hst | Simple Bird Applique

I was just itching to get this next block of Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore” finished! But it just seemed to go on and on. I started working on the red ribbons. As you can see, this section of the ribbon was really skinny! Here is how I tackled it. Even though the freezer paper template was barely an 1/8″ wide, I still cut my 1/4″ seam allowance all the way around.

Once I prepped the first side, I trimmed the seam allowance so that I could just see the edge of the template.

Next, I prepped the other side and trimmed it down also…

…and stitched it in place.

Then I prepped and stitched the second ribbon in place and added a pretty bow.

I thought I was done (and was high-five-ing myself!) and realized, no, I still had the bluebird to stitch. So, here is the finished block…all tidied up after it’s bubble bath!

I took a close look and saw that, once again, I forgot to stitch a tiny piece. Drat!

Now, on to the exciting part! The reason I wanted to finish this block so much, is that I now have enough blocks to sew another row together…I know!!! So I dusted the cobwebs off my sewing machine, and started to make some half-square triangles. You can read a little more about the method I use here.

It’s one thing to sit and sew a bunch of half-square triangles together. It is another thing entirely to stitch them together in a row and arrive at the measurement it is supposed to be. Here is a little tip I use to make life easier.

First, I sew my half-square triangles (HSTs) together in pairs. Then I press the seam open.

Then I stitch the pairs together to make sets of 4. And I press the seam open. And then, I measure the piece. These HSTs finish at 1″, therefore, 4 HSTs sewn together should measure 4 1/2″.

Then I stitch the sets of 4 together to make sets of 8. I press the seam open and measure the piece. It should measure 8 1/2″. This section needed a nip and tuck!

Now, I take my sets of 8 and stitch them together to make 16 HSTs. And, hopefully, it measures 16 1/2″.

So, now I can start to sew the row together! Bruin always likes to be in on the action!

First, I sewed on the bottom sashing, and then the side sashing on both blocks.

And…two blocks sewn together!

I would like to continue, but look at the time!

Keep stitching…

Kerry

Oddly enough, I found myself with a spare couple of hours on Christmas day…with not much to do! So I decided to start cutting and sewing together the 967 (are you kidding?) half-square triangles needed for the sashings and borders for my “Friends of Baltimore”.

Here is my method for cutting half-square triangles. Beware! It is time-consuming but extremely accurate.

First of all, I always cut my triangles bigger than what is called for in the pattern. In this case, the pattern called for 1 7/8″ squares to be cut. I wanted to cut the squares 2 1/4″, so I needed to cut my strips 2 1/4″ wide. To make the stitching go quicker, I layered a blue and a white strip on the cutting mat…

…then I cut my squares 2 1/4″.

Next, I cut all my squares on the diagonal to make lots and lots of triangles.

Now I just pick up a set of triangles and stitch away!!

Once they are stitched together, I pressed the seam open.

Now it’s time to trim the HST down to 1 1/2″ square. I place the HST on the cutting mat with the seam line running from the bottom left hand corner to the top right hand corner.

Then I line up the diagonal line on the ruler with the diagonal line of the seam. All I want to do right now is to square up the top right-hand corner.

Next, I flip the HST triangle around and line up the diagonal line of the ruler with the seam. But…this time, I am lining up the edge that I just squared up with the 1 1/2″ lines on the ruler….

..and trim it to the perfect size!

The sashing consist of 15 half-square triangles stitched together. And they have to measure exactly 15 1/2″ long, (the blocks measure 15 1/2 unfinished) so an accurate seam allowance is very important. I did a test and realized my seam allowance could be tiny bit bigger, because the sashing was too long.