Three years ago my friend Marjorie gave me a bag of leftover HST's that she was going to throw in the garbage (gasp!). I was happy to rescue them and you can see the beginning of the project here. This is a long term leader/ender project and I was really happy with the layout that evolved over the years. I finally pulled it out again to work on last week at quilt camp, and decided this would be the perfect quilt to experiment on. I usually use my Machingers or old dollar store gloves to help with moving the quilt around, but this time I tried out two new (to me) machine quilting aids that other quilters had brought to camp.
"Batt Scooters"
They were "okay" to use, and gave me good control over the quilt movement. But my hands tired easily from picking up the batts and moving them from place to place. It might be "user incompetence", and if I used them more, I might find a better way to move them around that would be less tiring.
"Steady Betty Bands"
These bands worked really well, and were easier to use with less hand stress than the batts. However, they allowed me to get way too close to the needle, and guess what happened?
Yep... sewed right through the side of my finger! OUCH! I didn't get any blood on the quilt, and managed to finish the quilting anyway. It was also probably "user incompetence" but if this happened to an experienced machine quilter, I wouldn't want to have beginners trying them!
Honestly I wouldn't buy either of these products and prefer to use gloves for machine quilting, although they can be hot to wear in the summer. In the winter, like today where it is minus 15 degrees Celsius, but feels like minus 26 degrees... I want the gloves!
The quilting that I figured out is a continuous design which means I started in one place and didn't stop until the whole thing was quilted. Well, I did also stop when I was bleeding! The design is curved lines around the light star HST's and in the centers of the blocks, and a swirly vine and leaves in the sashing.
This photo shows the finished quilt and the truer colours. It's a fun finish to enjoy, after it started 3 years ago from some garbage!
I have finished the binding but not the label because it doesn't have a name yet... any ideas?!?
Half Square Triangles (a.k.a. HST's) seem to be a block that quilters have a love/hate relationship with. There are so many ways to sew them and so many uses in block design. However, they can be somewhat tedious to sew if you need a lot of them.
I like to use the Easy Angle ruler to make HST blocks, but mostly I prefer to make them as bonus corners when I'm sewing other blocks.
I made a ton of these blocks when sewing Celtic Solstice.
For every Chevron block I made, I made 4 HST's. There are 100 Chevrons in the quilt, which means I have 400 HST's measuring 1.5"! Not all of them have been pressed or squared up yet, and I have bags of them waiting for just the right project.
Barbara Brackman recently had a great post on antique quilts using HST blocks - click here to read it. She suggests that to overcome cabin fever, you make 20 HST blocks every day until you see a daffodil, and you will have more than enough to make a quilt!
If you want to see my all time favorite HST quilt, that I intend to make some day, click here and be inspired!
Okay, back to pressing and trimming my 400 HST's.
Today is the 1st post for 2014 Rainbow Scrap Challenge!
This is my third year of participating and I plan to continue most of my scrappy projects from last year, so it is "business as usual" in the scrap production line here!
This is my first Omigosh block this year in blues, which is the colour for January. This project uses my tiniest scraps - 1" squares and strips for the 9 patches, and 2" squares of background neutrals. The 9 patch blocks finish at 1.5" and are cute as a button!
This year I am adding a new focus for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and that is to actually use up some of my collection of Half Square Triangle (HST) blocks.
I must brag to you that I have a wonderful and diverse collection! There are bags and bags of them sitting in boxes. Some of the projects are started, and some are just waiting for inspiration. I know where most of these bonus triangles have come from, the quilts that I have been finished long ago, and the scraps I have retrieved from trash cans at classes and retreats (yep... I'm a proud garbage picker!)
So I plan to use up as many of those as I can in the colour of the month. Angela is posting some patterns for us and I will work on the blocks that have HST's in them. Also there are wonderful ideas posted here from the "Festival of HST's" last year.
Here are my blocks this week. The top left is 36 HST's that were given to me by my friend Pat, and there are a few more to use up from that bag. The two star blocks use wonky scraps for the star points. These blocks are 6.5". Then there is my blue Omigosh block at 5" and my one and only blue spool block at 3.5". A pretty good start to the year!
Hop over to SoScrappy to see the more scrappy inspiration projects.
I LOVE Half Square Triangle blocks! I know many people refuse to sew them and I can understand that some methods of sewing (and trimming!) the HST's can be very tedious. But since Bonnie Hunter convinced me to try the Easy Angle ruler, I have never looked back. I love this ruler! It makes perfectly sized HST's 99% of the time with no trimming. (If the HST requires trimming, it's because I didn't cut it accurately!)
Here are some of the HST's I sewed this week for my latest Quilt Square Quilt Along block. FUN!
I must confess that I am a bit of a hoarder collector when it comes to HST's. I have bags and bags of these things...here are a few of my prized HST's in all sizes and colours. The potential for each of these bags is intoxicating! I found a lot of good HST design ideas at the Festival of Half Square Triangles. Maybe next year I should have an HST-UFO project each month?
I have missed the Monday Design Wall postings since my brother has been sick, and I sure do look forward to getting back to my regular blog postings now that he is feeling a little better.
This week I have an old project that I am working on. These blocks were first posted about a year ago - click here to read about it. It is interesting that I sewed the HST's together into these star blocks, which wasn't even a layout I had on my original post!
Now I can't decide what to do next - to sash or not to sash?!?
And what about on pointe?!?
I don't know - what do you think?
I was hoping to be able to link up to the Festival of Half Square Triangles, but I'm not anywhere near finishing this quilt. You should see the great HST projects posted on the Flickr group...wow!
And then when you're done surfing on that site, hop over to Patchwork Times to see more quilt design walls! But before you go, tell me what to do with my HST layout dilemma!
The quilting that I figured out is a continuous design which means I started in one place and didn't stop until the whole thing was quilted. Well, I did also stop when I was bleeding! The design is curved lines around the light star HST's and in the centers of the blocks, and a swirly vine and leaves in the sashing. 
