I know I wrote a bit about these units last time but I thought I’d revisit them as they are so versatile – and we’ve been doing them in our classes this month! We moved on from strips and squares to learn about half-square triangles (or HST units) – how to cut them, what measurements to use, how to stitch them, and how to use them in a variety of blocks or quilts. In a way this follows on from Log Cabin as when sewn in the traditional way it creates the illusion of half-square triangles.
Abigail Sheridan de Graaff has done some Hints & Tips on cutting HST units (here and here) and I’ve done one for the measurements (here), so I thought we could look at designing with these units and how they are used in blocks. They make quite an impact just on their own as ‘scrappy’ quilts, if you cut your scraps into the same size squares (don’t worry about the 7/8 inch stuff) then pair them light with dark – the easiest way to do this at random is to have two bags, put all those squares you think of as ‘dark in one bag and all the ones you think of as ‘light’ in the other, then pull one from each bag at random. You could have a third bag of ‘not quite sure’ and then pair these with either very light or very dark squares. Stitch either side of the centre diagonal, cut them apart and you will have lots of HST units all the same size. Now you can play with them!
Just facing all the same way can look quite good but when you start turning them around you get some quite different patterns emerging.
You can have stripes.
Or zig-zags.
Or pinwheels.
Or rounds of colour.
Or . .
Of course these HST units crop up in a wide variety of traditional blocks too with plain squares or with rectangles, Quarter-Square triangles and assorted other units.
The way you colour the block can make the same block look quite different – the basis of ‘Puzzle Quilts’.
The two blue and yellow blocks are exactly the same, just the lights and darks are moved around.
The orientation of these HST units in the corners of the blocks can add to the design of the quilt by creating secondary patterns. If you think your Swamp Angel blocks look a bit boring just set together, try turning the corner triangles around (preferably before you have sewn all the blocks together!).
This month’s challenge? Go and trash your stash – make half-square triangles and turn them into something wonderful. And it doesn’t matter what size you make your squares or your ‘something’. As the advert has it – Just Do It!
PS Have you spotted the deliberate (?) mistake in the EQ-generated quilts in this post? As a clue – its not in the last one!
I love half-square triangles – so versatile!