One of my favourite things about hosting these Quilt Alongs is seeing everyone’s fabrics, so when I saw the fabrics Susan in Australia (Granny Smith Quilting) has pulled, I thought, for the second time, and am now acting upon it, that we need a link-up to show off our fabric choices and/or cutting. If you don’t have Instagram or a blog, just email me (click ‘View my complete profile in the sidebar) a photo, and I will happily post them for you!
I thought we’d tackle the more intimidating shape first. I’m sure you’ve found that cutting the kite shapes is a bit of a pain in that they don’t nicely line up along the fabric length. I did update the cutting post with a photo of that step. This results in some weird leftover triangles which is annoying, I know. It’s worth it though for the cool effects they add to your block.
You can piece these units just using the templates, but I have found I get more accurate units if I use both templates and paper-piecing. Cutting the templates makes for less fabric waste, as the angles line up beautifully, as opposed to cutting a huge chunk of fabric and hoping it covers said angles! I’ll show you both here. My printer is out of ink, so I’ve drafted my templates, both the paper-pieced square, as I showed you in my previous post, and the templates, which you can draw using that pp square. This post from my first QAL, Freefall, shows you how to draft those templates, going into great detail.
Make the block with templates only
It feels counter-intuitive to place the narrow points together (see second photo below) instead of at opposing edges, but you’ll get the hang of it, I promise.
1. Sew a triangle A to one side of the kite template, lining the sides up using the trimmed off point angles.
If you didn’t draft your own triangle A template, then you don’t have the trimmed off angles, so be sure to have a little dog ear stick out from beneath the kite shape about ¼”.
If you did cut using the angles, align the two pieces as shown.
Press seams to triangle A. Repeat with the other side. It will look like this: (Note that it hasn’t been squared up yet.)
Squaring up takes a bit extra time in order to preserve that beautiful point. I took process photos in the original quilt. I hadn’t realized when I made this first quilt that the triangles for the spiky star points are the exact same size as those for sides of the kite shape, so I didn’t use my Tri Recs ruler. This means I had little dog ears sticking out. They get trimmed when squaring up the block.
Key points to align under your ruler:
You want the 5 ¼” dot at the top of the point. then look for the 2 ¾” dot at each side edge on the seam lines. Trim the two sides and then trim the other two being sure to keep ¼” seam allowance at those points. I had some trouble on my phone in Markup getting those circles to go smaller but I think you can see the dots that I refer to.
Paper-piecing method
The Freefall post I linked at the top of this post has great detail and photos as to how to do this, so I won’t go into as much detail as before.
1. If you have drafted a freezer paper template, it will adhere to the wrong side of the fabric beautifully, and you can reuse that template if you’re not too ‘exuberant’ with the iron. I reused mine for 13 of my star points; the first three I did with templates, but I preferred the accuracy with paper-piecing, so used the templates I’d cut and the paper-piecing freezer paper. This is what I’m doing with this second quilt as well. If you have printed the templates on regular paper, use a dab of a glue stick to adhere the wrong side of the fabric to the underside of the paper template.
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| The wrong side of the fabric is facing up because it is adhered to the underside of the paper template. |
You can see that the raw edges along the right angle of the kite line up with the edge of the paper template. The solid line is the stitching line. There is a ¼” seam allowance visible on either side of the (folded paper) long edges of the kite.
TIP: Fold those lines carefully first to create a nice crisp edge along (not through!) which to sew.
2. Place triangle A right sides together with the kite shape, aligning the long edges. Normally you would then turn this entire unit carefully over, and stitch through the solid long line. Not with this slick method!
If you hit the paper, not to worry; it will come away when you remove the paper once the unit is complete.
Here is what it looks like after stitching:
4. Press the seams gently to triangle A as you do with template piecing this unit. Stitch the second triangle A in the same manner, pressing to the triangle. You’ll get a unit just like the template-pieced one. Square it to 5 ½” aligning the dots of your ruler as shown above. However, if you’ve sewn accurately, you can simply square it with the freezer paper attached, and all points will be preserved perfectly. Then simply peel the paper off, and your unit is done and your paper is ready to reuse!
I find making templates for wonky angles is a huge help for alignment and conserving valuable fabric.
5. Make 16 kite-shaped star points this week.
So, here are Susan’s fabrics! Won’t these make a lovely quilt?
I chuckled when she told me that she found her Tri Recs rulers which she’d not used in years. No problem remembering how to use them: she’s got her spiky triangle A’s all cut and ready to piece!
Meet Zora.
She is 5 ½ months old, from a rescue in London. We’d done a meet and greet with a couple of other pibbles in Windsor, but one turned out not to be a pibble mix but more of a border collie mix, and the other did not like Rufus at all (poor boy—he was an angel at all the meets). This feeling to be able to get a second dog again has been percolating for the past couple of months. It’s been a little over two years since we lost Xena.
Zora was named by the rescue, and, funnily enough, we each separately came to the conclusion that we like her name and that it suits her, so we’ve kept it. Her mum was apparently a Staffie/Cane Corso mix and her father is unknown. Zora was the runt of eight females in the litter, and it was a bit of a sad situation. The puppies ended up being surrendered and they were in pretty rough shape, Zora the worst. Her foster mum had her for three months, nursing her back to health. You can see from the photo below, taken yesterday, that Zora has started to completely settle in, 'sharing’ Rufus’s Poang and now settling quite happily alone in it. What is it about the Poang that our dogs just love? It’s supposed to be my husband’s, though he rarely sits in it since we got it!
She currently weighs 35 pounds/16 kg (I weighed her on Wednesday) and is estimated to end up like her mum, about 55 pounds/25 kg. She doesn’t have quite the blocky head she should have, and her tail is…well… hilarious. It’s long for a pittie, and ends in a white tassle! You can see it by Rufus’s left leg in the photo. So she’s basically a Heinz 57.
Anyhow, the ‘home is like a library’ description I checked on the application form, is a thing of last week! She was super-quiet for the first five days but day six revealed a bit of a demon side to her, so, fun days ahead. At least she’s at the six month age on April 23, so a good chunk of the puppy issues are hopefully behind us. We’re seeing some teenager issues at present, to quote her foster mum! When she isn’t in cray-cray mode, she’s a real love, and smart as a whip. I taught her to give a paw in two days, and we’re working on giving the other paw now, as well as ‘on your mat’ and ’stay’. Those will (cough) take longer methinks. Rufus? He’s been just terrific. Patient. Long-suffering to some degree, though he’s tuned her in a couple of times and rightly so (she’s nippy). Playful (though we are careful with him as he’s had a shoulder or back soreness of and on over the past several months). Not so sharing with toys in the Rottie “I see it; it’s mine” kind of way but he’s, ahem, learning. As we all are.
Bella? She’s all “Call me when that thing leaves,” and I don’t blame her; she’s had to train five dogs over her 14 years! Zora and Bella have seen each other from three stairs away through a baby gate, and then when Bella was about five stairs above her yesterday. All was good. Bella was glaring but not hissing, just calm dominant energy, and Zora was curious, not attacking. So fingers crossed and baby baby steps there. Bella is too precious and too old to have to put up with any crap.
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