paintmejudy

I'm baaackk!!! Internet up and running, and I am off to the races with this week's clue. Ok, now, I gave you the little job this morning, what do you call it? Oh yes, busy work. Now, it's not in vain, you will use these strips next week. So set them aside, and let's get cutting and sewing.

How about some QST (quarter square triangle) blocks?
Today you will be making 48 quarter square triangle blocks, QST. They will measure 4-1/2” when sewn, pressed and trimmed as needed. I was designing this as I went along, and when I got to this step, I decided that I needed to put some solids into the mix to make it all cohesive, and one fabric constant to the QST blocks. I chose the gold for my constant and used more of the neutrals. But go ahead and play and decide if you want to do these blocks all scrappy or controlled scrappy with one of the pieces a constant. But you will need to use the neutral piece.

I have an astigmatism that is not fully correctable by my glasses, so I always over cut blocks for QSTs. If the Quilt Police were writing these directions, you would be told to cut 5-1/4” squares and cut them diagonally, twice. I cut my blocks at 5-1/2” as I think part of my problem is my perfect squares are not cut perfect! And then there is the getting the ruler perfectly laid corner to corner. Sigh.

So, you will need 12 blocks of the assorted neutral colors cut at your size preference – mine were cut at 5-1/2” square, then cut corner to corner, and then again corner to corner, to get 48 triangles. Be careful not to move the 5-1/2” block when making the second cut this block. Do the same with another color, this is what I am calling my constant, my golden yellow-- 12 blocks cut corner to corner to get 48 triangles.

Now, looking at the pictures, you see how you will need 96 triangles in many different patterns/colors to go with the neutral and the constant. I was lucky to have some pieces big enough to cut 5-1/2” squares from. If you want to use large scrap, cut 24 different fabrics at 5-1/2” and cut corner to corner twice as you did with the neutrals. If you don’t have large scrap, cut 48 pieces at 3-3/4” and cut once corner to corner to get the 96 triangles. I actually cheated, and was wasteful, as I used some squares from my 4” and 4-1/2” boxes of cut-down scrap, I knew I was going to have to trim.

Layout the blocks as you see in the photo. Put one colored with a neutral and sew together as shown. Make 48 of these units. Put one colored with one constant and sew as shown, 48 units. To do this, Take two of the triangles and line up the square corner, then sew from that corner toward the point. Remember that you are sewing on the bias so be careful not to stretch. Don’t worry about trying to make the points match, they most likely will not as you overcut your blocks.. Do this with all the triangle pairs to avoid having a wonky seam when you sew the triangles together. It is important to have your pieces look like my sample. Press the triangles to the dark, without stretching the fabric. Sew two pieces together as shown, and trim as needed. You will end up with 48 QST blocks that measure 4-1/2”. The measurement is important to allow everything to go together correctly. Even more important is to layout the colors as shown.

I had originally told you the mystery would end on 2/24. However, now that I cannot hold the surprise any more, without having you do busy work, it will end next week with the assembly and finish, and how I made the outer decorative borders.

Happy sewing!