Timing is everything

Three things to be happy about:
(1) opera glasses
(2) Christmas cactusses still blooming
(3) hot oatmeal

Snow!  If you could take the You Tube video I posted two nights ago and rev it up to three times faster, that's the way it would seem now!  So much snow predicted to be coming our way, so many people panicking, with behavior they wouldn't have even glanced at a week ago.  The Federal Government will close early today, with employees who report to work given permission to leave 4 hours early "but no later than 12 noon."  Can you feel the panic?

When a major storm is predicted, the TV news has a way of giving minute by minute "updates" of the problems... "oh look how slow the cars have to drive down this street"  "oh, look at this delivery truck actually sliding out of control" "oh, look how empty the shelves are in this store".

All this "coverage" just makes people panic even more.  I've decided not to participate in it this year because (1) I know snow is coming (2) I know it is expected to be major (3) I know it will last long enough that cleanup will happen Monday, and (4) I know I have enough food, water and meds to take me through it.  Everything else is secondary; I don't need to hear it over and over and over, getting upset!  I won't be watching the coverage.

So that's my soap box opinion, now on to more pleasant things!

Look what came unexpectedly last night!

I want to go forward with making a pinwheel quilt or wall hanging, but it's so tedious to cut so many 2-1/2" squares!  I ordered this die from Amazon on Wednesday the 20th, it was scheduled to be delivered on the 25th - but it came last night, in just one day!

I couldn't wait to start using it!  First thing this morning I dove into some gifted scraps - you know the rules I live by: "OPS's (other people's scraps) are more interesting than your own!"

For this size die, Accuquilt suggests cutting an 8-1/2" piece of fabric and these scraps are such a nice, generous size!

Looking good!

My one concern though, is that one of the blades must be set a bit too high?  Part of the fabric gets wedged tighter in than the other parts, causing the square to fray just a bit when I remove them from the die.

Here we go - a nice pile of 2-1/2" squares, ready to become part of my textured pinwheel quilt!

The die cuts 9 squares, so I have a big plenty to start with.



That's it for now; go safely, carefully and thoughtfully into the storm ...  sew forth and sew on...

Textured Pinwheels - A Tutorial

This tutorial came about when I found a bag of half square triangles I got in a swap that I hadn’t done much with. One day when I wasn’t wearing my glasses I glanced at one of the blocks pinned to my design wall, and I couldn’t really see the muslin background squares individually - bingo!  Rather than cutting dozens of 2-1/2” squares, why not use rectangles?

That thought led to the idea of using a variety of neutrals for the background because - let’s face it - using that muslin throughout block after block after block would be a bit blah!





Here are instructions to make an 8-1/2” textured pinwheel block (8” finished).

Gather a variety of neutral* and colorful fabrics

*If you need guidance on choosing neutrals, Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville has tips on how she chooses her neutrals - it’s a very good guideline that I use all the time. See her instructions here


For each block you will need:
-- eight 2-1/2 x 4-1/2” rectangles from neutral fabrics and
-- eight 2-1/2” squares from medium, dark and bright fabrics. Avoid very light colors, you want a good contrast with the neutral backgrounds.


Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on each 2-1/2” square, we’ll use the sew-and-flip method to make two different sets of rectangles!

To make the “inner” set, place a colored square on a neutral rectangle as shown. Sew in the direction indicated, just to the outside of the line, toward the corner that will be cut off after sewing.

Trim off the corner, flip and press - your rectangle should measure 2-1/2” x 4-1/2”.

Make 4!

To make the rectangles for the “outer” edge of the block, place the square as shown and sew in the direction indicated.

Notice that the drawn line goes down from the top left corner this time!


Again, trim off the corner, flip and press.

 Make 4!




And now we'll lay out the block...

I found it so much easier to start with the center and work outwards!

Working in a clockwise direction, start by laying one of the “inner” rectangles horizontally, then place the second one vertically as shown, noses touching…

Add the third, horizontally - keep those noses together ...

And the fourth, vertically!

This forms the center - see that pinwheel?

Now add the “outer” rectangles so that the color corners face outward

Sew together into 4 pairs...


... then sew the 4 pairs together!

There you have it, a textured pinwheel block!





The corners will form a diamond when the blocks are put together. I chose to create totally scrappy corners but as an option you could use one constant fabric, or one color family for that position.

I hope you like the tutorial; if you make the pinwheel I’d love to see what you’ve done with it!

Sew forth and sew on...

Another UFO

Three things to be happy about:
(1) scary movies
(2) finding hidden treasure
(3) buying fabric online...

... which I haven't done in more than 2 years!

I was going through a bag of scraps (and discards) looking for large hunks to cut down when I found a zippered bag with these cute little blocks!

I vaguely remember participating in a half-square triangle block swap when I used to hang out on the quilting forum at About.com.

Oh my that place has changed in the last 15 or so years!  It started out being called something like "the mining company," covering any and all topics before it evolved into what it is today.  Well, it still does that, but now it's more organized, and Janet Wickell does a fantastic job as their quilt expert!

Anyway, I don't remember how many of these HST's I collected, they're probably scattered here and there among my stuff, but at some point I pieced a few blocks and even joined three sets of pairs together...

There were eleven blocks in the bag, made from 2-1/2" squares with muslin as the background part.

I like the look of these set flush together; this will make a great leader/ender project!  I have lots of 2-1/2" color strips, so as I'm cutting fabric I'll cut some muslin strips to use for HST's.

My Easy Angle ruler will make cutting triangle pairs easy enough.

That's it for now, have a great Monday -  sew forth and sew on til later!