I made some progress on my Prince Charming quilt in the past couple weeks. I finished the half square triangle block for the corners of the main block. I recently came across a tutorial on how to create 4 HSTs with two large squares of fabric. I can't remember where I first read it, but a quick google search provided this Half Square Triangle Tutorial. The nice thing about that tutorial is that the blogger provided an easy formula for determining the size you need for the two initial squares of fabric to yield 4 HSTs (although I think her formula is for a block including seam allowances.) The original tutorial I read didn't provide such information so it took some time for me to figure out the sizes I needed. Eventually I figured out that for a finished (meaning, after it's all sewn together) 3"x3" square, I would need to start with two (2) - 5.5"x5.5" squares.
After those suckers were done I moved onto the flying geese blocks. I wasn't sure what size fabric to start with so I did a google search and found a Flying Geese Tutorial with 2 methods. I don't particularly like "wasting" fabric so I knew I had to use the second method because it doesn't waste any fabric. I tried the tutorial on some scrap fabrics and was very pleased with the results so I moved onto my "real" fabric and then sewed some onto the main blocks:
Note: I usually sew a quarter inch seam allowance by placing the edge of the fabric along the edge of the walking foot and moving the needle one stop closer to that edge. But for the flying geese blocks I shifted the needle over two stops and was able to get nice pointed corners once the flying geese blocks were sewn to other blocks. Who knows how will this impact the seams matching from row to row......
I haven't made as much progress on this quilt as I had hoped, but at least I have the most difficult pieces done (or so I think). I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that I have enough fabric. Although, the tan fabric in the flying geese is a Kona cotton that I purchased a couple weeks ago and the white is another Kona cotton that I bought several yards of a couple months ago and hadn't used until this project. I'll probably use these two fabrics on the back of the quilt and incorporate little leftover pieces of the Prince Charming collection. I wonder how much longer this quilt will take to finish, but I am enjoying learning how to create new blocks during this process.
After those suckers were done I moved onto the flying geese blocks. I wasn't sure what size fabric to start with so I did a google search and found a Flying Geese Tutorial with 2 methods. I don't particularly like "wasting" fabric so I knew I had to use the second method because it doesn't waste any fabric. I tried the tutorial on some scrap fabrics and was very pleased with the results so I moved onto my "real" fabric and then sewed some onto the main blocks:
Note: I usually sew a quarter inch seam allowance by placing the edge of the fabric along the edge of the walking foot and moving the needle one stop closer to that edge. But for the flying geese blocks I shifted the needle over two stops and was able to get nice pointed corners once the flying geese blocks were sewn to other blocks. Who knows how will this impact the seams matching from row to row......
I haven't made as much progress on this quilt as I had hoped, but at least I have the most difficult pieces done (or so I think). I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that I have enough fabric. Although, the tan fabric in the flying geese is a Kona cotton that I purchased a couple weeks ago and the white is another Kona cotton that I bought several yards of a couple months ago and hadn't used until this project. I'll probably use these two fabrics on the back of the quilt and incorporate little leftover pieces of the Prince Charming collection. I wonder how much longer this quilt will take to finish, but I am enjoying learning how to create new blocks during this process.
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