazine is based by you making a quilt from the bits you get and they all sew together at the end.  This means that they all need to be the same size at the end.  This means I need to get it right which means I have to practice.

The first thing to do was to cut out the templates and stick them to thin card.  I managed to fail.  It all looks very odd, the glue seems to have stretched the paper and it isn't good.  I don't think I can rescue them.  I wondered if they were a standard size so I could get plastic ones on eBay.  They are not a standard size.  I am going to have to spend another 99p to get another copy of the dratted thing to get the templates.  I am not confident I could measure accurately without them.

I may have a go tomorrow with some material I already have and see how the measuring comes out.  I am also concerned as the seam allowance is tiny and I am not sure if it is okay.  But I really, really, really want to get started soon.

I guess I am starting 2016 in the same way as I ended 2015.