For the love of HSTs, again!

I'm working on a fun project using half square triangles (HST) to compose the blocks.

 
The only thing that wasn't fun about these blocks was trimming all 256 HSTs to 3" pieces.  That task took me a few days to finish because it was so boring.  Sewing them to make 16 blocks was a real fun though.  

By chance, one day I saw a show on PBS by Nancy Zieman, one of the icons in quilting world.  She was sewing small squares to make a block just like what I was doing.  She called it honey comb piecing, all the squares were connected by chain piecing.  So I decided to give it a try.  

First I lay a block on my sewing table.



Since I'm right handed person, I flip the squares on the right side over the ones on the left side, like in the picture below.  If you want to flip the square on the left to the right side, you can do that.  Whichever side you choose to flip, be consistent through out the project.

Continue to pair all the squares.
 

  
Start chain piecing the pairs of the squares.  After sewing all the pairs, put them back in the same positions, do not separate them.

  
Now pair the top row by flipping the right side over the left side.  Continue down to the last row, as in the picture below.  Put one pin to secure the pair in place.  Chain piece the pairs together. 
 

Now you have 4 rows of connected squares, do not separate them.  We will sew the row together by flipping the top row over the bottom row.  Nest the seam together to create a nicely matched corner as you go.  Continue down to the bottom row.

When you finish sewing all 4 rows together, press the whole block at once.  Here's the finished block.
 

I found this method to be very fast and convenient because I only press once after all the sewing is done.  In the past, I would sew and press each pair separately.  Sometime the squares got mixed up and misplaced.  This way each square stays put where it belongs. 

Well, that's my two cents about sewing small squares together.  

I have another great news:  

Monday was my 30th wedding anniversary and I got a great present.  I got an email from the MQG that my quilt, Curved Triangles #2, was selected for QuiltCon 2019. 

I'm super excited and looking forward to see it at QuiltCon.  Nashville here I come!!



Have a great sewing day!





Link to: Sew Fresh Quilts: Let's Bee Social
              Midweek Makers@QuiltFabrication