I was so excited to be given the opportunity to take part in the Oakshott Colourshott Bundle Blog Hop hosted by
Lynn of Lillys Quilts
I drew the Spice Bundle
And immediately thought of sunset and had to start drafting my idea whilst I was still at the day job, so all my calculations have been noted on a scrap of paper!
Everyone gets a little intimidated by trimming those Half Square Triangles, so what if there was a way to make 8 accurate HSTs in one go, no trimming required?
Well there is!
These little fat Eighths are exactly 9 3/4" x by 22"
Perfect! from each F8th I cut two 9 3/4" squares
sorted them into the colour order I wanted, so they could be paired up, I moved one of the first colour to pair up with the last one
taking the first pair, draw diagonal lines across both axis,
stitch 1/4" either side of the drawn lines
repeat for all pairs
now its time to trim
Each square will be trimmed in half, lining up the outer edge of your ruler at the 4 7/8" mark,
this is done both on the vertical and horizontal axis
check to ensure you are cutting through the center of the block too
Try not to move your block whilst cutting, if necessary rotate your board to make the cutting easier.
You will then cut on the drawn diagonal lines
so that when you have done just 4 cuts, you will have 8 HSTs ready for pressing
I prefer to press my seams open, the blocks lay flatter
trim off your bunny ears, and lay out the blocks in order of sewing
my table wasn't big enough!
lay out the blocks in the desired design and stitch into rows,
Join all the rows together to complete your top
Those 9 3/4" squares produced eight 4" finished HSTs!
so this little quilt is 32" square
layer up, baste, and quilt as desired!
(I love that statement!)
I quilted 1/4" either side of my zig zag seams, but I just couldn't resist a little feather thrown in to reflect the movement in the clouds of my Sunset
and I matched up my threads as I went
So, the technical bits, we all hate cutting those squares with 7/8" on, and then trying to get an exact seam and hoping the HSTs will work, so what if you could make 8 at a time without the difficult maths?
Whatever size you need your finished HST to be in my case 4", times by 2 and then add 1 3/4", in this case equals 9 3/4"
I've used this method many times, and now I have my head around the maths, its easy every time!
Give it a try! I'd love to see your results.
and my sunset tonight?
