June 11, 2011

Folded-Corner Triangles

What do you do with your leftover folded-corner triangles?  Do you make small quilts with them?  Do you use them for pieced sashings? 

Or do you throw them away without guilt and never give it another thought? 

IMG_0345bb

Personally, I can’t force myself to throw them away, so I just collect them and stuff them into a big apothecary jar.  Looking through the jar is like an archeological dig.  Each layer identifies a quilt I worked on, in the order I made it.  If I couldn’t remember when I made the quilt, I would at least remember that it was before the pink and brown layer, but after the red and tan layer. 

The jar is overflowing, so I thought it would be a good time to use some of them.  These were on top of the jar, and from my latest project.  I grabbed a few and sewed light and dark triangles together, using a small seam allowance (about 3/16”).

IMG_0322b (Large)

  Since I’m not sure yet how I’ll put these together, I pressed the seams open.  Now I won’t have to worry about bulky seam allowances, no matter how I arrange the half-square triangle units.

IMG_0323b (Large)

To make sure they end up the same size,  I used the Bias Square Ruler to trim the unfinished units to 1 3/4”.   You can use any ruler with a diagonal marking, but this is my favorite.  My plan now is to decide on a layout and sew the units together in rows, using a full 1/4” seam allowance, then trimming off the excess and pressing the seam allowances in alternating directions from row to row. 

IMG_0329b

And now for the fun part!  These are some arrangements I played around with, using only 16 half-square triangle units.   I’m leaning toward the layout in the middle row on the right. 

9 1 4
8 7 2
6 5 3

If you’ve created anything using your folded-corner triangles, I would love for you to share a link to your post in the box below – it can be an older post, or one you do in the future.  Hopefully the Linky thing will work.  This is the first time I’ve tried to use it, and I’m a little challenged that way.

Hope you’re having a good weekend!

Kim

 

June 5, 2011

Weekend Fun

It seems there is an issue with Blogger that hasn't been resolved.  I am only able to leave comments on blogs that have the comments page set to pop up in a different window.  If the comments page is embedded, I'm unable to leave a comment.  Hopefully the issue will be resolved soon.  I haven't forgotten about you, and I'm visiting every chance I get. 

The Azalea City Quilters' Guild held its quilt show on Saturday.  I went with two fellow bloggers and friends, Karen and Wendy.  Such a fun day!  We chattered, saw lots of beautiful quilts, had lunch, and spent lots of time stuck in traffic.  

Here's a picture of the opportunity quilt that I was absolutely certain I would win.  


It was made from Carrie's Cracked Pots pattern.  The colors are a little different in this picture, but you'll have to trust me when I say it was one gorgeous quilt.  I'm still waiting for the phone to ring, even though the drawing was on Saturday. 

And here's my friend Ellen (The Quilting Station) at her vendor booth. 

 
I love the quilt top hanging behind her.  It's made with a Green Tea Bali Pop,
and it's even prettier in person. 

The quilt show was held at a middle school, and I was fascinated by the painted ceiling tiles in the hallways.  My apologies to all the people I tripped over as I photographed the ceiling. :-) 



Wonder if my boss would let me paint the ceiling tiles in my office?

Have a great week!

Kim