Delectable Mountains -- Using Up My Reject and Scrap Fabric!

I thought I would provide a pictorial set of directions for one of my favorite blocks -- Delectable Mountains.  It looks so complex but is very easy as long as you take it slow at first.

The first step is to cut 2 squares of fabric -- one with a lighter value and one with a darker.  Mark a centerline on the diagonal and stick in a couple of pins to keep it stable.

After you have sewn a 1/4 inch from that centerline on either side, cut on the marked line creating two identical half square triangles.  If your squares were 10 inches, these half square triangles will each  measure 9 1/2 inches square. Open and press the seams to the dark side.

I always check to make sure all is nice and square.  Use the ruler like this for the easiest way to square it up.  My squares were 8 1/2 inches at this point.

This is the orientation of the two blocks before you stack them for the final cutting.  Stack them tightly one on the top of the other making sure they are nice and even.

After you have stacked as above, your first cut will be a vertical cut halfway across.  In my case with an 8 1/2 inch block, the cut was at the 4 1/4 point. 

I then stack them again and make another cut halfway across again.  In my case this was at the 2 1/8 mark.  This is how they look when you just unstack them and lay them out.  You then reorder them.

They are reordered here.  I then stack them up and very carefully sew them together.  Even being careful, I guarantee you will sew some together wrong!  I know.  I keep them as separate blocks (left and right sides separate) until I decide on the set.  There are lots of options.

There is a story about the beginnings of this quilt!!  I had three packs of Hoffman batiks that I have held onto and admired for a few years -- a gift from my sister.  Each had 40 10 in squares so I decided I would make two quilts from these that I would keep -- one would be Delectable Mountains.  I carefully got out my hand dyed blue fabric -- a couple of yards and cut what I thought was 10 inch squares.  Being very efficient, I had 8 layers.  Unfortunately, I cut them 9 inches by 10 inches instead of 10 x 10!!  I took some of the darker Hoffman batiks just to get my feet wet in making these blocks and this was my first iteration after I cut down those blue blocks to 9 in x 9 in and trimmed down the 10 in Hoffman blocks.  I had decided I didn't want to waste any of the nicer Hoffman blocks by cutting the down and wasting fabric so I grabbed some scraps I had.  This was how it looked at day 1.  Pretty boring and not something I was going to keep and also a little dull for baby quilts.

I didn't want to use any more of my good dyed blue fabric so scrunged up some miscellaneous pieces I had that had been cut into.  I also went through my "drop cloths" from my ice dyeing (those pieces I put underneath the fabric to be dyed so that they don't get marks on them from my grate) as well as a couple of pieces that were remnants from other projects.  This was how it looked at day 2!

I ended up making 60 blocks!! So it is 6 blocks x 10 blocks (or about 38 inches wide by 80 inches tall)! The blocks end up being narrower than they are tall because of all the seams.

In this picture, the top is finished but unironed.  I haven't yet decided whether I will add any borders.  I also haven't come to grips with how I will quilt it. Putting it together is pretty mindless with the only matching to be done where the edges meet.  I don't worry about the rectangles lining up perfectly as it isn't noticeable if they are off.  I try to keep the points intact as well!

This quilt will be donated to our Sweet Charity group at quilt club.