Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs) Revolutionized

English is my second language. Therefore, many words and phrases that seem normal, routine, or commonplace to a native speaker make me go WOW. How did they come up with that phrase? For example, there is more than one way to skin a cat!!!

I have a cat, Jonesie. He is adorable, a bit shy around strangers, but very affectionate. To picture him in pain is painful to me. Skin a cat??? No way. Research tells me that the "cat" in that phrase refers to a catfish. That makes sense. Phew!!! what a relief.

Now since the cat-catfish-skinning mystery is resolved, I agree that there are several ways of getting to your destination. Today's destination is Quarter Square Triangles or QSTs.

What is a Quarter Square Triangle?
It is a square made up of four same sized triangles.

How do you make QSTs?
Well, you could cut 4 small triangles and join them to a make a square (YUCK).

In my opinion, that is not a method that requires a blogpost.  All other methods of making QSTs start with making HSTs (feel free to check the internet) or require paper piecing.

So what is new about this method? It is SIMPLE & EASY. Allow me to show you.

Fabric Requirements - 8 squares of fabric 5" each.  You can use charm squares.
I am using 4 different squares, two of each kind.

1. Make two four patches. See pictures below.

Layout of the 4-patch blocks

Place RST 

Chain piece the squares.

Chain Piecing

Cut the connecting threads and iron to the dark sides.

Match the two halves of the 4-patches

Place RST and chain piece.

Placed RST

Chain Piece

And you have your completed 4-patches :-)

Completed 4-patch blocks

2. Starch and iron the finished 4-patch blocks. At this time, you can square up the blocks. They should measure 9.5".

3. Place the two completed 4-patch blocks RST and stitch all around using a 1/4" seam.

4-patch blocks placed RST 

Can you see the 1/4" seam?

4. Cut on the diagonal, both ways.

5. Open, iron and enjoy your QSTs. You will get 4 QSTs each measuring 6 1/4".

Magical!!!

Ironed and Ready to go!!!

Yes, there are several ways to make QSTs. Why do I like this method?

Because, I got four QSTs without drawing any lines or using any special rulers.

If you like this method, please leave me a comment. Because getting a comment from you is like getting an e-pat on the back!!! 

Based on a comment received from Quilter Jackie of So Cal, I am including the size chart here. 
In the tutorial, I started with 5" squares and the resulting QST is a little larger than 6.25". You can square it down to 6" (red highlight). See chart below. I am hoping that this chart will be helpful to you!!!  

Lady Edith rides a Giraffe

With that title, I am sure I have your attention...

This is a two-story quilt (no tall tales here) and it begins in two places - Cyberspace, and a house in Laurel, MD.

6-23-14, Cyberspace - Somewhere in cyberspace Cathy Rush is surfing the internet and she comes upon a beautiful fabric - Lady Edith's Rectangles. So moved by the spirit of the fabric, she writes a blogpost. You can read it here.


7-12-2014, Laurel, MD - A beautiful house is a venue for a meditation event. Meditation is followed by dinner. I am one of the several attendees, mostly families some with young children. I know most of these people. We meet regularly for meditation and music events. The following conversation ensued:

A: You remember my mother, don't you?
Me: Yes, of course. It has been a  while. So good to see you, Auntie. I hope you are here for a good few months. When can I come and sample your wonderful cooking?
A: Any time, you are most welcome
Me: Perfect. How about next Saturday, the 26th?
A: We look forward to it.

While I was inviting myself to A's house to sample his mom's cooking, A's wife N was talking to another woman, mentioning her boy's (cutest boy ever) upcoming birthday on July 20th. He would be three years old. And although I heard it (and I knew his birthday already), I did not make any connections. Typical!!!

It was two days later that I realized - what have I done???
I am going to A and N's house for lunch, one week after their boy's birthday. I cannot go empty handed. No, flowers and chocolate just won't do it. I need to make a quilt for that cutest boy ever.

Make a quilt - in a  hurry. What an oxymoron...
There is a big difference between 2-minute noodles and a quilt. It is two weeks!!! (noodles take 2 minutes, a quilt takes 2 weeks and 2 minutes). What pattern, what fabric, what craziness?

As these thoughts swirled in my mind, I come upon the said blogpost by Cathy Rush. And magic happened. I found the perfect pattern for the birthday quilt for the cutest boy ever!!!

I had all the fabrics I needed. I chose giraffes fabric (left over from Down to Earth backing) as the focus fabric. I had to adjust the sizes a bit based on the fabric limitations.

I cut 12 rectangles - 6.5" by 11".

And this is what I was left with - close call, indeed!!!

I used these matching fabrics (remnants from Joann) to make the 4-patch block.

Once I had the giraffe rectangles and the rectangular 4-patches done, this quilt top came together so very quickly.

All 4-patches are not aligned the same way. Yes, I made a mistake conscious design decision to create some interest in the otherwise simple layout ;-)

My dear friends at the Missouri Star Quilt Forum helped me choose the border color.

Border Fabric Audition

Although green looks the best next to the giraffes it fades a bit next to the teal. I decided to go with yellow. And here is the completed quilt top.

I chose this super cute fabric for the backing.

This two-story quilt is truly amazing. I started and completed the quilt top on Saturday. I started and completed the quilting on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday, I admired the cute fabrics and my handiwork. The binding was completed on Friday. And the label was completed on Saturday morning, minutes before I jumped into the shower to get ready to leave for A & N's house!!!

Can you believe that this quilt was completed in time in spite of my lollygagging? That is because it is such an awesome quick design. For all those of you who (like me) want their quilts like their noodles - instantly, you should bookmark this page. Better yet, bookmark Cathy's page for a quick reference for quick quilts with just 4 fabrics!!!

If you make this quilt, what focus fabric you will use? I know there is one in your stash...

Coming of Age

Yesterday I turned 21.
I finished my 21st quilt. It is a "Coming of Age" quilt for me.

Here is why...

• It is my first truly modern quilt
• It is my own design (the process is documented here)
• I stepped out of my comfort zone when it came to quilting this baby.
• It was also the first time I used masking tape to guide my quilt lines.

Quilt Top - White, Charcoal and 16-Patch Blocks
Batting - Warm and White
Backing - Bright Blue Printed Fabric (from fabric.com)

Binding - Charcoal Solid (same as the quilt top)
 

Backing Fabric

 

As recommended by my blogging buddy (CathyRush.Blogspot.com), I quilted horizontal lines on the white and vertical lines on the charcoal fabric. My usual quilting style is - how soon can I finish this thing - and move on to the next. I usually quilt pseudo-straight lines using "stitch around the ditch method". Therefore, quilting this took a while :-) and more than usual patience.

I quilted the white portions first using horizontal lines. No masking tape used.
By the time that was done, I had developed quilting fatigue. Therefore, the vertical lines on the charcoal portions are much less dense :-) Someday, I will develop a quilter's patience...
Actually, I did it to create difference in textures of the two fabrics (ahem!!!). That is my story and I am sticking to it. Oh, look at the really dense horizontal lines quilting in the right on the white. That is the skinniest stretch of white fabric. It conveys the feeling that the river has to squeeze through that narrow opening. No, it was not intentional. However, I am quite happy with the organic quilting and the resultant texture.

Here it is - quilting completed, trimmed and ready for binding.


Completed quilt pictures follow:

The finished quilt measures 42" by 53"

My eyes are drawn to the dense quilting in the skinny white portion of the quilt, creating a quilt focus!!!

The colors look different in the light of the setting sun and the quilting on white seems subdued but the quilting on charcoal appears more distinct. My tall husband is the model :-)

And some more...

 I think I will keep this one!!!

Thank you to all of you who came along with me on this journey of my first truly modern quilt. Your comments made me smile and gave me support. Thank you for quilting suggestions, tips and tricks!!! With your encouragement (nudges and pushes), I did it!!! 

There is one last thing. What shall I name it? I have a few ideas - Coming of Age, A River's Journey; but I would love to hear your thoughts.

Keeley

Joyce's niece was expecting a baby girl and I was invited to the baby shower. Excited, I made the baby blankets, burp cloths and bibs for her, tied them into a neat little packet with a golden ribbon.

And then the threat of a snowstorm (so many this past winter) kept me from attending the shower :-(

I gave the neat little packet to Joyce and eventually, the parents got the blankets and they sent me a Thank you note.

I was touched. A few weeks after the baby was born, I received an email from Joyce - the blankets and burp cloths were a big hit. What tickled me even more was their request - could they have two more of those baby blankets and burp cloths? ABSOLUTELY. Next day, I mailed the baby blankets + burp cloths. What did Joyce do in return? She sent me a check. Horrible Joyce!!! I called Joyce and asked her, why did she do that? She replied because she wanted to.

Do you know what I want to do? Of course you do. I want to make a quilt for the baby. Now, only if I knew her name. So I sent a text to Joyce.

The conversation in text went as follows:
Preeti - What is the baby's name?
Joyce - Newley
Preeti - Newley?
Joyce - Keeley, Keeley, Keeley is the baby's name.

It is obvious that my friend was frustrated (a bit) with her auto correct function on the iPhone. I still have not met Keeley but I already love her. May be, her quilt should be like little love notes or little postcards.

When I saw "Postcards from Hawaii", I knew  immediately - that is it. I am going to make that quilt (or something inspired by it). It is a simple, easy to follow, quick-to-put-together design and can be made from scraps too. Stitch together two strips of fabric - one floral and one white and cut them into squares. Stitch them in columns add sashing and you are done!!! So, let's make it a teensy weensy bit complicated. I decided to add letters into the pattern - letters that would spell K-E-E-L-E-Y.

Stumbling along with the alphabets!!!

The Es were easy. However, all three of them look slightly different. It took great skill (ha ha ha...) to give them their unique wonkiness. The L was super easy. The Y was difficult - took two tries to get it right. And the K was the problem child. In fact, I took one of the discarded Ks and used it to fashion the Y. Now, the Y is not perfect either. But then I did not set out to make anything perfect. In fact, I am the queen of wonky and I love it...

Keeley - Finished Top

See you don't really see the wonkiness from here!!!

I chose a floral pattern for the backing and pieced purple binding (from jelly roll strips). I used a decorative (looks like Cs) stitch for the quilting. This stitch can be mirrored. If the first line was Cs, I mirrored the next - makes it look like clouds :-)

 Go ahead, take a closer look.

My painted toes peeping through the grass are a bonus :-D

And here is the label...

Hope I get to meet Keeley soon!!! And then I will take a picture of Keeley with her personalized quilt and update this post - of course!!!

And I almost forget. This is Quilt # 20!!! Doing the happy (wonky) dance!!!
I 'd love to hear your thoughts  on wonky?

My Experiment with Modern Quilting

What makes a quilt "Modern"?
There are definitions, explanations and examples galore. Here are a few key points (in my opinion)

• Lack of obvious symmetry
• Negative spaces
• Use of solids
• Departure from "blocks repeated to make a quilt" (thinking of the quilt as whole and not as a result of repetitive blocks)

Over the last few weekends, I discovered "the process" of making a modern quilt. I was working on a simple rail fence baby quilt for a shower. When I finished making the blocks for this traditional rail fence quilt, I had some slivers left over. Scraps that were too large to throw away and too small for anything else.

What can you do to salvage little scraps?

1. Make them larger so they are a little more usable. I added some grey fabric to turn each of these slivers into a four square strip.
2. Then I stitched four of those strips to form a 16-patch. Looking good. I had a total of 13 blocks.

Once again, too small for a quilt. Yes, I could make 13 mug rugs!!! Jokes apart.
3. What can I do with 13 blocks that would turn them into a quilt? Add negative space.
And "adding negative space" took several iterations. See my attempts below:



A - Floating Blocks - The white squares separating the blocks and then white sashing and border. A simple and quick layout. Great!!! This would only need 12 blocks so I had one extra. May be I will make a Mug Rug, but that is another post.
Going back to the layout, I noticed that there wasn't enough contrast between the white in the blocks and the white of the background negative space fabric. And it definitely lacked the wow factor!!!

It remained on my computer. I did not take it to the design wall.

 B - Double Steps Layout - Good Layout. This was definitely an improvement upon "Floating Blocks" because I liked the contrast between the background charcoal fabric and the blocks. Although it was visually appealing, it seemed that it could be more than just that. Somehow, this layout was not fully utilizing the potential of the blocks and the negative space.

Paul suggested that I add a block each in the top right and the bottom left corners. I disagreed. It would only make it more symmetrical and that symmetry (which can be sometimes due to lack of imagination) was what I was trying so hard to avoid.

Most important - I HAD ONLY 12 BLOCKS!!! I did make that mug rug.

C - V-Layout. I think I like it even less than the Double Steps. It can be interpreted as a zipper, or a meeting of the minds (good one). Looking at it from another perspective, it might as well be "going separate ways" or a "flight of birds". In any case, I did not want this quilt to be a "Hail to the Vee".

I was mentally exhausted by now. So, I gave myself the following not-so-peppy talk
It is a creative process and you will evolve as you keep designing and making more quilts. Just go ahead and finish this one and when you have another great idea, make another quilt. But for now - FINISH IT!!!

I obeyed my inner voice and cut white fabric to fill in the negative space for the V-Layout. I stitched the charcoal fabric on the outside and the white fabric on the inside of the blocks. The idea was to construct the quilt in columns and then stitch the columns together. Once all but one column was completed, it looked BORING, dull and uninspired. And this made me unhappy. I wanted to cry :-(

What if you mix up these columns?  And that brings me to Layout D

D-1. Looks better - mixed up and has more visual interest

D-2. For some reason, and I am not sure what, this looks better to me than D-1.

Oh, I see. In this case the way the 16-patch blocks interact with each other is different.  In D-1, all 16-patch blocks are touching corner to corner. In D-2 they touch corner to corner, but also are separate and even overlap in one place. May be this is the visual interest that my eyes were seeking.

I feel I am almost there. Just one more thing. In the third column where the two 16 patches are touching, I needed to insert a band of white to maintain the continuous flow of white from left to right. Why? I don't know - it just would LOOK right.








Here is the finished top. (What a difference - I should take all my pictures outdoors)

So, the process of making a modern quilt is complete. Right?
WRONG!!!

Look at all that negative space. How am I suppose to quilt all that??? Is this going to be a UFO? No, help!!! I do not FMQ. I do not have a foot that can FMQ. I only have a Walking Foot. I look forward to your suggestions.

Update July 18, 2014
I finished it. Yes, I quilted it and the finished quilt is here.