Friday, November 26, 2010

perfect = panick // play = productive!

I really want to follow a pattern from a magazine to make a cushion for my fiance for Xmas. The problem is it includes some 'friendship stars', and I've only successfully done half square triangles once, 15 yrs ago, when I was 15! Fear of Failure has meant that after a month of repeatidly looking at the instructions, I still haven't got anywhere.

So I decided I'd put the lessons from 15 Minutes Play into practice, and PLAY at making a friendship star block. Just some leftover scraps of fabric, 15 minutes and the knowledge that it was not for the cushion.




Ok, my points don't really match up with the centre square, and it is very wonkey, but I like it and I think I know what I need to do to make the ones for the cushion meet up better (uniform seam allowance i think!). Humm, maybe it's the first block in a new scrappy quilt?

8 comments:

Nifty Quilts said...

Looks perfect to me! I like the quirky personality of points that don't match.

Mary Keasler said...

Ditto! What's not to like

Alexis said...

Great idea to play with the HSTs! It took me years to figure them out... yours look great!

Benta AtSLIKstitches said...

I like the liberated/organic look, but my thought was that you could match the points at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock, to give the star are smoother look, as the points at 12 and at 6 may be significant to the quilt police, but don't matter for the star.

Benta
Benta@SLiKstitches.co.uk

Lynn said...

I invested in a 1/4 seam allowance foot for my sewing machine and that helped with my hst's. But really wonky is fun, the wonkier the better!

Angie in SoCal said...

Wonky is good. I like your block. If you must have it traditional here are a couple of tips. To make the segment hst, cut the white and other color to 1/2 inch bigger than the unfinished size. Never mind this 7/8th size they give you. Mark a diagonal down the middle of one square and sew a scant quarter seam on both sides of this line you've drawn. Next cut your work on the drawn line and press open your two new squares. Now take them to your cutting board and true them up to the unfinished size they're suppose to be, and you'll have a true hst for your block. here's a link - she says pretty much the same, but has pictures http://rubybluequilts.blogspot.com/2010/11/hst-tutorial.html
But wonky is more fun, especially for 15 minute play.

Magpie Sue said...

My 1/4" piecing foot for the sewing machine made a huge difference for me in terms of getting things to line up when I wanted them to.

23rdspiral said...

hi everyone, thank you so much for your honest appraisals and hints for improvement.

looking again at the photo i really do like it, and maybe it'll go into the cushion anyway!

but i'm also going to put your help into practice and learn to make a true HST/Friendship star when i need to. Sue & Lynn- thanks for the foot hint (xmas list i think); Benta - thanks, i'll try that with my next one; ANudge THANK YOU for the detailed advice!