Friday, February 18, 2011

Triangles....Love Them....Hate Them...

I love triangles....have loved them since learning how to make Half Square Triangles (HST) in Round 2 of the Old Red Barn Quilt Along. But I am lazy and I'll try anything that is a shortcut to getting a quilt top pieced quickly so I can move on to my next idea. So when Marguerite of Adventures of Quilting and Sailing told me a trick she had learned from someone else for making HST I had to try it!
This is what I came up with....or at least what my little quilt was supposed to look like and here is what Marguerite told me....
Using charm squares (you can use whatever size squares you want but this was really easy) take 2 putting right sides together, sew a 1/4" seam ALL the way around the outside edge of the squares....cut on the diagonals and iron toward the darkest side!! With 5" squares you end up with four 3" HST!!! LOVE this!!!
Chain stitching is sooo much fun too....but now I'll tell you what I don't like about triangles....all the seams while quilting!! My machine just seems to get stuck a lot when I quilt tops with triangles...I think it's me...I'll figure it out because I'm not giving up on triangles..... the other thing that is aggravating....is me...
....when I sew my rows together wrong and end up with diamonds
instead of Zig Zags!! Oh well...I still like it!
Thanks for the tip Marguerite!! xo
~d



4 comments:

  1. Ahhh. . what a great trick for making just a few HSTs at a time, and PERFECT for charm squares and cake layers! I like the paper-sewing method for LOTS and LOTS of HSTs with a substantial number from given fabrics.

    And WOW I like the "mistake"! with the diamonds like that, but the colors still in zags, it looks like it has 3-D cubes. very cool.

    P.S. (I'm totally digging my post security word: gnookin. Gonna find a meaning and use for that today!)

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  2. I like the mistake even better than the intended one. Great little quilt.

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  3. What a great tip! Thanks for sharing. You little quilt is still super cute, even if it wasn't the original plan!

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  4. Thanks for sharing the tip about the HSTs. What a great idea!
    And I like the mistake, too. It does look like cubes :)
    How's your cat doing??

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