Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Great HST Caper - block assembly

I couldn't help myself... I started assembling blocks for my Great HST Caper instead of using them as a leader n' ender.  I'm just so eager to get these done now that I've chosen a pattern and finished trimming them all.  It's kind of exciting to get this close to using up all these half square triangles.

I finished 240 two-sies, all the left leaning lazy diamonds to make the 120 corners I will need for 30 quilt blocks.  Next, I'll sew these two-sies into the 4 patch corner units.


And I made 30 flying geese - half of the block centres.  Here I ran into a minor glitch.  I had pressed all the HST seams towards the dark fabric and that meant 6 layers of fabric were competing at the centre point of the flying geese blocks, forming a substantial lump, and making it almost impossible to get a crisp point.  I would have settled for a good point, but it just wasn't working out.  So I stopped, ripped out the sewing on the half dozen I had made, and proceeded by finger pressing one of the blocks so that one of the seams was flipped.  I found it annoying to have to hold the seam in place against my excellent pressing job while trying to feed it though my sewing machine.  (I am a thorough presserNever thought I'd have reason to regret being thorough.)




After making 30, and wasting a lot of time by fiddling with the fabric seams, and almost running my fingers through along with the fabric, I stopped.  I'm exactly at the half-way point of assembling my 2 patch units and will spend a little time with an iron tonight, going over half of the remaining HSTs, pressing towards the light fabric.  Then I can get back to making flying geese, without the fiddling.  I should have all the two-sies done and a good start on making 4 patch units tomorrow.

While I'm ironing those HST seams in the opposite direction, this is a good time to drag out my big scrap bin and start ironing up my next big pile of scraps for daily scrap trimming.  It's either that or get busy on at least an hour or more of housework... I'll take the fabric ironing over that any day.


3 comments:

  1. I've had that experience where those leader/ender projects just won't stay in their place. They insist on moving to the front of the line.
    Mother always said the difference between a good sewing job and a professional sewing job was the pressing. But I know sometimes it comes back to haunt you. : )

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  2. Woohoo! You go and piece that however you want! Leders and Enders is fine when you are trying to mindlessly grind through some hassle sewing without too much pain, but when you are on fire then let it take over! I love the layout you showed a few posts back. I have seen a similar log cabin type block called sunshine and shadow. Such great use for your scrappy pile of hst's. Can't wait to see it.

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  3. Housework? What's that? New word to me.

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