HST Tutorial

I made a sofa quilt for a young man in one of my English classes.  I spoke to Daniel today and he begins chemo in a few days.  Again, please keep him in your prayers. 

The quilt is made entirely from half square triangles, so I thought I'd take a few pictures and write a tutorial on the process.


I used my Accuquilt Studio cutter to cut six inch squares from various blues and some whites.  The cutter is fast and easy and, most importantly, accurate.  I could have cut the squares using my rotary cutter, but I'm not as fast or as accurate as the cutter. 

 Once I had a nice stack of squares, I drew a diagonal line on each of the white squares using a ruler and pencil.  Then I chain stitched 1/4th inch from on one side, turned the entire chain around and sewed the other side, exactly 1/4th inch from the line.


After cutting the squares apart, I used the rotary cutter and ruler to cut the square in half exactly on the line.  

It's always a good idea to press the block so that the seam lies flat against the darker side.  In these photos, I used a dark thread so that the seams would show, but in reality I used a grayish blue in a medium tone.  My intent was that the lighter tone would fade into the darker whites (I used 3 or 4 different shades of white or off white) and blend well with the medium blues.

This photo shows several blocks after pressing.  Note that the corners are not trimmed.  I supposed I should have trimmed those, but I did not find that they added a great deal of bulk to the quilt.  

Although I do have a triangle die that trims off these corners, I chose to use the square so that I would not have to worry as much about the diagonal seams.  I'm a bit of a speed demon and was afraid I would pull or tug on the fabric and cause it to stretch.  Since accuracy is a problem--thanks to my speed--I didn't want to cause myself additional grief by stretching the fabric.

Once I had a slew of blocks cut, I decided to play a bit with the setting.  Really, I was just playing because I'd already decided on my setting.  Still, it's fun to play a bit.  Here are a few setting choices that I came up with:

squares

diagonal lines which could be
set on point for straight lines

straight setting--the one I used

zig zag or streak of lighting

barn raising

diamonds which could also be set on point to change the direction of the diamond

Hope you enjoyed my tutorial on half square triangles.  I did have fun making the quilt and playing with the blocks.  Imagine how much fun it would have been to play with no idea of what I would do with the setting!  Now that's an idea to keep in mind.  Knowing that it took me only four days, I started Friday and finished on Monday, adds to the joy.  I love quick gratification and this little quilt definitely allowed for that.
Happy Quilting,
Mary

Past Due!

photo from amazon.com

I got a letter from the public library today--an overdue notice!  How embarrassing!  Me.  A Librarian.  Someone who sends notices.  Oh, goodness, it's impossible to face.  


I'm seriously considering sending the books back via Richard.  He laughed when he saw the notice, of course.  What else could he do?  Still, it's one thing to have him laughing at me.  It's another to face the librarian at the public library.

photo from amazon.com

What books did I borrow from the library?  Two darling quilting books.  I enjoyed reading the tips and techniques of The Quilter's Ultimate Visual Guide.  Of the two, however, I especially enjoyed drafting and drawing the wildflowers in Carol Armstrong's book.


I really liked the patterns and the tidbits of information about the individual flowers.  Since I like to make quilts with piecing in the center surrounded by a wide border of appliqued flowers, this book was great inspiration.  Armstrong includes several projects using the patterns in her book, but my plan is to I redraft the flowers to fit my needs.  I don't necessarily want to create botanically correct flowers, but to come up with creatively close flowers that I will enjoy making.  

Yes, facing the music of my tardy returns is a small price to pay for the inspiration.  Richard, however, will gladly pay my piper if it means he can continue to enjoy my squirming.  I'll let him have his fun and take the jibbing from the kids and grandkids.  I'll have to face them anyway.

Done and Begun

One project done; another begun!  Meggan's quilt is finished--all done, including the binding and label.....yea!  

I was hoping to have it finished in time to give to her while they were visiting, but I had to choose between sewing and visiting, and the grandbabies are saying, "Grandmay" way too cute.

So, instead of sewing for hours as planned, I played with "the grandbebes."  It was certainly as much fun playing.  Meggan's quilt is actually fairly simple, strips of neutral fabric with an occasional, random red pieces to break up the quiet.  The red strips are sewn in perpendicular to the neutrals.  The two sides have a wide border with appliqued tulips, Meggan's favorite flower.  To stick with the red theme and to give the quilt a frame, I used the same red for the binding.   Overall, not a bad job, don't you agree? 

Because I finished Meggan's quilt early this morning, I decided to make a few NICU gowns with the fabric that Jan-Maree sent from her recent giveaway.  You can find her blog here.    Her Aussie Hero Quilts blog is here.

I added a few pieces of themed fabrics and cut out 18 gowns, eight of them from some of Jan-Maree's precious fabric.  For every outer piece, I need a lining, so I cut lots of muslin linings.

I didn't get all 18 sewn up today but didn't expect to. I use an assembly line system: there aren't many seams, so I stitch all of the seams on a gown and set it aside.  

When they're all sewn, I'll turn and press the gowns then make the final closing seam before adding the Velcro closures.  They'll all get washed, dried and pressed again before going to the NICU at Women's and Children's Hospital in Lafayette, where Caki was born.  My tutorial for making the gowns is here.

I feel blessed to be able to do this for the preemies and their families.  Having felt the joy of seeing a grand-baby in a tiny gown for the first time, I know what it means to parents and grandparents.  Share something you do to make the world a better place or to help others.  All you have to do is leave a comment!
Happy Quilting,
Mary

Super Bowl Sunday

First a few photos of two cuties:


Cotton and Candy's puppies are really growing.  They play quite a bit.  The little boy is on the left in this picture and the girl on the right.  


She was the one with the energy at first, but now the boy is definitely the one to keep an eye on.  He loves to chew and has some very sharp, needle-like teeth.


But they sleep more than they play.  Check out these little stinkers. 


They are separated from Candy because we're trying to wean them so they can go to their new homes and so that they'll eat more puppy food. 


Could she be more sweet than this?  Impossible!   


Of course, her brother is just as cute.  They sleep like Cotton does, with paws in the air.  I guess my flash was a wake up call for him.  He didn't move at all except to open his eyes as if to say, "What?"


  While everyone at our house was watching the game and playing with the puppies, I was in  the studio, working on a very late project.  I'm the worst of mothers-in-law: last summer when Rory asked me to make a sofa quilt for Meggan, I agreed.  Then, as I am apt to do, I promptly put it out of my mind.  It occurred to me around the middle of January that I was supposed to make that quilt for Christmas.  

I'm not at all surprised: I tend to do this sort of thing with the kids.  It seems so doable but then I get side-tracked by other projects and life in general.  


What does surprise me is that when Rory said something, albeit something vague, I didn't realize he was referring to the unmade quilt.  I guess he didn't want me to have an emotional breakdown, which is always likely to happen, so he simply let it drop.  In the meantime, poor Meggan did not get a Christmas gift from her hubby.  I surely wish Rory had directly asked about the quilt before Christmas.  

Meggan's sofa quilt is on the design wall.  She likes the size of one of my lap blankets, so that's my goal.  The quilt is not quite there, but I'm getting close!  Once the strips are pieced, I'll add about ten inches of a solid beige to the sides and applique some tulips.  She loves the quilt I gave her for their wedding, and this one is meant to coordinate with it.  She also loves tulips, so the red will be repeated along the sides in the tulip petals.