Sunday, December 4, 2016

Cutting HST with Directional Prints & Studio Goals List


November's Bee Hive Block

This pop of color was No. 6 on last week's To-Do List. It's the next-to-last Bee Hive Block to complete for the year. Blossom Heart Quilts organizes the Hives every year, and the blocks made for it come from a free archive of block tutorials hosted there. 


This one was presented with a technique I wasn't comfortable with, but Alyce gave her modified version, which simply uses all HST. I was using 2 directional prints for the star tips, and want to show you a hint to make this work.



When you cut a HST with directional print, you will get one side with the print displaying vertically in your star, and another horizontally. Because each pair of star tips are mirror images, you need a left and a right. When you are using a solid or allover print, this has no bearing, but it does when you use two stripes or directional prints together.


Prints Running In Opposite Directions

We have all come up with HST that looked like this, and maybe wondered why. It works fine in some block patterns, but in this one it 'feels' better to keep the direction of the prints going one way in each pair.


"Cross Your Prints"

If you remember to align your prints running opposite directions as you pair your fabrics, you will have both prints running one direction when you have finished your block. Match the fabrics, then mentally check it by flipping up the flap. It makes no difference which corner you choose to sew the seam. It will still work.

Cohesive directionality is pleasing to the eye. Sometimes we will look at a block with the feeling something is 'off', but we're not quite sure what. I often find it doesn't flow or feels choppy for one reason or another, and this is a big cause.

One Step Further

Suppose you need ALL the prints to run in one direction. My star used one half of each side's set as horizontal, and the other vertical. If you desire the whole finished block to run in one direction, make twice the amount of blocks still aligning the squares by crossing your prints. You will wind up with enough for 2 finished blocks, one for each direction. 



Studio Goals from Last Week
Cross Off Your List!

1. Bind the Clementine quilt. 
2. Sew together the next set of blocks. Quit and bind. Label both.
3. Bind Tiki Beads. 
4. A 30 minute clean up
5. Two customer quilts are promised for next weekend. One done.


6. One Bee Block for November. 
7. One Bee Block for October. 
8. 220 Four patch blocks for the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt 

Studio Goals 
Dec. 3-Dec. 10, 2016

1. Two customer quilts to quilt. One today!

2. Make and sew on 2 labels for the Clementine quilts.

3. Bind Tiki Beads. I think a blind binding may be best.

4. 110-- 3.5" V blocks for the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt Along. I do not have the ruler for this--nor is it in stock anywhere, but have found my Marti Michell templates are the same. The C group is based on a finished 3" block.

5. Christmas sewing, and this is hush, hush.

6. Use some of my Depression fabrics to make a simple wall hanging so I have a small, portable project. 

Making a List That Works for YOU!

See how list making works. No need to panic when one thing--or two, or three don't get done. Just roll them over to the next week, but not to the bottom of that list. Prioritize them so they don't get stale. Remember this post on "Eat the Frog"? A list is most fun and productive when there is fresh material to work with. Wishing you a good weekend!

Come on, Doxie girls.
Let's go sew.


7 comments:

  1. It took me ages to fathom out the directional print thing , it really made my head spin . I decided in the end that I don't mind random directions but I hate only one out of kilter

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  2. Good tip for directional prints. I like mine going the same way and have made mine the same way you did.

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  3. Thanks for the tip. I can never get that right for HST's.

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  4. I found a simple solution, I avoid directional fabrics like the plague. I'm a coward I know.

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  5. Early on I sat down and graphed out how to work with direction prints when making HSTs. It's helped me keep all the stripes going in the same direction in a block. But you really have to pay attention.

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  6. Your block is lovely! As for the list... I am a list maker, too, but I feel discouraged when I accomplish only a tiny fraction of what I've planned for the day, the week, or whatever. I have a Master List, then each day I make a daily To Do list... Very often I don't finish the things that NEED to be done (hence the empty fridge and giant mountain range of dirty laundry in the upstairs hall at the moment) and so I don't make it into my sewing room at all. So I'm trying hard NOT to have goals for my sewing hobby, and think of it like relaxing in a bubble bath or with a few rounds of golf. No one expects golfers or bubble-bathers to produce a finished product, right? If I ever finish a quilt, it's a BONUS; the objective for me is the process, not the product. And that's my mantra that I will just keep repeating to myself when I walk into my sewing room and freak out because there are a bazillion things going on and I keep wanting to start something NEW...

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  7. You could also sew half of your hst with the diagonal going in the opposite direction (at least I *think* that would work) though doing that wouldn't leave you with enough hst for another block... It does make one's head spin : /
    happy sewing and figuring things out ~ Tracy

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Julie
Pink Doxie Mama