I made this as a demonstration of the Half Yard Challenge as seen in the Fons & Porter's 2006 magazine. I haven't actually read the magazine but I did tape the episode from PBS & from that I put together a class for our local guild. It was a lot of fun and I'm going to do another wallhanging; same fabrics but much larger and with many more pieces to continue the design. I thought I would share it with everyone. In the class we focused on how to get the half square and quarter square triangle pieces to line up and come out perfectly. I think I did pretty good.
~Tiffany

It looks great. I recognize the center block from one of the BOM's.

I just love the colors!! You do beautiful work!! That is simply stunning!

My daughter Jasmine, the taller of the two geisha girls in my avatar, asked me to tell you, "You did really really really really really good!!!"
I think she's impressed :thumbup:

Wow that looks GREAT....

It is perfection Tiffany. Keep up the good work. :D :D :D Pam :D :D :D

I love this! Great pattern and great colors!

Your work is beautiful!!! Really like the colors. :thumbup: :thumbup:

Thanks everyone. The Challenge is to cut squares, half square and quarter square triangles, then put them together in whatever way you choose, which means everyone designs their own quilt. I decided to be a bit lazy and go with a star in the center and build out from there. Since I was in charge of the Challenge I should have picked something a bit more challenging but I like the star block. I did feel like I cheated the ladies by having it so small (each square is 4 inches), which is part of why I am looking forward to doing the other one. I think this is going to be a popular class for my local guilds. I've already got a couple ladies who want to come over and go through the Challenge with me at my house. :D I'm very excited!

jbsstrawberry, please tell your daughter thank you and I appreciate her encouragement!
~Tiffany

Jasmine said "You're welcome Miss Tiffany. Maybe my mommy can make one like yours someday."
Mommy says Jasmine has very high hopes for mommy! LOL

It looks perfect to me!! I love the colors. Awesome--just awesome.

Just what were the secrets to making it so perfect? Hmmmm?

Very pretty! Love the fabrics! You do such nice work!

Very nice. I really like that.

Nice work and VERY nice colors. It's so warm!

M

We went through how to cut fabric without elbows, how to correctly use the ruler to cut. I know that sounds funny but many people put the line on the outside of the fabric and the black lines of the ruler should line up exactly on the edge of the fabric to get a perfect cut. Never use your mat to measure as they are not accurate. I learned that one the hard way. :roll: When setting each piece together to sew, the bottom piece should NOT show. I used to leave a thread of the bottom just peeking out to help me line things up but learned that was a no no & in fact can really make a difference in the final measurements of the quilt. Once I started laying each piece exactly on top of the other I got better, more accurate results.

One of the main keys to making things perfect is the quarter inch seam. It always pays to measure the seam line when using a new foot or machine. I had a quarter inch foot once that did not sew a quarter inch, which was extremely frustrating, especially since I didn't think to check my foot & was pulling out my hair! If my girlfriend had not suggested measuring the accuracy of my foot I would have never thought about it. I just assumed they were correct. I mean come on, they're Quarter Inch Feet. Duh. Except the duh was on me. If your machine does not sew an accurate quarter inch you have to make adjustments, either by moving the needle (if your machine allows for this) or by drawing a line (permanent marker) or putting some kind of pad where the quarter inch is to guide your fabric by. I've used post-it notes in a stack and I've used the Dr. Shoal's inserts cut in a straight line and stuck to my machine. Thankfully my new machine and quarter inch foot actually work so I no longer have to resort to such tricks.

And for getting those perfect points, you have to be aware of where your sewing line is and not let it drift when you are sewing the end of your piece. You know that time I'm talking about, when you are almost finished with one piece and are reaching for another to continue sewing. You (generic 'you') should always finish sewing one piece and then reach for the next set your are going to sew. It makes a big difference though it does slow things down a bit. Does that make sense? I sure hope so.

All in all, it's just basically little tips like that which work the best. Most people don't make huge mistakes when they piece. It's the little things that trip us up and get us all in trouble. And I definitely include myself in there! :lol:
~Tiffany

First off, I agree with Jasmine!

Second, thank you for the mini lesson! (now I have to check MY quarter inch foot, and what a bummer I can't use the lines on the cutting mat!)

Tiffany, your block is so professional. I know what you mean about how important it is to watch how the end of the block goes off. It tends to drift off line and you have less seam allowance than at the beginning and middle of the block. I've been using a point thingy to hold the end of my block and keep it straight. I've also been more careful about keeping my seams at 1/4 inch and noticed on the quilt top I completed yesterday that my intersections meet far better now. I completed the whole top without having to use my seam ripper at all!!!!! I've made several that I ripped out as much as I sewed. LOL! I guess if I keep at this for the rest of my life I might one day have really good results. In the meantime, I enjoy my quilts and those who've received them have been appreciative. Perfection will not be realized in this lifetime. But the production of colorful and useful and (to me) beautiful quilts is quite satisfying. Thanks for sharing your delightful block. Linda

absolutly spectacular. I have no one here to set a challenge with. Plus with 10 or so quilts to do, don't know if I have the time.

I think I'll borrow your idea for my next baby quilt. I like the layout and I love doing stars in the middle. Your turned out so nicely. Thanks for sharing.

You did not do pretty good you did awesome. Great eye for color. Now make more blocks and turn them into a beautiful quilt.

A great wall hanging. Superior work. Great fabric selection. Wonderful!

I have been getting the Fons & Porter magazine for 5 years and save them all . Do you happen to remember which month of 2006 this pattern appeared. Thank you

I'm told it was in the December issue. If it isn't, it should be somewhat easy to locate by looking through the Table of Contents for each issue. I know, that can be quite the pain in the backside. I've done it a few times looking for things. If it isn't in the December issue, please let me know and I'll quit telling people to look for it in that issue. Thanks!

This Challenge really is so much fun!!! I've got a few gals coming over to my house sometime next month to do it and I am very excited!!
~Tiffany

I know what you mean! I tend to 'reverse sew' sometimes as much as I quilt. :roll: Congratulations to you for completing an entire quilt top while giving your seam ripper a rest! Lol.

Everyone has been so sweet with their comments. Thank you all very much. It's only been in the past year that I seem to have struggled over some kind of quilting hump and emerged from various classes and Bees a much better quilter. I am actually working on a UFO right now that I started waaaaay back in 1993. It's a beautiful star block and I look at the points and I have to wonder what the heck I was thinking when I was sewing some of these. It is funny now to see the middle of the top, where the points are sometimes wildly skewed, and then look at the border I'm working on now, with these perfect points. It is like a quilt diary, showing where I started and where I am now. It was originally meant as a wedding quilt (divorce meant I kept the quilt top) and then I thought I might keep it for a future granddaughter. Now I think it will be going on my bed!! :lol:
~Tiffany

Tiffany, thanks for all the tips. You make it sound so easy! Your wall hanging looks absolutely perfect so they work, too. As beginners, we need all the suggestions we can get!
~Joan

Thank you Joan! It really can be easy, though when we quilters are in the middle of fighting with something that isn't going together, it sure doesn't seem easy. Lol. The great thing about quilters is someone is always willing to help, or to weep with us & give us encouragment if we declare defeat and move on. :wink: The UFO I'm finishing up was one of those I proclaimed myself defeated by and I tucked it away until I grew enough as a quilter to be able to complete it. I think every quilter has one or two (or twenty) of those tucked away in the back of their sewing rooms somewhere. :lol:
~Tiffany

So true, Tiffany. back around 1998 I decided I was going to make a Lady of the Lake quilt, the one with a large half triangle sguare in the middle of a number of small half triangle squares. I cut what appears to have been thousands (actually about 600) small triangles and a couple of hundred larger ones. It was going to be really scrappy. When I tried to sew the blocks I found my ability to be far less than needed. I couldn't get anything to match. I changed plans and sewed all the larger triangles together and some of the small ones too. Set the lg. squares in between black strips and used the small squares as a border and ended up with a quilt that was beautiful and colorful and my husband staked his claim. Finally after all these years it is a completed top that will be quilted by someone else in the next few weeks. The top I just finished is with the leftover blocks. I'm still sewing the small triangles together and they will be in another quilt. So what was planned to be one quilt ends up as part of 3 quilts. Quilting is an adventure isn't it. Have you ever repurposed your blocks or am I alone in this? Linda

Treasure, Have I ever repurposed my blocks? HHmmm...... Let me count the ways :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Pam :lol: :lol: :lol:

WOW!! Love the colors & star pattern, I wish you lived closer to me, I'd have you teach a class at our guild, they would love it. We have some wonderful quilters in our guild & all ages. Keep sharing your pictures. :thumbup: ;-) Becky

Trust me, you are not alone in this Linda. I've repurposed blocks and set them aside as orphan blocks to be used later for either charity projects or to redesign for another quilt later. I think it is something we all end up doing if a person makes more than a few quilts.

*sigh* Sadly enough, I was merrily sewing away on my UFO when I realized I had spent the last hour sewing pieces on the wrong way. :cry: It is going to take me 2-3 hours to rip out what took an hour to sew. And I was so busy congratulating myself on not having to do any reverse sewing with this project. Teach me! :lol:
~Tiffany

I wanna be in your guild! I am not quite understanding what you mean here: "but many people put the line on the outside of the fabric and the black lines of the ruler should line up exactly on the edge of the fabric to get a perfect cut."

Can you elaborate, please?

Pull out your ruler and take a look at the lines. For the yellow ruler with the black lines, the yellow part is quite a bit thicker than that thin black line. You want to put the black line on the exact edge of your fabric, not a smidge over or a smidge under. Does this make sense? If not I can post some pictures.
~Tiffany

Thanks! I get what you are saying now. I will have to rethink how I cut as I have always used the measurements on the mat. Maybe that explains my struggles with accuracy.

Tiffany, you did a great job. I can not wait to see the larger version. This one looks great.

Kyia

Thank you Kia! I can't wait to finish what I am working on now and start making it. I started the center and it will be a bit different from the one that is above. Each quilt comes out different because it is being designed as you go. I really love this Challenge. I got it from Fons and Porter and they got it from a gal who does it on ship cruises so it's pretty popular. Part of the fun is starting out with five fabrics and not knowing how they're going to turn out. The key really is fabric choices and getting one really dark and one really light fabric for good contrast and to have a fabric that 'pops' out.

Lucky Patsy's Mom - What did you find when you measured your mat? Were you one of the lucky ones who got a good one or is your mat off?
~Tiffany

Well! I measured my mat and at first inspection everything seemed okay, if I looked at the distance between any two parallel lines, it appeared to be an inch. But it must have been off a teeny, tiny fraction because when I checked at the end of my ruler the lines no longer matched up! The tiny bit eventually added up to something discernible! I see I will have to change everything about how I cut stuff out, including the direction that I place the yet-to-be-cut fabric and will need to invest in a ruler larger than the 3 x 18 that I currently have. Thanks for the heads-up, Tiffany!!

Isn't that just amazing! I remember wanting to roll my eyes when I was first told that my teeny little thread would add up to a substantial amount across the width of my quilt. :roll: "Oh yeah, right," I thought. Turns out I'm the dork because it really does make a difference. Still, amazing how such a small amount can make such a great difference in the end product. Somewhere in there is a valuable life lesson. :wink:
~Tiffany

Can we rely on the outside lines of our cutting mats to let us know if we got our material straight?

Celeste - Yes, that is what I do. I simply use one of the lines to line up my fabric but I don't measure with that line. Does that make sense?
~Tiffany

nice quilt......

I applaud you for this lesson. So many new quilters just dont understand the importance of getting everything done correctly. A very valuable lesson even for us old piecers.