I want your vote

I was taught, and I've seen in some directions IIRC that you are to sew a scant 1/4". Isn't "scant" and "a couple threads out" basically the same thing?

Since I organized all my old magazines last weekend it took about 30 seconds to find that issue. My system works!

That is a really cute block/quilt. I think she just means scant. I don't like that word for some reason. I think of seams more in terms of chintzy or generous. I just use a chintzy seam. If you are really concerned you can cut the blocks a big bigger and trim down. I think everyone has different favorite ways of making hst's. I just mostly avoid them when I can : ) I have a couple rolls of 'triangles on a roll' here left over from a class. I can't figure out if using them is easier or not. Taria

Polly Esther wrote:

Oops to Ann. I wasn't talking about seams. I mean where you put a black square on top of a white square and stitch diagonally across. Sewing straight from point to point produces an easy HST without dealing with cutting triangles. Sorry I wasn't clear. It's hard to talk without using my hands. Polly

Way to go, Taria. I am Impressed. Big time, truly *Impressed*. Now that's what we would all have to salute as organized. Yes, it is a cute block. I thought 'just one' would make a very sweet quilt for a preemie. Of course, I'm not about to use small gold buttons for the flower centers. Yo-yo's? maybe? Polly

"Taria" Since I organized all my old magazines last weekend it took about 30

I can see you drawing corner to corner in the air to explain further :) I know what you mean now

I hate hst's. I am constitutionally unable to make perfect half square triangles that are exactly the same as each other. Even with triangles on a roll. Even with a quarter inch foot. Even with..... you name it. Including prayer. Yes, I have practiced and done and done over and again. And accepted less than perfection. The quilt I made my son was entirely constructed of hst's. 280 of them. Groan. That whole "thread or two" and "scant half inch" is just heck for somebody like me.

Now that my screed is over -- please dear Polly would you show the rest of us, who are either disorganized or who had no clue they would ever make a quilt back in 1999, what the square looks like? Please? I'm dying to see it.

Sunny the pointless quilter

I'm puzzled! (so what's new >gNaaah. I'm not running for office, just want your opinion.

The simple one, Patti. Just making one square and wasting some. Only stitching on the diagonal (or right beside the diagonal) one time. I'm so glad you joined in and see that you believe sewing 'as the designer suggested' would be more accurate. Now what are we going to do about Sunny's agony with HSTs? There must be a way we can move her from unhappy to very neat triangles. There must be some quilters here who can explain it so that the 'light comes on' and she sees what fun it is. Polly

"Patti" I'm puzzled! (so what's new >g Are you making two squares-of-triangles from the original two squares? or

To answer your original question, no I wouldn't bother on the seams, I'd just cut a smidgen bigger and trim the pressed hst square to the exact measurement. Works for me. And if Sunny has no trouble cutting perfectly accurate squares, that might be the best method fer her as well. BTW, I bought some of that clear plastic grid grip stuff to put on the underside of rulers, and it really helps control slipping! Roberta in D

"Polly Esther" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net...

Polly, I can make very good triangles- ALL types of triangles- and they come out right and I don't have to make them larger and trim them or any of that stuff. But.... I hate them. I don't like sewing on the skinny points and I don't like matching them and I don't like the fiddly stuff they need to make them match up properly. So I don't. Life can be fulfilling without any triangles in it. ;-)

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

In the Quilt-in-a-Day "Snowball Quilt Simplified" book, the snowballs are done by putting a small squares on the corners of a large square, sewing diagonally, and trimming the extra. The directions describe in detail how to mark the small squares: place your ruler precisely from corner to corner and mark along the edge. The mark will be slightly off the true diagonal. Stitch on the mark. That will give you the extra thread or two for the fold. The same method would apply to half square triangles.

Julia > Naaah. I'm not running for office, just want your opinion.

Other than that? Polly

"Leslie & The Furbabies in MO." Polly, I can make very good triangles- ALL types of triangles- and they come out right and I don't have to make them larger and trim them or any of that

Perhaps seeing a pattern Sunny loves, and it is full of HST's? Having done a few recently, I decided I could really get to love them >g<

Sunny, have you seen Sandy (Foster)'s Northwind quilt? It's gorgeous. . In message , Polly Esther writes

If you don't like sewing on the skinny points, Leslie - then don't! You have a lot of leeway before you actually get to the point where you are sewing on an actual seamline. Draw one with both cutting and sewing lines and just see how much length of skinny you have before it becomes critical! Liberate yourself to the triangle!! . In message , Leslie & The Furbabies in MO. writes

And here I was, contemplating going through my magazines and throwing some away to gain some shelf space. If I'd done that, I probably wouldn't have been able to whip out this issue and see this adorable quilt, Polly! Wow! I love it!

Personally, I think *two* threads might be a bit much, unless you plan to trim down later. However, *one* thread is probably a good idea. And then press well, as Kathy A. has been telling us. :)

I love triangles. I love the look and shapes they allow us to have in our quilts. HSTs are a breeze, if you use the square-sewn-to-a-square technique in this pattern; but I think I'd leave the back piece, cutting out only the middle one. That allows for squaring up rather easily, if you don't mind a bit of extra bulk.

Pat, you're so nice! :) Thanks! That one used "real" HSTs -- that is, they were cut as triangles instead of as squares. But Sharyn Craig's technique makes it all quite painless. :)

Are you going to make me look through my magazines to find this one??? Say it ain't so! I, too, have been contemplating the same thing. I was wondering if I could save the cover pages, then save the patterns and other interesting material inside and reassemble them inside the cover again. Maybe secured with a couple staples. Then I could find the issues by date, but there wouldn't be as much filler inside? What do you think? Could it work? Or is this just the first step to getting rid of all of them??

Sandy, if you can get your hands on one of the heavy lidded boxes that reams of copy machine paper are shipped in, they make a grand storage place for magazines. That's how I keep my collection of Sew Beautiful and Creative Needle. No need for them just now - but the time might come again. I know some quilters weed their magazines but I have no idea what pattern is going to call to me - such as this one. I covered my storage boxes and lids with fabric - no grand production, just a glue gun. Polly

"Sandy" And here I was, contemplating going through my magazines and throwing

I was going to get rid of mine when I sorted but I just can't bear to tear the magazines up. I have them in cardboard magazine holders and that seems to work pretty well. Costco sells 2 gallons of milk in a box that is about the right size to hold magazines too. If you know somebody that drinks lots of milk and shops at Costco that is a good choice. I have older magazines in some of those. Taria

Polly Esther wrote: