Two Down and the Start of Another

The first one is finally done except for the borders which I will add after quilting.  I do like the way it turned out and think it was a good use of the fabrics.

This is the second one which I have since finished but neglected to take a picture.  It is a little shorter and has different ending triangles on the side.  

This is one of the fabrics I used in the above tops.  I had two different colorways of this fabric and this was my least favorite so I decided to see how it would look as a "posie" stack and whack.  It had a 12 inch repeat so each square was 2 3/4 in maximizing the repeat which after trimming was only 11 1/2 inches.  I ended up with 54 squares which will finish to 4 1/2 inches each.

Here are the first 37 completed.  They are pretty tame and I am not yet sure whether I want to cut up the other fabric  but probably will as thre is enough variety.  

My technique is to rip the fabric into its sections and then to sit in bed watching tv and pin along all four sides to insure I get perfect repeats.  

The next day I cut all the packets of squares and then sit in bed the next night auditioning the positioning as you can make so many with these 4 patches!  I put a pin in the corner which means that is where the center will be.  

I then carefully place them on piece of batting so that I can accurately pick up the pieces.  

I will most likely frame each of these squares with a variety of matching colors - greys, tans, browns and golds.  

 

Half Square Triangle Quilts Ad Nauseum!

Trying to use up some of the 5 in squares and the half square triangles that  I already had finished, I  have been forging forward on the same pattern but with different colorways obviously!

The ones where I  use the same block all the way down, I  use basically a white border and then some other color (to be added after basting and quilting) .  If I use a myriad of colors, I try to use a color in the filling triangles around the outside to pull it together.  I am up to six now and then I will pause for a bit.  I am finishing up the quilting on the large " squares"  charity quilt I made as I want to get rid of it tomorrow when the group meets.

I have barely made a dent in the 5 in  squares and the half square triangles -- sigh...

 

Fun With a New Charity Quilt!

I finally finished basting the other two charity quilts I was working on and to do so, I had to finally clean up my work table!  

I sorted through all the 5 in squares into colors and types and found a huge plastic bag with a ton of half square triangles that I had cut some time ago and forgotten about.  I remembered a pattern I had seen on Pinterest using black and white half square triangles and decided "what the heck".  This was my first iteration on the design wall.

This was the second iteration and I liked it better.  I added white triangles around the outside but then I decided...

Just before I left for the afternoon, I decided I would like something other than the white in the finishing triangles so found some green.  It was going to be green on the sides and white on top and bottom with white on the corners (like on the right side here) but then...

I finally sewed everything together but those corners.  I decided that I would prefer a two color corner and now I am happier.  Still haven't sewn them on or trimmed around the outside.  I will probably make the binding green.

I have enough prepared fabrics to make four more of these quilts with varying coors in the half square triangles.  I put them together in little "kits".  The remaining 5 inch squares from this packet (and it was just one of the packets I put together) will be donated!  I really get sick of fabric when I have used it in  multiple quilts!  More to follow!

I realized I forgot to put a picture of the quilt I did with all the flying geese that I made!  I found another variation of this block  online which I may attempt at some point also.  There are 100 flying geese here!

 

Auditioning and New Baby Quilts

This was inspired by a quilt I found on Pinterest that had been sold on Etsy.  Mine is a little different but is along the same lines.  I was shocked to see that the one on Etsy sold for $130!!  And I have been giving away 10 at a time sometimes!  Too bad I am too lazy to ever try to do Etsy!

This was made from leftovers completely.  The black and white rectangles were already made and had been used in one of the previous baby quilts.  I always overachieve in cutting!  I still have enough to do another baby quilt.  The strips were 7 1/2 inches long and 3 1/2 inches wide so I just added a 1 1/2 inch strip down the middle so they were square and did the stairstep arrangement.  I will still need to put a border on which will be yellow or green probably.

This was an attempt to use some of the 400 half square triangles that I made from those Hoffman "layer cakes".  I had planned on the arrangment auditioned in the last blog post but just didn't like it when I put it up on the design wall so contented myself with this arrangement  I probably won't do another of these but it was different and will be a good baby quilt.  No borders on this one.

This was an auditioning of a block made with more of those half square triangles as well as the 4 1/2  inch squares of the drop cloth fabric that I had cut all up.  If I finished it, the block would measure 24" square so making six blocks would be an okay size for Sweet Charity donation.  I am ready to give up these blocks as well as the half square triangles!!  I have a couple more ideas I have picked up from the internet for uses of the half square triangles so will try a couple of those as well before I give up an just donate the squares and half square triangles somewhere!

This was another attempt to do something with those squares I cut up.  

Here I have arranged the blocks from above with some blocks that have strips on two sides.  It still looks a little boring to me but an improvment and I haven't taken the time to really arrange them in any order here.  I am making 12 more blocks utilizing a pale yellow around the outside and a rose color.  Hopefully, this will perk it up a bit.  Will see how I like it and whether I will make it big enough for Sweet Charity.  It doesn't look like a baby quilt to me despite the paler colors.  We shall see!

 

What to Do With 400 Half Square Triangles and the Latest Delectable Mountains!

I fooishly decided to make a king-sized Delectable Mtns quilt with the "layer cake" batiks I had picking out the darker colors including greens, blues, purples and a few neutrals.  I also added a few from my reject hand dyes that were in the right color family.  The top will measure 96 x 90 without borders when finished.  I am doing it in four sections to ease with basting and machine quilting. This is the first section completed.  Altogether there are 120 blocks!  It didn't really take that long though as this block is deceptively easy, just a lot of cutting!

Here are the first two sections done lined up next to each other.  It is looking a little better to me now.

This is the third section done.

This is the third and fourth sections done.  The sun is making the right side look too bright!

All four sections are done and pinned up but couldn't get the camera back far enough to see the whole thing!  Of course the sun is still shining brightly.  I guess it is okay.  Not sure whether it will end up on one of my beds are not though.

I took the paler and brighter of the "layer cakes" and made 400 half square triangles!!  I intended to use a portion of these to make a quilt from a free pattern I found that looks like blocks are piled on top of one another.  I always test things before I get too far.  Thankfully I did in this case!

This was the first nesting pair and wow, I don't like it at all!  I think the pattern would be much better with fairly wildly printed fabrics so the contrast would not be so drastic  Even with printed fabrics around the half square triangles, it was not enough.  I only made six of each of these so can incorporate them into something else.  Each block is 8 1/2 inches square unfinished.

I actually liked this better but think I am going to skip the bright reds altogether when putting this together.  Right now my thinking is to make some dark blue half square triangles and use the yellow ones as well and make a primary color top which I will definitely donate somewhere!  I don't do primary colors together!  I rarely use red in anything except my black and white quilts.  

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Half Square Triangles - a Primer

I am a big fan of 4 patches as you may have guessed if you have seen posts of my baby quilts.  It is easy and soothing.  I have not been a big fan of half square triangles.  I have tried all the methods of making them and just got annoyed as you always have to trim them and I never could get it just right. 

I decided to try a method that I had not tried before.  The methods I have used in the past are (1) two squares sewn together down the middle - 1/4 from each side of the center marked area;; (2) just cutting two 45 degree triangles and sewing them together; (3) sewing two strips together, both top and bottom and then using a 45 degree triangle ruler and cutting them out -- this is super fast but results in all bias edges but it is super fast and (4) this method which I kind of guessed at and know I have seen done in the past.

The above is the first step.  Decide what size squares you want to end up with and multiple the width of the resulting squares by 2 and add 1 inch.  So if you want 4 1/2 inch (unfinished) half square triangles, Multiply 4 1/2 x 2 and add one inch or a 10 inch square.  Then mark the two diagonals.  Sew 1/4 inch from either side of the 2 diagonals.

Rotary cut along those drawn lines to get 4 triangles with stitching on two side.

Cut each of the above triangles in half.  I pile them all up together on the cutting board, making sure the long side is right on a horizontal line and the apex of the triangle is on a vertical line and then rotary cut through all of them.  I then open them up and iron the seam to the dark side.

This is the part that is probably obvious to all but wasn't to me.  Align the ruler so that one corner is on a corner where the two colors come together.  Then align the ruler so that the 4 1/2 is on either side and then trim.  

For some reason, I liked this strategy the best.  I only decided to try this because I had these leftover 10 in squares from the prize fabric and thought I would try something different with it as it was rather dark.  These squares have definitely led to a lot of experimenting. 

Here is a top using the half square triangles made from the 10 nch squares.

Here it is with borders so that it is the requisite 40 inches square.

This is the next quilt top I will be working on!!  This fabric was sent to me by my sister last year.  I had stacked it all before I left last year and today I cut the strips to make this into a one block wonder quilt.  I love the fabric.  Somewhere here I have another one block wonder top with Canada Geese but haven't located it yet so I can baste and quilt it!