Shaded Four Patch Rabbit Hole

It's been weeks since my last post, and we're still knee-deep in paint and renovations across four rooms. If you missed the chaos, check out the previous blogpost here. I haven't stitched a thing in what feels like FOREVER! To cope, I've been indulging in the next best thing: endless scrolling through the quilty corners of the internet. Naturally, I wanted to make every single quilt I saw, but the one below completely stole my scrap loving heart. It was quickly sketched in EQ8, and the quilt-planning frenzy commenced! Now, I just need to crack the code for quickly making the red-highlighted unit.  

 EQ gives you three choices for making this unit: paper piecing, individual paper templates, and rotary cutting. The first two? Absolutely not happening. Rotary cutting triangles is fine, but let’s be real, I’d prefer a faster, easier method, something like whipping up flying geese or half-square triangles in bulk. And here’s what EQ suggests for rotary cutting.

I painstakingly did all the math and drafted a quilt plan, only to realize afterward that my old Billie Lauder books probably had a shortcut for this quilt unit. Honestly, I should just keep those books on a pedestal in plain sight, think of the time I’d save!

Well, I'll be darned, it's actually in one of them! Who would have guessed they’d call it a shaded four patch? The instructions are decent enough, but oh boy, I’d love to see this magic in action. So, off I went, back to the wild world of the interwebs for some visual enlightenment!

I stumbled upon a video by Deb Tucker.  Same method just oversized so you need to trim them to size. It was surprisingly helpful, though, with some genuinely useful tips sprinkled in.  Click image below to watch or click here to go to the video on YouTube.

Then I stumbled upon this gem from Just Get It Done Quilts. She has instructions for 3 different methods.  She even went the extra mile and cracked the code for making eight at a time! Her 8 at a time method isn’t in the cards for me right now, but it’s comforting to know it’s out there for future quilting emergencies.  Click image below to watch or click here to watch on YouTube.

Now that I've cracked the Shaded Four Patch code, this quilt should be a walk in the park!

 Before I go, let me share a hidden treasure, a video by Billie Lauder herself. Billie passed in 2018, and sadly, her website and most of her videos have vanished into the abyss. After a rabbit hole expedition, I unearthed four of her videos on YouTube, but they were not worth watching.  Then, like a quilting miracle, I found the one I remembered best, the Ultimate Scrappy Four Patch.  It too will be helpful in making my quilt block.  This technique is in one of my Billie books. Watching her video brought a big smile to my face. She's absolutely giddy about four patches! The video is embedded in a Quilted Hugs blog post, so you'll need to visit the blog to watch it. I snapped a screenshot for the image below.  Head over to the blog post, click the video, and don't forget you can make it full screen by hitting the square in the corner. Happy watching!

See you in a day or two for the sewing room update!

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~ My Goodness Clue 5! ~

 Well we are moving along at lightening speed!  The Good Fortune Mystery by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville is one of the best quilt along's of the year.  I like it because it moves fast.  No messing around for a year like most BOM's, mystery or quilt along's.  So this week I may get a tad behind due to the holiday festivities.  No worries there's plenty of time next week to catch up.  I'll be making most of my units using a technique not mentioned by Bonnie.  This weeks clue/unit has several different names.  Bonnie calls it Triangles in a square, which I've never heard it called.  Then there's the more common names

Split Quarter Square

Shaded Quarter Square

Shaded Double Triangles

Shaded Half Square Triangles 

and

Three patch Triangles

Whatever you call them they are a fun little units to make. As long as you( I ) remember to reset your sewing machine to the proper seam allowance.  I'm so glad I made a test block before cutting and sewing all of them.  This first little batch had to be trimmed down.  UGGG...Luckily I still have my homemade square up ruler from the En Provence Quiltville mystery.  It had all the right markings.

If you are interested in  making your own plexi/acrylic rulers you can read more about making them here and here.. 

The method I used also can be made using the no marking method I've been talking about lately.  The reason why I've been talking about it so much is because I'm making two Bonnie Mystery quilts at once.  Lots of flying geese, half square triangles and triangles and TRIANGLES!  Bonnie has a preferred technique of making units from strips.  Since my scraps are not always cut into strips I can use different techniques to get to the same result, and I don't need to cut so many pieces.  My 4 units started out as 4 squares.  And then the magic happened!  You want some magic too, don't you?  Okay, I did a little leg work for you because I love ya'll so much.   Here's the best tutorial I could find for making the Split Quarter Square Triangles and you will need to do some math.  But ya'll are smart, you have calculators that can add!  Ain't no shame, there's a calculator on my desk all the time.  It's part of the golden rule of quilting "measure twice, cut once".  In order to measure I need the right size, so math it is!

I found this quicky technique in the book Quick Quilt Tricks by Billie Lauder.  I've had these books for years and they come in handy when designing quilts.  For those of you who would like Billie books of your own, they are hard to find but I found a couple of the books I have at Soft Expressions.   Billie also has a few Youtube videos that are worth watching.  But she has been MIA for a long time.  That happens with actors, rock stars and yes quilters.  They run their course in about 10 yrs and then they'll pop up when you least expect it for one last YeeHaw!  

The shaded double triangles are right there on the front cover.  Inside the book is the quilty math for making several different units along with cutting charts for several different sizes of each unit.

Billie and many other quilters of that era rarely get the credit they deserve for doing the math and finding new and creative ways to make our hobby a little less painful.  In the 1990's quilting was on it's way back after a long lull.  Women like Billie Lauder, Eleanor Burns, Pam Bono, and lets not forget Georgia Bonesteel were  are just a few of the pioneers in the modern quilting movement you see today.  And I would almost bet money(if I wasn't so broke from Christmas) that most of you have a book or two from one of these amazing quilters hiding in your quilt library.

This post is being added to a linky party!  Who doesn't love a party? So hop on over and have some fun!  Click below.

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-5.html

#goodfortunequilt #quiltvillemystery #bonniehunter #mysteryquilt #billielauderquiltbooks #quiltingtricks #quiltingtips #podunkpretties #splitquartersquaretriangles

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