Monday, December 26, 2011

Merry Christmas and My Next leaders and Enders Quilt

Merry Christmas ~ Happy Holidays everyone!!

I hope that you all are having an amazing holiday!
Since I had some time yesterday I decided to pull out my next leaders and enders project and do a couple of test blocks ~ just to make sure that everything was going to work!

This leaders and enders is completely from scraps - I love using my scraps up and making something useful from them.  The white fabric is actually left-overs trimmed from the back of a quilt if you can believe it.  But by cutting tight I should have enough to make the center of a lap quilt.  It's great because these were pieces that were destined for the garbage bin.


These are the blocks.  A simple 16-patch and a pin-wheel.  Nice and simple and traditional.  And, a great way to use up some scraps!  The half-square triangles (HST) are 3.5" unfinished and the small squares are 2" unfinished.  If you want to see what this quilt looks like put together you can see it here.  I'll need two sets of pin-wheels - one going one direction and the other going the other direction (if that makes any sense). 

This should be a fun project - maybe I'll just sew it - I'll wait and see what I feel like doing.  It's just a small lap quilt so it might be a nice one just to work on.  I think I can officially count this as a UFO since I had cut it out a few years ago too!  Hmmm . . . . first UFO finish of 2012 maybe??

I cut all the white fabrics before I got my Accuquilt Go! die cutter so all of those 2" square were cut by hand and the half-square triangles started off as 4" squares to be trimmed down later.   So that work was all done already.

 

I chain-pieced the HST and cut them apart but then I had to trim all those little guys.  Since these were not cut with the 3" finished HST die so I had to pull out my Eleanor Burns Triangle Square Up ruler and get trimming.  Keep in mind I have not had to do work like this since I got my Go!  I forgot how much work that is when you have lots of HST to deal with!  It took me about 1 1/2 hours to trim all of them while we were watching a movie.  Oh well at least it is done.

Don't get me wrong there are pluses and minuses to cutting this way or using the die cuts.  If you are an accurate piecer using the die-cut HST is much faster and much easier.  However, with the Triangle Square Up ruler you can accommodate any inaccuracies in your 1/4" seam.  It is a very forgiving way to piece - it just takes a lot more time to do all the trimming!  The other nice thing about the ruler is that it has multiple sizes right on the ruler so one tool will do the job.  If I am only cutting a few (and I didn't have the die) this is the way that I would cut; but, if I had to do this amount again I would get the die! 

Before I got my Go! this was my favorite way to make HST.  I NEVER thought that I would like using the HST dies - I was POSITIVE that I would just trim and be happy but I think I might be a little bit spoiled now LOL!

Anyone else find a it of time to do some quilting?

3 comments:

Gene Black said...

It is looking great! I love getting to use up my scraps this way

ferne said...

I did! After all the sewing for others I finally got to get out an old project and work on it all for me! I tried making one of those 3" house blocks that everyone is doing and found it quite difficult so I gave it up and went to my other project which is coming a long so nice I might have to write about it on my blog later...right now I am out to the garden before it rains.

susan said...

that is the same pattern I showed you before. the only difference is that the 16 patch had no white squares. the only white was in the HST. the pattern left a shimmery path through the quilt. I love leaders and enders too but hate all the hand cutting. Santa said I should go get the my studio cutter as that is the one I think I would like to get as he went and got his guitar but I think I will wait and see what dies I should get. I am thinking the alphabet, tumbler and then the adapter so I can use the other dies. What dies do you think I should buy to get me started?

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