Half Square Triangle Heaven

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. 

Up next on the blog hop is Susan the Gourmet Quilter

31 June:  Jo from My Bearpaw

1 July:     Kerry from Very Kerry Berry

3 July:     Nicky from Mrs Sew And Sow

4 July:     Helen from Archie The Wonder Dog

7  July:    Sonia from Fabric And Flowers

8 July:     Charlotte from Displacement Activity

10 July:   Trudi from Trudi-Quilting Prolifically

11 July:   Susan Claire from Gourmet Quilter

and my sunset tonight?