Play Time

You know when ever you buy a new toy you just have to try it out! Of course you do! I told you in my previous post that I would write more about my new Mini Fit to be Geese ruler put out by Monique Dillard of Open Gate. Her web site is www.opengatequilts.com I just love this little ruler. I played with it and made the four sizes that can be made with this ruler. I made 2" x 3 1/2", 1 3/4" x 3", 1 1/2" x 2 1/2", and 1 1/4" x 2". I made four of each size and had only one unit not come out perfectly. I blame that on an over zealous use of the iron. I have a feeling that I will be obtaining the larger size geese ruler too. She also has a square in a square ruler that is impressive too. One thing I like about this method is that there is little waste in the fabric used and there are no bias edges on the outside of the units to worry about stretching. The way it works is that you cut squares diagonally once for the "sky" part of the geese and another square twice diagonally for the geese part, sew them together and use the ruler to trim it up so that it comes out right in the end. Gotta love it!

Another purchase that I played with from the quilt show was this pattern packet from Thangles. It gives you 13 miniature quilt patterns and the Thangles to go with it. In case you aren't familiar with Thangles it is a way to make half square triangle units using strips of fabric and their paper strip that you sew through to get the half square units. I fear I have done a poor job of explaining what a Thangle is so here is their web site! www.thangles.com I have never made such tiny half square units before with this method so I thought I would try it out. For the most part I liked it. I didn't take as much time putting the rows together as I would have if it wasn't just a practice block so they aren't exactly even in places. All in all I liked it, but the smallness of the pieces did take some getting use to. I recommend using heavily starched fabric for this method. The starch would help keep the pieces from stretching and make the piecing of the small units easier.

This afternoon I plan on working on the borders of my guild's challenge quilt. I think I will have to purchase some more fabric for the backing. I don't want to piece the border and I am afraid that I won't have enough yardage left for the backing by doing that. Guess I will find out this afternoon!