A Weekly Dose of Triangles: border ideas

It occurred to me, as I was editing these photographs of border layouts that these would make great striped designs as well. I’m not sure that I’ve seen a striped half triangle quilt. Sounds like a great idea for a “modern” quilt, with plenty of room for wonderful quilting. These strips could divide a quilt top into areas, like lattice does, or just be stripes. With most of the borders, I made sure to create a corner as well. Sometimes it’s hard to decide how to end one border and begin the next one.

These three designs are just one square wide. There are lots of ways to flip these single squares to make an attractive border design. In this group, the third design appeals to me the most. I love the wonky feel of the triangles flipping back and forth.

This pair is pretty great! The top one is a flying geese design. It’s edge made a box or square on point, which lead me to the next design. Piecing these borders would take some time, but they have a lot of appeal.

Of course in this set, I love the zig zag design and the way it forms such a tidy corner. The bottom border would be quite an intricate one to do and couldn’t be sewn to just any  sort of quilt top. I am not sure what I would do in the corner, obviously! That would take a bit of fiddling.

This is the last of my half square triangle posts. I hope you enjoyed them! I make a blog book at the end of each year and so I must admit that I did these for my reference. As I piece and piece half square triangles as leader-ender pieces, I will have lots of ideas to refer back to when I need inspiration.

In between working on house projects, Peter has been building our ark. Honestly – I don’t think short of several hurricanes we’ve lived through that I have endured so much rain. I neglected to take a picture when the rain was pounding on the roof and all the back yards were filling up. It looked like a model of the great lakes! Happily our house is on a little rise, but Peter had a back-up sump pump system put in a few years ago, and we’re so glad for it now. The sound of it emptying every half hour or so is very comforting! There are some daffodils in the front garden waiting for the slightest bit of sun to come out. The ones in the backyard are submerged. It’s been seriously nasty.

A Weekly Dose of Triangles: stars and pinwheels

Here’s another  post on creating quilt squares with half square triangles! This group includes star and pin wheel variations, which are some of my favorites.

This one is a bit of a cheat, as I put squares in each corner. It’s probably called a mosaic, but I’m calling it square in the middle star.

If you flip just the interior squares, you get the negative version!

This star has nice double points and you can see half square triangles in the corners.

This one is appropriately called Diamond Star. You can see it’s a smaller version of a whole cloth design I did. Imagine filling in the light parts of the yellow pieces and you’d get an 8 pointed star.

And here’s a star with a pin wheel middle. I’m sure you get the idea now, that rotating the half square triangles or playing with the fabric colors and values will produce an endless number of star variations.

This pin wheel is in the middle of a square on point. This might be a fun center for the quilt I plan to make.

I can’t remember where I found this pretty square, but it seems related to Yankee Puzzle or Flying Geese. There’s so much movement.

Here’s a great square called Windmills. I’ve seen some quilts where the pattern is even larger, making quite a dramatic quilt. This square is such a good example of how dynamic half square triangles can be.

I’m almost done, but there’s one more post coming next week, on using half square triangles in border designs.

A Weekly Dose of Triangles: totally triangles

After sewing, pressing and cutting a lot of triangles, now we get to the seriously fun part, making patterns. Peter said that this could also be called tiling or creating a regular tessellation. I had never heard of regular tessellations and had to look that up !

There are many sorts of triangles, but the two you mostly see in quilts are the two you see below. On the left is a half square triangle; a square divided equally in half. On the right is a quarter square triangle; a square divided into four parts. Though these triangles look like they might do the same things, in quilting, the way the fabrics are cut is important, but that’s another lesson; let’s play with design. Charm quilts rely on light and dark values for their design versatility so let’s see what they can do.

For the purposes of these exercises, I made myself place the squares randomly on the design wall. You can imagine that if you wanted to take the time, you could play a lot – grouping the colors together in sub shapes, moving them across the quilt… endlessly changing your mind! (Please notice that in this page of patterns, I twisted the squares around in place; I didn’t take the pieces off of the design wall.) Here is the classic and most simple design; a sea of right angle triangles with lights and darks aligned in the same direction.

Turn every other square 180 degrees and here’s a scrappy diagonal stripe. The triangles I have completed so far are more in the light to medium range, so this design is not as bold as it might be.

Here are some little zigs, or perhaps chevrons. I like this tidy design very much.

And here are some big zags. I think if I chose this pattern to sew, I’d make sure to have more darks, for a bolder design. I made this stripe even, but it could become more erratic, like an EKG, or bargello pillow.

This is the kind of designing where a design wall is critical. I could have arranged these squares on the floor, but I’d really need to stand on a step stool because it would be very hard to see what was happening. My design wall is made of the stuff we grew up with as a bulletin board (homosote) covered in flannel and screwed to the wall. These small fabric pieces stick to the flannel and so I don’t need to use pins. In Asia, where we couldn’t make holes in the wall, I stapled flannel to foam core and hung it. It wasn’t great, because of the lightness of it, but it did the trick.

I hope you’ll check back next week - there are more designs for you to see!

A Weekly Dose of Triangles: just the beginning

I have stacks of the leader/ender triangles done. Last weekend, I pressed and cut them to size, and finally it was time to play. (Now that I have finished playing with the triangles, the design wall has to come down. The painters are coming…)

I know that many of you who read my blog are not quilters, so I though a little lesson was in order, and if you are new to quilting, perhaps you will enjoy this as well. If I make a quilt using just one shape, it will be called a charm or one block quilt. Many quilters pooh-pooh this sort of simplicity, but wait until you see what these simple shapes can do. Let’s look at some common charm or one square patterns.

These pieces are made up of equilateral triangles. Remember Sophomore Year geometry with Miss Detweiler? If so, then you know that these triangles measure the same on each side.

Back to geometry class, can you see that these shapes are 60 degree triangles? This pattern is called tumbling blocks or baby blocks. They are such fun to play with; to form a block you sew a light a medium and a dark piece together and you get this 3D illusion.

I call this shape swirling stars and it’s the curvaceous relative of a baby block. Look at the baby block above – can you see where six 60 degree pieces intersect? So these pieces can make the same shapes as their straight-laced cousin.

Here is my favorite shape – a hexagon. Not only does its six-sided shape make many, many lovely designs, it can be divided in half, in thirds and even in sixths, if you want to do some really nasty piecing.

If you are interested in starting a charm quilt, Pat Yamin has loads of templates for all of these fun shapes and more.

Please stop by next Friday to see some of what the humble half square triangles can do! It’s quite amazing.

The Livingroom Rug Quilt is Completed!

Hooray! I have declared that this quilt top is  finished. I was debating making it bigger, but the borders are wide and this quilt just needs to be done. As you can see, I added a corner detail to the border. I dug out the discarded color samples of flying geese and New York Beauty and added some of the vine-y fabric that is in the centers of the quilt squares. In looking at Toby’s quilt, there is a detail that I have been debating – the bias binding. She hand sewed it along the edge of all the flying geese.  I am thinking that I may just do it around the center medallion. It’s beautiful, but again, she was making a show quilt.

While I was sewing the blocks together I flipped them the wrong way and discovered  another interesting variation of this pattern. Wouldn’t three of the medallions be pretty down the center of a bed? I laid it on our queen and twin sized mattresses, but I think it would be a perfect fit for a double bed. Playing with the setting of quilt squares is really fun!

Here is the livingroom quilt with the livingroom rug and a chair that it might sit on. (The quilt is brighter in this picture; the background is close to the golds in the rug.) I’m pleased. I think I’ll call it Dreaming of India.

If you know and love cats, then you get this picture. When I am doing just about anything, the kitties are nearby. Gizmo thoroughly sniffed the quilt top as though he’d never done so before and then burrowed underneath it for a nap. I guess the Inspector has approved it.

And here is something for quilters only! I found this on someone’s Pinterest page and sent it to all my quilting buddies. Here’s the link for you.

 Of course, now this quilt top moves to the machine quilting to do list…….

Foxy Ladies 1/12/13

It’s been several months since I was able to attend Foxy Lady Rug Hooking Guild’s meeting. It’s always fun to see what the ladies are working on. Hooking rugs is slow, so one of the nice things about going to a meeting is getting encouragement and being inspired. Here is some of what was going on.

I had a finish to show! In December, I worked hard on the mat I started in a class with Susan Quicksall. I love the design, and her colors, though I did tweak it a bit. It still needs some trimming and perhaps some more steaming and then I’d like to make it into a pillow.

Here is Pam’s progress on her geometric rug. It looks great, doesn’t it? She has several containers of cut strips and is coloring each section as she goes.I really like it!

Beth went to a rug camp in the Fall and this is the rug that she started there. They really do look like individual tiles, don’t they?

Barbara is working on this rug, which I was most interested to see because I also bought this pattern. It’s called Sebring Circles and it is from Searsport Rug Hooking. They have two versions of this rug on the front page of their website and they are quite different. Barbara is wondering about the background she chose, which is on the left between the two circles. From this shot it looks like it’s linen colored but it’s a bit warmer. Backgrounds are tricky and can make the pattern sing or dull it down; whatever you want. Finding the color you want is not easy.

A new member, Carol, finished her rug during the meeting! It is so exciting to complete a project and we all celebrated with her. The roses and the border are really yummy red plaids.

Another new member, Vicky, was sitting next to me. She was starting her first original design! The paper at the top of her hoop is what she is working from. She is using bits of wool from previous projects to create each square. It will be a fun exercise to see how colors work with each other.

{Isn’t 1/12/13 the craziest looking date? Being in the 21st century still boggles my mind..}

Variations on a Pattern

I sew facing the design wall where the livingroom quilt pieces are pinned and I started seeing pattern variations the other day. Diagonal stripes appeared! I have a bunch of completed squares, so I laid them out and here are some ideas for another quilt….

This design would be amazing but it would require the most piecing. Perhaps for more interest, each stripe could vary? Hand dyed gradations could be used???

This one with the squares between looks good. Would I use a contrasting fabric as I laid it out or have the same background as the pieced square?

Rectangles between the squares is interesting, and not a shape common to quilts. I should audition this one again with the same background so I can see what it looks like.

I do have some of the discarded squares from the color trials that I could start with… I really like this idea!

I have a good friend who subscribes to my blog and is kind enough to say she enjoys reading it! Periodically she asks me why I enjoy blogging so much. This post is a good example of one reason – blogging is a way of saving an idea. This design is great but I cannot start something so involved at this point in time. Now it’s headed off in the blogosphere (and The Cloud) where it will be saved for when I need a new idea. Some of  you might comment and give me more ideas. And just one more thing – I really hope that it might inspire someone.

Merry Christmas Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt

Ta dah! Here is my latest Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt top, the result of several years of hand sewing in hotel rooms, on vacations and at odd moments at home when I needed hand work. And to be clear, it’s hand pieced; I only do English paper piecing on tiny hexes. Each side of these hexes measures 1.5″.

This was a lot of fun to piece.

I try to avoid buying Christmas fabric (and Halloween too!) but it calls to me in fabric stores!

What’s great about a Grandmother’s Flower Garden sort of design is that it combines lots of fabrics that would not look good right next to each other.

I plan to piece the backing as well, with some of the bigger Christmas prints, which will reduce the stash a bit… I would have liked to get it quilted for Christmas this year, but because of its size, it’s low on the machine quilting list.

Assembly Line Piecing

I have been sewing on the livingroom quilt when I have a few minutes. Now that the colors have been chosen, I call it assembly line piecing. I sew 6 of the flying geese at a time and when they are done, I sew 6 of the New York Beauty pieces. And then I add the middles and outside. It’s slow going, and repetition is not my favorite thing.

I have been using a variety of reds in the flying geese section. I bought some leather chairs to go with the livingroom rug and they are an orange-y sort of red. The reds in the rug are closer to magenta. Not that everything has to be match-y, match-y, but when I used just one red or the other in the sample blocks, it didn’t work well. And, it’s more fun to piece, to have a whole range of reds to choose from.

Another technique that Toby Lishko talked about in class was fussy cutting the middles of her squares. It’s a nice detail and makes close of viewing of a quilt more interesting. I decided to use some of the border fabric in the center circle.I fussy cut some of the flowers and I am happy with the way they swirl.

When the design boards starts to fill up with pieces, it’s quite exciting! Is it time to piece a row or two?

My plan is to piece all the squares needed for Toby’s design, plus one “assembly line” more, to play with. I would like to make the quilt larger, so it works better as a throw. But first I will figure out how much of the wonderful border fabric I have so I know how big I can go.

More About the Zinnia Quilt

Here is Melinda‘s lovely pink zinnia to inspire me. And here is mine at the end of class, ready to be put on the background fabric.

Out of my suitcase comes the pattern, instructions and the roll containing the partially completed zinnia and already fused fabrics. I move the zinnia to the background fabric and fuse the middle of it – petals will still need to be moved to arrange the highlight fabrics. I clear a table and sit down with the directions and the rest of the pattern pieces and fabrics…..there’s lots more cutting to be done!

Looking between the pattern and the flower, trying to decide which petal is which is making my eyes cross. I decide to number the petals with stickers and mark the pattern with red marker so I can easily see what petal I am working on. Look at all these bitty pieces…..lots and lots of them. I decide to cut each color and carefully place it on the petal.

As I move from petal to petal, I am placing the tiny pieces, moving them about and trimming them when I think they look odd. It’s not easy to do as most of the petals have so many highlights. Huh.

After some fiddling around, I realize that all the tiny pieces need to be on each petal and then I can arrange and cut them to fit. So (below) you can see it – all the little pieces are on the corresponding petal and it looks like the camera didn’t focus. What comes next is fiddling, making each piece look like it belongs on the petal. Melinda suggested in class that we be freer about cutting and placing the highlight fabrics…. I get that idea, but it’s not my pattern or my colors. For this first attempt, I am pretty much following her pattern.

I bring it upstairs to the kitchen table to watch/listen to the Sunday games. And then I realize that the light in the kitchen is better. However, I need to keep the cats from helping. Their little hairs get on everything….

And here it is, ready to quilt! It’s amazing how the highlight pieces make such a difference! Fusing makes me nervous – the top seems so fragile.When I get it quilted, then I can store it and feel like it is safe. I am pretty pleased with my zinnia!

And now, back to the livingroom quilt……