Yesterday evening Mr. Podunk asked if I would do some "manly" sewing. As much as I dislike doing mending and sewing hard to sew fabrics I did it with a smile. Afterwards I felt the need to shake the man dust off of the sewing machine with a quick girly girl block. This little cutie is 100% scraps even the white background. You might recognize the green fabric from my latest Back Porch Blooms quilt along. If your new to the blog and would like more information about the quilt along and free patterns you can read about it here and here.
Most of my free patterns use the flippy corners method or as I like to called it "stitch, flip, clip". The pictures below show the process.
1. stitch a diagonal line from corner to corner.
2. Then stitch another line 1/2" or so away from the first line. I just move my needle position over as far as it will go and line up the left side of the open toe foot up with the first stitched line.
3. Cut between the two stitch lines.
4. The part you cut off is your bonus half square triangle.
At this point I would just toss them in the basket beside my sewing machine just for bonus HST's. Not all flippy corners are large enough to keep. The original size of the flippy corner must be at least 2" in order for me to take the extra step of stitching the second line.
After digging through the basket of goodies to find 8 matching HST's the fun part begins....clipping those wings!
Using a ruler with a diagonal line makes the trimming go much faster. Just place the line on the seam and trim two sides, turn and trim the other two sides
There's many different layout options for blocks. Below is just a few. A couple more good patterns would be The ocean waves quilt block and Tree of life quilt block. The possibilities are endless!
I guess the old saying is true...."saved the best for last". Hmm...looks like a sweet leaders and enders project to me, and a great little mini quilt to add to the wall. So as you play along with the Back Porch Blooms Quilt along and Linky Party keep those extra HST's handy, there just might be a free pattern or two for using them up!
~ Lea Anne ~
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so tiny, i like my blocks larger so i finish faster
ReplyDeleteThese little extra blocks are so much fun to make. Love your fabrics!
ReplyDeleteWhen I have a 2-1/2" flip corner I end up with a 1-3/4" HST. I have an ice cream bucket full of these so I appreciate all the ideas.
ReplyDeleteI keep all all of my extra half square triangles too.
ReplyDeleteI also flip and save have masses of HSTs and used 4 to make a pinwheel for a pin cushion swap the other day . Thinking not to finish the back porch blooms yet but hope to make more of your various blocks and then combine them into a larger one does that sound sensible!!! or am I crazy
ReplyDeleteI have heard of people "saving their triangles" from the flip corner method for years, but could not quite picture what they were doing that ended up with something that could be used until NOW! Thanks so much for your clear directions - I will be able to save my triangle squares too and use them in a quilt! (I love reading your blog - follow by email!)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great tip. I was cutting them off and then having to go back and match them up and sew...I never thought to doit like this!
ReplyDeleteI've used this technique before, but like you have a minimum size I'm willing to mess with. All the star versions are very cute, it would hard to pick just one version.
ReplyDeleteGingham makes me smile :) Sweet colors!
ReplyDeleteGreat tip-just sew that extra seam before cutting! You are brilliant! Now I have to go collect all those cute triangles out of my waste basket!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Bonus HSTs make me feel 'smug'!
ReplyDeleteA Great tutorial Lee Anne, love the colours you used here, thats a wonderful lime green so fresh looking. I really enjoyed my visit. Thanks for sharing Cheers Glenda
ReplyDeleteLove the colors
ReplyDelete