Help! My math skills are abysmal for this !!!
 

I want to do a tessellation quilt, and I found one that I really like.

http://waynekollingersquiltblog.blog...to-ponder.html These are the two blocks that I need to make.

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-O0...25286%2529.bmp

If you scroll down, you can see the four different blocks that you need to make. It's not really that hard when it broken down. Or so I thought!

I have two set of strips. The strips were cut at 2 inches each.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]593696[/ATTACH]

I then cut them into the triangles they needed to be:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]593697[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]593698[/ATTACH]

but now, when I try to put them together to make a square, I get this: (yes, I know it's upside down, I haven't cut out all my triangles yet, because I ran into this dilemma!)

[ATTACH=CONFIG]593699[/ATTACH]

For the life of me, I can't figure out how to cut them. It looked so easy in the picture! Does anyone have any ideas? And, yes, feel free to laugh at my math skills!

Thanks a bunch,

Marion

to me, and i haven't studied the link carefully, the larger triangle looks like the second half of the square after joining two of the smaller sized triangles together.

How long were your original strips? They look much longer than they are wide, which caused your bigger triangle base than on the first triangle cut. It looks to me as though you need to cut strips into squares & then cut into triangles. So you can slide the smaller piece to be even with one edge of the larger, sew then square it now. For future ones, square the strips first & then cut into the triangles. I may be way off, because I do better if I physically try something out, but give this a try. The quilt is fascinating-just the kind of design I like! Thank you for posting the link.

I would tackle it from a different angle since you are having a hard time visualizing what you need to do. You are making HST's from your strip sets so cut out a piece of paper the size that you want your block to be plus 7/8 inch for a seam allowance. Cut it on the diagonal(I would draw the strip lines on in the direction that I want them to be just to make it idiot proof) and use that as a template or measure the paper.
I mess up on mathing out things all the time so I try to make a visual safety check for myself.

The strips are 42 inches long. a square would be 5.75 x 5.75 and when I cut that square into four triangles, I don't get what I need. I'm wondering if maybe 2 inches wide is not wide enough?

I just did the math, & the diagonal of your first triangle is about 6.36”. The way to determine this is: A squared + B squared = C squared. Using the inches shown on your mat, 4.5(2) + 4.5(2) = 40.5. The square root of that is 6.36”. So my first suggestion seems to be wrong because you’re using the base of the 2nd triangle, which needs to be almost 2” longer than the base of the first. The diagonal of the 2nd is longer than its base. So ignore my first advice! Again, I’d need to try it out. If I were to try it, I think I’d cut the strips 6.5” long, cut off that first triangle, set into the desired position & sew, squaring it afterwards. I hope I didn’t totally throw you off with my first mistaken post! Yikes! I’m sorry, I thought I was awake, but apparently I’m not.

I think you will need 2 different strip sets for each. One with a light colour in the middle, one with a dark in the middle to cut the triangles with the stripe along the diagonal of your finished block. One strip set of each to be cut with the diagonal running across the strips. Good grief that isn't describing it well, sorry.

If you look carefully at the 2 pictures of blocks that you have posted, you will see that the strips in the bottom left triangle are thinner than the ones in the top right. Basically, the strip sets for the 2 triangles are not the same size.
I agree with Conchalea. The finished length of the diagonal of your 2" strip set will be 6.3" and the height will be about 3.18". You need to make a strip set that when finished, will match the height of the first triangle, 3.18". So the strips are going to need to be cut a 'strong' 1.5", or cut them 1.5", but use a slightly smaller seam allowance. Be sure to shorten your stitch length if you go this route.
I would sure double check this by using some scrap fabric to cut the second strip set & make a test triangle. Unfortunately, this pattern doesn't lend itself to nice neat measurements.

Since his directions say the blocks are the same ( but positive and negative), would it work to put your 2 different strips sets on top of each other to cut your triangles? In my head, that would give you 2 opposite triangles that would be sewn together to make the block.....hmmmmm.....

You might try to draw your completed square on paper and paper piece it. (Don’t forget your 1/4” seam allowance around the outside edges!) Do the half that is vertical to the diagonal first, then the ones parallel to the diagonal, starting in the center and working out to the corner.