Hourglass, or Spools

[ Late edition -- The general consensus for this block name is Hourglass, and some call it Spools.  Thanks everyone!]

Here is my current project - blocks are made from my box of 2 1/2 inch strips.  Several of the blocks were too light - they will be labels.  As is my style, I just started sewing the strips together, very light and whatever dark was in the box, not knowing where I was heading.  In the end I put the darker blocks near the edge, lighter in the middle.  It goes fast.  They are set diagonally, and I used a Side Setting ruler to cut the corner and SS triangles.  I actually have enough of one fabric to do all the side setting and corner triangles.  I've seen other examples where all the values are similar and they seem most appealing to me.  The first 3 upper left diagonal rows are sewn together.  Wouldn't this be great in Crayon colors?

Do you know the name of the block?

If you are not sure how this goes together, sew a Width of Fabric light (2.5 inch) and a dark strip (2.5 inch) together, press to dark.  Use your Companion Angle and lay the 2 1/4 line on that seam and cut.  I put a bit of blue tape on the 2 1/4 in. line.  Then reverse the ruler and cut the next, ALWAYS keeping that 2 1/4 line on the seam.  This will guarantee a good match when you sew them together.  Sew gently, as the units have bias edges.  I pieced a few of the blocks from shorter strips.  You can get 8 triangles per strip to make 2 blocks.   You cannot get enough for a block from a half strip - you need 42-44 inches.

Never wanting to leave things alone, I really want to see the results if all the triangles were mixed up with other, non-matching triangles?

It appears that this is our last week of lovely weather.  This view of 2 weeks ago

was so astonishing I gasped at it's beauty!

Time to get out the snow shovel and have it ready!

DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO!

This is my Scrappy Stars (gotta think of a better name!) , a class I took from Bonnie Kucera in May.   I decided to do that chunky border and I'm pleased with it.  I started sewing all those chunks together, and hadn't decided on an inner border yet.  Then my brain stopped working and I thought, "Hey, self, why not just sew an inner border to the chunky border in one long piece, saving yourself from doing the inner border 4 separate times, and then the outer border 4 separate times."  This is a classic example of my too-frequently-occurring lack of thinking, because you get something like what you see in the lower left of the photo, 4 separate times!  This is my "can't see the forest for the trees"  - there is something about getting all gung-ho, forging ahead without thinking, and loosing common sense.  GRRrrrrrr.  And I KNOW BETTER!!!!!!   So, I'm working on fixing each corner (as in upper left), unsewing and resewing more carefully, with brain in gear.  

  

Here is a larger photo of a scrappy spool quilt I made some time ago and only posted small parts.  It's hand quilted, nothing special, but I'm really liking the diagonally set border.  Early next year I'll be presenting this class/workshop to Guild members. I want them to be able to NOT be  hesitant to try this kind of border.  The spools are easy, set diagonally and finish at 6 inches.  I've posted a short tutorial on spools March 9, 2008. (can't get the link to work!) 

Another one bites the dust!

This one is DONE! Well, it needs a label, and one corner needs about 15 quilting stitches. Tomorrow is Quilt Guild Day and it's going to be "Showed and Telled".


Here's a close up (wow, REALLY close up), closer than I'd like, of the quilting. It's doesn't look so great from here close up. Oh well, the eye Dr. said I need cataract surgery, so THAT's an excellent excuse for not good stitches! BTW, I'm going to put THAT off for ... a while, anyway.

(Blogger is not playing well today - hope this makes it!)

Remembering Geometry for Spools Border

I spent 2-3 hours calculating today, working out a border on the diagonal for my Easy Peasy Scrap Spools Quilt - and my idea was to carry on with the 'diagonal' plan. AND, I actually figured out the inner border plans - you know, when your top is NOT a regular size and you have to add different widths to side inner border than on the length inner border? Once a person figures it out, it's like uhh duhhhh - what was so hard about that? But my eyes have always glazed over reading the instructions. Somehow, just having a pencil and paper and calculator in front of me made it easier than reading it. And then, since I wanted to put a diagonally pieced outer border on, that made some added complications, but hey, I like it! It's SUPPOSED to fit - we'll see! LOL

Just to show that I DO have a clean ironing board cover, occasionally. And someone was asking about irons? I am convinced the manufacturers build in a life expectancy of less than 2 years for ALL irons. Expensive or cheap, they all quit. Won't turn on, won't turn off, won't steam, won't get hot enough, too hot, cord broke, etc. So now I buy CHEAP, and use a spray bottle. No iron has lasted me more than 2 years. You may notice I've clipped out a photo of 'someone's wonky houses. It doesn't look like Tonya's colors but ???

My Spools are all sewn together, and I'm pleased with the colors. Again, all stash fabrics - will only purchase the batting, and will hand quilt this one.


Those strips for the border were cut at 1.91 inches. That number was carefully calculated - again, we'll see! LOL