JEB is in da house! Sorry I’m so late in getting this out 🙁 Got some pretty big block lotto shoes to fill behind Andria, so please be patient with me. This is my first time blogging. Like, ever. I’m fairly sure I’ll be an addict once I get the hang of it, but there will be some stumbling along the way… Happy to receive your suggestions for improvement as we go along!
How to play Block Lotto (copied almost verbatim from previous months): Make up the block for the month following the pattern and color scheme. Make as many as you want as you will get an entry for every block you make (two blocks in this case!). Bring all your finished blocks to the meeting on January 8th and we will draw a winner. If there are enough blocks to be divided, multiple winners will be drawn. The winner then gets all of those blocks to make a quilt (or similar project)! The winner can participate in subsequent lottos but can’t win again until a completed project is presented.
January 2015 Block Lotto:
The holidays are pretty much done and I bet most of us are still in recovery mode (though I know I’m excited to get back to all my quilting projects that have fallen by the wayside!), so I figure we all could use something simple. Nothing says easy peasy like half-square triangle blocks (HSTs). Am I right? We’re going for maximum block lotto participation here, folks!
The color palette is aqua/teal, red, brown/tan, and white white:
Already have a tried and true method for creating HSTs? Great, use it! Not familiar? That’s fine, too. There are probably hundreds of tutorials on how to make HSTs, so feel free to do a search and find the one that works best for you. This blog outlines a method similar to the one I use (I wouldn’t be surprised if the link doesn’t work because I’m still figuring all this out…but don’t worry, I’m providing a mini-tutorial below!). Each block should be half white and the other half one of the colors above. Since most methods for making HSTs result in two blocks, you will get one entry in the block lotto for every two HST blocks you make.
We’re going to be creating 2.5″ finished HSTs (3″ unfinished), which means we’re starting out with 3.5″ square pieces of fabric. Cut equal numbers of white squares and color squares depending on how many HSTs you want (i.e. one white square plus one color square will yield two HSTs, two white squares plus two color squares will give you four HSTs, and so on…).
Then you stack two of the squares (one white, one color), right sides together, and draw a diagonal line using your ruler and a chalk or fabric pen:
Take your little squares to the machine and sew a 1/4″ seam on each side of the diagonal line, as shown:
Cut the square(s) in half along the diagonal line and press your seams (open or to the side, depending on preference). Next we’re going to trim up each block to 3″. Position the diagonal on your ruler with the seam of the block and adjust so that you will be able to cut off a small amount around all four sides (you’ll have about 1/8″ of play around the block to square it up). The first picture shows an untrimmed block, the second picture shows two sides already trimmed and preparing to trim the other two sides.
Before and after (or, rather, after and before…). Voila, two HSTs! Aren’t they cute?
Repeat:
There are so many design possibilities using HSTs! I’ll post some ideas once I figure out how and where is best to do it (just happy to get this out for now…). Have fun!
