Tillie's Treasure & Design Boards

I don't think I the only quilter who does this, but I tend to have more then one project going on at a time. I can't tell you when I started this quilt from the book "Nickle Quilts", but I know I have pulled it out more then once to work on it.

I pull it out to work on some, and then it goes back in it's bag to wait for another day.  I'm not really sure why, but it seems to be a quilt that I work on when I am in-between other projects.   I love quilts that have a secondary design, and Tillie's Treasure is one of them.  

 I think is neat is the way you start out with 4 - 5" squares  (a.k.a. Nickles), make half square triangles with them and then proceed to cut the half square triangles some more until you end up with this.

The book authors, Pat Speth and Charlene Thode call these units Small Wonders.  I agree! Once you have the 4 half square triangles cut I find it easiest to lay the pieces out before sewing so that I am assured that they will get assembled correctly. I have recently come across a neat way to make small design boards.

Lori Holt from Bee In My Bonnet posted a tutorial the other day on how she makes these neat little design boards.  You can find the link to her tutorial here!   I can stack up the design boards on top of each other and have 6 blocks ready to sew at one time!  I was so excited about the design boards that I had to use them right away, I didn't even wait long enough to put the pretty trim round the edges like Lori does (but I did add it later though).  I loved the way I could tilt a board with the finished block on it so I could always double check my work.

With the help of the design boards I was able to finish 5 blocks in record time.  In the past I would lay out one block at a time next to my sewing area. Many times a few pieces would get bumped and moved around. but I wouldn't notice it until after I had sewn a seam. I would then have to rip out seams and do it over again. That is now no longer a worry!

The boards are finished up with a strip of cloth that you hot glue in place. I have a feeling that this project will see the light of day more now...at least I hope so! Do you have a way that you organize your block pieces? If not, you just might want to try the little design boards. Thanks Lori - I love my new design boards! :)