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

Daniel's Quilt.....as promised

One of my students is a young man who found out only a month or so ago that he has cancer.  Two surgeries later and he is now facing the possibility of chemotherapy or radiation.  Although he went through surgery well and is okay now, he's not back at school nor is he expected back very soon.  

I've been quite worried about him and have been praying for him.  I've even asked his classmates to pray for him, especially on the day that Daniel had surgery.  We've signed some large poster paper "cards" with lots of well-wishes.  I wanted to do something else, though.  Daniel is such a sweet young man--quiet and hard-working and stoic.  He's handling his illness very well and has proven to me that 17 year olds can handle the toughest news with grace and strength.  

So, wanting to do more, I asked the kids to bring in school tee shirts, but that really didn't go over very well.  I gave up the tee shirt quilt idea and decided to make him a quilt using some of the many blues in my stash.  

That's the quilt pictured here.  I plan to deliver it in a few days, but first his classmates will have a chance to write well-wishes and sign it.  Definitely I want to deliver it before the Thanksgiving holidays begin.  I am sure that if he does have an additional therapy, it will begin soon and I'd like for him to have this quilt before that begins.  

a close up photo

showing two corners of the back....I used some color but
also some white so we can have more room for signatures.

Please leave a comment telling me what you think of the quilt and, more importantly, please say a prayer or two for Daniel. I'll pass along the prayers and wishes.

Noticed the little paws on the bottom edge of the quilt?
Those little Maltese stinkers make it difficult to do anything on the floor.

Happy Quilting,
Mary

Sunday Quilt Inspiration

Since I still have some unposted photos from the Houston Quilt Show, I thought I'd share a few to help inspire you for the week.  I've already started a project that I'm trying like crazy to finish tomorrow.  

It's a surprise for someone special, so I'm not going to reveal it till it's done and delivered, but I could probably use some inspiration to get one of those UFO's moved back to the front of the line.  There's a UFO on my design wall that's been there for a while, and I surely need to finish that up soon!

 Okay, enough about my silliness.  Here are some Houston quilts that should fire up some brain cells!

Most are blue ribbon winners, and I'm posting a full quilt photo followed by a close up or two.  

Hope you enjoy!

I tried to take lots of photos of any flowers that I could find.  I was very busy!  One reason for all the photos is that I love to applique flowers and am always looking for ideas.  I figured this would be a great way to find inspiration.....oh, wait, tonight is YOUR inspiration.  Well then, let's continue, shall we?  Here are a few more of those stunning quilts and their flower smiles.

There now, don't you feel inspired?  I know I do!
Happy Quilting,
Mary

A Family Friday

Today is Marley's birthday; she turns three but a trip to New Orleans for a zoo and aquarium visit turned into a bad case of vomiting, and they returned home after a half day.  That meant that her dad, Adam, could put together the electric jeep that Richard had agreed to build.


 Lane, the only grandson, wanted to come over for his regular "Friday night sleepover," so we convinced Will's family to bring over some chicken for supper.  

Adam quickly enlisted some help with the jeep work and in five minutes the living room became a Jeep production plant with paper, plastic, cardboard, plastic jeep parts, stickers and Marcotte children and grandchildren all over the place.  

They did have some fun playing, figuring out where the stickers go--usually after the sticker had already been applied--and removing parts to put them in right place.  Of course, the directions were sitting on the side, untouched, "cause that's how we roll."  

More than once I noted that I'm rather glad I don't have to work with these engineers.  Richard, in the meantime, who had originally agreed to do the work happening on the floor, found a comfy spot in a corner of the sofa.

Dusti and Alayna helped give directions for the jeep stickers.  Dusti even noted that she probably knew more about how to put the jeep together since it's a Barbie jeep and she's a girl, which makes perfect sense, right?

Stacey and Jolie played on their phones until Jolie realized that the empty box would make a great playhouse.  It didn't take her long to climb in with a pencil, her phone, and a few toys.  As soon as I took out the camera, Jolie began posing for pictures.  She is far from shy and loves to see herself in the camera.

Dusti and Alayna, on the other hand, are both quite shy.  In fact, Dusti's hair and makeup were in "no condition to take pictures" so there are none here of her.  Alayna is at that perfect age: before makeup and hair define a girl's life but past the little girl play.  She's quite happy doing her own thing and mixes with everyone else....or not.

Lane, posing here as "The Thinker," something he discovered he likes to do when we were in Washington, D.C., started the whole jeep endeavor and stayed the course until all the pieces and parts had been applied somewhere.  

That's our thing: every bit has to be used, but not necessarily in the place the directions specify.  In end the jeep looks fine, works like a charm, and everyone has a story to tell.  

That story likely will begin, "Remember that time we put Marley's jeep together at mom's house?" and end in fits of laughter.  That's one of the many things I love about this kooky family: we love to tell stories, laugh at ourselves, and be together.  

Oh, the jeep!  Well, here it is....one piece of pink and purple machinery that will probably need fixing in week or two.  

Not because the engineers did anything wrong, but because they souped it up a bit and Marley is one rough little three year old.  

Besides, she has some pretty big cousins who were quite jealous of Cotton--he got to sit in it for a photo op, although Adam did pick on him for doing so.  Honestly, Cotton doesn't look too thrilled about having to take the picture.  I sometimes think he doesn't like taking pics.

Isn't Will having a bit more fun than he should for someone trying to meet a deadline?  That's him with the huge laugh.  The guy with his head down?  That's Adam, the birthday girl's dad. He had spent the day driving and cleaning up vomit.  Since his little wife is at home with a sick child and expects a fully functional jeep to ready for the big reveal when Marley awakens in the morning, he is trying to be a bit more serious.  Believe me, it's a struggle for him.

a little Houston haul

While we were in Houston, perusing the beautiful quilts there, I did a tiny little bit of shopping.  Really, a tiny bit, not much at all.  Compared to the machine I bought three years ago, this was nothing!  But this time I could afford the shopping.

I picked up a few cones of thread.  Last year I bought several cones of neutrals from Superior Threads and loved Libby Lehman's "The Bottom Line" in the bobbins of my long arm.  

The problem became, though, that I didn't have any affordable cones for the top stitches.  After I picked up a few cones of this Omni brand, I spoke to the thread guy, and he confirmed my theory that this is the better-than-cheap but not "the Cadillac" of threads.  

I already have a bit of "the Cadillac" and prefer to buy that as needed.  I also have some of the cheap thread that manages to break every 12 inches or so.  What I needed is the in-between stuff.  

While walking through the vendor section, I happened to spot this package of buttons.  
I have no idea how I pulled that off, but I am very glad I did: I want to make a blouse and embellish it using the sewing motif buttons in the pack.  The tiny scissors, thimbles, a sewing machine, cards of thread, tape measure, and a needle will make for fun embellishments.  

I also picked up this laser cut fabric applique to make a quilt for the next Altar Society fundraiser.  It has fusible web already attached, so I just have to iron it onto a background and then add borders to enlarge the quilt.  The applique is 22 inches from top to bottom, so it will easily make a nice wall hanging.

And finally, this cute little pattern that I picked up was very affordable.  I bought it as a sample or experiment.  I want to make one small quilt with this pattern and, if it is something I really like, I'll invest in the barn quilt patterns by the same author, Prairie's Edge Patchworks.  

The pattern is a line drawing that I'll "embroider" on the Bernina using one of the specialty stitches.  It seems rather easy, but I didn't want to invest in the three more expensive patterns required for the twelve barns in the series.  

See the pens in the upper left corner?  Those are fabric pens that wash out.  I'm to use them to trace the pattern onto the background fabric.  Of course, I'll keep you posted on how both the pens and the pattern work for me.  

What do you think of my Houston haul?  Didn't I do a pretty good job of keeping the expenses down while getting some interesting items?  If you were lucky enough to get to Houston, what goodies did you pick up?  If you weren't quite so lucky as to visit Houston but did get some shopping in, what did you snag?