Hi and welcome to Lesson 2

This month we are going to make sew and flip triangle units and use them with the 4 Patches we made last month to make a simple star block. Then use the same method to make a Bowtie Block. Hope you enjoy :D

Star Block
Firstly out of your light fabric that we set aside last month, cut four 4 1/2” squares, then out of your dark fabric cut eight 2 1/2” squares (Pic 1). The dark squares are for your triangles.

Normally when you are cutting squares into triangles, for half square triangles, we have to add in a 7/8” for seam allowances, but because we are going to make these a different way we don’t have to worry about that (just the usual 1/2”) This method for adding triangles to a block uses a little more fabric but is a lot easier to do. It is an excellent method for adding small triangles to a larger piece. Helps to minimise stretching the bias, because we sew before we cut.

Draw a line on the wrong side of your dark squares from corner to corner, use a soft leaded Pencil ( I use a 2B, cheap and readily available) or another suitable marking tool that you like. Do this as gently as you can so as not to drag on the fabric. This line is your stitching line. (Pic 2a,b)

Place a dark square on your light background square, right sides together, line up the corners. Sew, on drawn line. Fold square towards edge of block and press, voila, triangle at the corner of your unit. If you wish you can trim out the extra layers to remove bulk, depending on how you are going to use the unit, having three layers of fabric can make your seams quite bulky. Before you trim, check to make sure that the triangle edge matches the outside edge of your square, if not leave background layer to use as a guide for piecing your block together. (Pic3a-f)

Add another square/triangle to the adjacent corner as previously described. You should now have a unit like this (Pic4a-d) Make 3 more background triangle units (four in total)

Lay out your triangle units and your four patches from last month as shown.
Stitch together in units together to form strips, similar to what we did for the 9 Patch last month. For this block press seams towards the four patch.
Join strips together butting seams, like we did for the 9 Patch. (Pic5a,b)

Voila, finished simple star block, without having to cut a single itsy bitsy triangle :thumbup: . (Pic 6)

Oh Shelly that looks like a very fun block I'll be doing this one I love stars.

These two units , the four patch and triangle unit can be used together to make a lovely all over quilt pattern. Quilt needs to have an odd number of rows and columns to show pattern to best effect
Notice how the dark triangles make the star points but also form a background lattice pattern.

For this to work well you need to use a colour for your triangles that has a good contrast with the colours you have used in your four patches otherwise the triangles will blend with the four patches and not form clear star points. Mind you doing this will reinforce your lattice pattern, so it really depends what look you’re after lol:lol:

I am always fascinated by the way you can change the whole overall look of a quilt, just by changing a single value or colour in the block

You can use the blank spaces in your background units to show off a bit of quilting or even add a simple appliqué shape if you wanted to. A heart would fit really nicely in this space

I know :lol: I just luv adding them hearts to fings

Here is a pic of one made using scraps for the four patches and the same fabric throughout the quilt for the background and another for the points.

Bowtie Block

To make a 12” finished size Bowtie Block

Cut eight 3 1/2” squares from a background fabric
I used two colours for my bow ties but you can use four if you prefer

For 2 colours
Cut four 3 1/2” squares and four 2” squares from each colour (Pic 1)

If using four colours
Cut two 3 1/2” squares and two 2” squares from each colour

Mark small squares from corner to corner as described for the star block. Add one small square to each background piece to form a triangle .(Pic 2a-d)

Attach a large plain square to a pieced unit of the corresponding colour. (press seams towards the plain square)
Join these pieced units in pairs to form the bow tie units
Lay out the bowtie units as shown and join in pairs (Pic 3a-d)
(Press seams so that they will lie in the opposite direction for a butted seam in the final join)

Join pairs to complete block. (Pic 4)

You can use the sew and flip method to add triangles to blocks and make all sorts of patterns, Barb M posted some really good instructions on using this method to add triangles to log cabin type blocks in the May 1st BOM for the Buttercup Block, here is the link
http://www.quiltingboard.com/posts/list/6696.page

Also below are a few ideas, just to get your creative juices flowing :P
A: Single Bow Tie

B: Medalion Bowtie

C: Cross Bowtie

D: Cookie jar block, rectangle with squares added to corners to make triangles

E: Snowball Block, square with squares added to the corners

F:Simple Flower, squares with different sized squares added to make the units

A Couple more ideas for blocks

A: Simple Butterfly, Basically squares and rectangles with different sized squares used to form the shapes

B: Simple heart, two rectangles with 3 different sized squares added to make the triangles

C&D: Signature Block, square with triangles added to opposite corners, this block makes a lovely allover pattern that looks like elongated hexagon stars

You can use this triangle method to make a snowball block to alternate with last months 9 Patch Block, You would need to cut one 12 1/2” background square and four 4 1/2” squares to form your triangles.

Wow Shelly - thank you so much - even I understood everything I just read!!!!! The time and effort you have put into this is appreciated by me very much!!!! I will be trying these ideas soon.

An example of the layout for a 9 Patch with alternating Snowball

Oh well that's me for now, it's after midnight here and I've run out of steam :lol: , will add the downloadable PDF file with instructions for Star and Bowtie Blocks tomorrow, Hope you've found this useful :D

Next Month: The half square triangle and some uses :P

Awesome instructions, Shelly - thank you so much for all your hard work!

Shelly

You seem like a very good teacher!!!! Your instructions are very thorough and you give everyone lots of great ideas for block options!!!

I agree I think you should write a quilt book!! I think you will have many customers who will want your book.!! :)

I usually avoid stars these are great directions....thank you thankyou :D :D :D

Shelly:

Goodness!!! How easy you make that seem!!! I can't wait till the weekend so I can do this. Other instructions seem so complicated and technical (sp)!
I agree as some of the others.............You need to write an instruction manual!
Thank-you for all your time and effort~!!! As my girls would say "Shelly you're the BOMB!!!" :D :D :D :D

Shelley, again thank you! Your tutorial is by far the most practical lesson I've had on making triangles. See, I've always been to afraid to say I didn't understand the instructions for making triangles in a pattern - you make a person feel confident that when they follow your instructions, things will be okay! I am going to follow your instructions this weekend and try to make triangles...
You are great!

I forgot this was coming up! Thank you thank you!

:lol: Thank you :lol: thank you :lol: thank you :lol: thank you :lol: thank you :lol: I love you....... :lol:

Absolutely love it!!! Can't wait to try. thanks so much for posting!!

Thanks so much for all the positive comments. I've really enjoyed doing them and am really pleased people are finding it useful :P , sorry I didn't get back to you yesterday with the PDF files but I was laid low with a stinkin migraine and couldn't face the puter or the sewing or anythin really :cry: . All betta now tho :P . I have split them into two files to keep it a reasonable size for download by dialup.

File 1: Instructions for the Star

File 2: Instructions for the Bowtie

Re writing quilting books, Thanks for the encouragement, I have been working on a few things, (nothing finished of course :lol: ) not sure in which direction to go tho.

I just finished making the block. Thanks for posting the instructions.

That's so cool Kinkajou :thumbup: , are you able to take a pic and share it, cause I'd luv to see it if you can. Which one did you make and how did it go for you?

The instructions were very easy to follow and the pictured helped.
I did the 4-blocks using strips rather than piece by piece.

Thankyou so much for sharing your block Kinkajou, It's turned out really great :P , I luv all the little printed stars on your fabrics. Good idea on on making the four patches by strip piecing too :thumbup:

Thank you ShellyQ you are the bomb! :D :D :D I will be starting a quilt using your blocks from the tutorials as soon as I get back from vacation! I hope you do publish a book, you make it very easy to follow directions and your photos are great! You would be on the best sellers list :D :D :D

Thanks ShellyQ. Your instructions are so easy to follow. I agree, you should write a book, I would buy it!

I just went through both of these tutorials again, and one of the things that help me the most is how well you explain your shortcuts. The first time you introduced me to "thinking outside of the box" was when we did the card trick BOM.... there are many ways of making some of these blocks and thank you for showing us ways to get there that make our blocks look so professionally done!

Excellent lesson...I have learned alot...thanks a bunch :thumbup:

Thanks so much folks, you know don't you that this is just as helpful to me, especialy your feedback. Like little things I've picked up already that I need to improve, such as I am a bit lite on speed piecing skills ie strip piecing, because of the way I've traditionally worked, with lots of different fabrics (because of cost and availability), strip piecing is not a technique that I naturally turn to, but I need to get more experiance in it and work it into my instructions because others like it.

Writing something is in my longer term plan I need to focus myself more, I have QADD (quilters attention deficit dissorder :lol: ) and have things halfway done all over the place :oops: .

Writing these instructions is also really good practice for me as it helps me to learn what works and what dosen't when communicating information to others, so I thank you for the oppurtunity to practice on this forum and for taking the time to read and offer feedback on my work. BTW Amma, have a great vacation and when you get going on the blocks, don't forget the pics :wink: