Monday, August 15, 2022

Please, No More Half Square Triangles!

Since the beginning of the month
I have done nothing but work
on the Oh, Say Can You Sew, 
mystery quilt along
from Lisa Bongean.

Holy Moley
HST's !!!

 
This months clue was to make 
1152 - 1 inch half square triangle (finished)

and sewing them into 128 
nine patch blocks

I've been working on them pretty much exclusively,
nonstop.


Thankfully, I had some Triangles on a Roll
and Thangles papers in the correct size.

I hadn't used either of these for a long time.
But having to:
 make so many,
make them scrappy and
make them accurately,
it was the best solution.


There seems to be so many steps.
Cutting fabrics,
pinning fabrics and paper,
sewing on the lines,
cutting apart


and finally tearing away all of the paper.

The good part is that each hst is the correct size.
No trimming after each one was pressed.


Time wise, it probably all comes out the same.
There were just so many to make!!!!

A quilt friend asked if I were going to cut off 
the dog ears on each piece.
"No, way!" I said.
But then....
Despite my hand cramping up,
I cut off each and every one.


This is as far as I have gotten.
I've sewn 3 blocks,
125 - 3" blocks to go.

I needed to see if they would all turn out right.
I think they're going to look good
with the wide variety of fabrics.

Of course, being a mystery...
I have no idea if they'll look good!

So, as I sit at my machine
feeding it 
these little individual triangular nibblets,
I was wondering how differently
each of us might approach a 
repetitive process like this.

Do you do each step to completion?
Or 
do you do small batches from start to finish?

As you can tell,
I push myself to finish each step,
even if it means sacrificing the
function of my hands.

Until Next Time-
Kyle

19 comments:

  1. I know it is a lot of tedious work but the outcome is going to be well worth it. Love your blocks. Hugs

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! So tiny and so many. You are amazing. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, I admire your perseverence and your blocks are gorgeous! Do be very careful of overtaxing your hands and wrists. Once those joints are damaged, they will always be painful, as I can attest.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I recently completed a quilt with 528 HST’s and I thought that was a lot!! I’m much more of a “do small batches at a time” person as I’m impatient to see how things look sewn together. Mystery quilts are definitely NOT my thing!😊. But I’m sure yours will be wonderful when it’s done.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I know exactly how you feel. I’m a little over halfway making hsts. It seems like it’s going to take forever. I might get the hsts finished this month but no way will I have them all sewn into those cute little 9patches by the end of the month!

    ReplyDelete
  6. LOL--your title was entertaining, as I had just come from Quilter Kathy's blog, where she talked about all these triangles you have to make for this mystery. Like Gladi, mysteries aren't my thing, and I admire those of you who just jump in and do it.
    I can't handle doing the same thing over and over and over again, so I would probably pace myself to do a dozen whenever I could get myself a few minutes in the sewing room.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That is far too many HSTs. What a huge effort. Well done sticking with the task.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I could have written this post! LOL Your photos are wonderful! I love your blocks! I do a few examples of each step, and go right to sewing as many blocks as I have HSTs for. I love to see the finished blocks accumulate to motivate me to continue. We can do this!

    ReplyDelete
  9. There is a lot of work ahead of you ..... I do a bunch at a time and before you know it .... done.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is going to be spectacular~ oh, how teeny, tiny! I usually persevere on a project a step at a time, rather than seeing batches through at a time. Even as I say that, though; believe me, if I can make a mistake I can repeat that mistake with consistency... SEW, perhaps, small batches at a time isn't such a bad idea! Ha!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am not a quilter, but can imagine all the hours that go into making a quilt like this, Kyle! I really love the color palette that you've chosen and I look forward to watching this one grow :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. 1152! that is impressive! I can imagine you are getting enough of them!

    ReplyDelete
  13. You are a rock star! lol Making that many hst's is a cruel form of punishment. And to have them turn out perfectly? I could never achieve that, ever 'cuz I just wouldn't have the patience to do the method that produced the best results! In these types of scenarios, I tend to do batches, like say stacks of 20 or something. Do each part in waves until the units are complete then move on to the next batch. If I quit for the day I like to leave the next batch partially sewn so it looks like an 'easy' completion and tempts me to get started again. Once I walk away it's really hard to sit down and start working again.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh my goodnesss - that is a lot of HST and so small!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. oooh la la are these sweet tiny blocks. What a lot sewing!! I'm looking forward to seeing how this comes along.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I'm another one who does things in batches. I almost always have at least one "side" project going on, so that, to give my mind and hands a break from possible tedium, I can alternate projects. This week for example, I am hand-stitching a binding on a queen-sized quilt (some wrist challenges with that), finishing up a quilt 56x70 *per the pattern* (highly unusual for me), and doing a leaders-and-enders Christmas scrap project in 2" elements. That last one has 879 2" elements, including HSTs, equilateral triangle squares, 4-patches, and solid pieces. I like the variety of doing many different projects, and I really admire those quilters who focus on one project at a time. I wonder if in the end we both finish the same number of projects?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh, Kyle! What a project!! That is an impressive number of hsts and I love that photo! I so envy your tenacity. I would make small batches at a time but continue cutting and sewing to try and keep somewhat ahead of the game. Your 3" blue and white blocks are so sweet. I wonder what's next in this mystery QAL?? Can't wait to see more!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I considered participating in this mystery! Notice I said considered...lol. Yours are going to make a wonderful quilt. I will probably be jealous when I see your finished flimsy as miniature piecing is my favorite. I usually do small batches from start to finish and then move on to other projects before I finish. That is why I have so many UFOs.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow that's a lot of HSTs but those blocks do make for so many great quilts, I can see why you kept going. I tend to do things in batches since I get easily bored. This mystery does look like it is going to make a great quilt and make me feel jealous for not participating.

    ReplyDelete