a Box of Crayons
My friend, Melanie of
Texas Freckles, is leading the quilt for the Love circle of
do. Good Stitches this May. Her quilt already has a name! "A Box of Crayons" will features 2 blocks from each member of our circle, with each member creating in one crayon box color. So, you know I got....
This week I felt like trying something new, so I decided to make a block of 60 degree triangles. These triangles have 3 equal sides, each 3" long. Piecing them is lots like piecing half square triangles. I machine pieced them in rows and then joined rows.
Here's a little shot of what chain piecing looks like. It's just a way to save thread and keep your little bits organized. When you're ready, you snip the connecting thread, press seams and continue piecing.
Check out how much smaller the rows are once pieced!
When piecing any kind of triangle, you have to maintain that vital bit of overlap in the seam allowance. The overlap is there so that when I piece these rows together, the triangle points won't be chopped off.
When piecing triangle sets into a longer row, you must keep the points matched. It's not so intuitive. Here I'm matching up the pointy bits that stick out. And, because of the seam allowance this keeps my row straight. I like to check one to see that things are ship-shape before piecing up lots of sets!
And so, that's how we ended up here. A good use for scraps! The cutting and piecing are a little fussy, but I really love the effect. Definitely inspired by Penny's pillow.
By now I was ready to move things along, so I brainstormed a different block design for block #2. I wanted to echo the theme of the first block, but invest minimum time. And that's where this picture came in...
I was just planning a simple zigzag applique block.
A bit cheater perhaps? Well, it gets the job done. So that's my contribution to "a Box of Crayons". Thanks for the fun project, Melanie!
I'll definitely be revisiting these triangles one day!
This week I felt like trying something new, so I decided to make a block of 60 degree triangles. These triangles have 3 equal sides, each 3" long. Piecing them is lots like piecing half square triangles. I machine pieced them in rows and then joined rows.
Here's a little shot of what chain piecing looks like. It's just a way to save thread and keep your little bits organized. When you're ready, you snip the connecting thread, press seams and continue piecing.
Check out how much smaller the rows are once pieced!
When piecing any kind of triangle, you have to maintain that vital bit of overlap in the seam allowance. The overlap is there so that when I piece these rows together, the triangle points won't be chopped off.
When piecing triangle sets into a longer row, you must keep the points matched. It's not so intuitive. Here I'm matching up the pointy bits that stick out. And, because of the seam allowance this keeps my row straight. I like to check one to see that things are ship-shape before piecing up lots of sets!
And so, that's how we ended up here. A good use for scraps! The cutting and piecing are a little fussy, but I really love the effect. Definitely inspired by Penny's pillow.
By now I was ready to move things along, so I brainstormed a different block design for block #2. I wanted to echo the theme of the first block, but invest minimum time. And that's where this picture came in...
I was just planning a simple zigzag applique block.
A bit cheater perhaps? Well, it gets the job done. So that's my contribution to "a Box of Crayons". Thanks for the fun project, Melanie!
I'll definitely be revisiting these triangles one day!