wrapping up the greens...

i managed a bit of green sewing in May, but just now getting around to sharing progress and pictures...

i mentioned awhile back that i bought a Studio2 cutter from accuquilt- LOVING it so far! ( i see they're on sale again, along with BOGO dies. i'd recommend one, if it's in your budget. free shipping now, too! *not an affiliate link*) 

one of the dies i bought was the equilateral triangle- i think there are 8 on the die, and they finish at 3¾" tall. in retrospect, that's a bit too small for me. but the baby quilt did turn out pretty cute- the prints were fabrics that i found in the sewing cupboard at church; i added in some Kona cottons (curry, pickle, pepper, 2 greys, avocado and peridot) 

i like how it turned out. and i do like the triangle concept- so much so that i ordered another die, in bigger, isosceles triangles this time. (see above: BOGO, free shipping!) also on the design wall- the churn dash blocks that i'm working on- i got the cheery bundle from blueprint. i saw somewhere this week that they were going out of business- without any great sales. i can confirm both those facts... 

also- 30 or so more crumb blocks were added to my pile. i do have some ideas ruminating on what to do with my hefty (and impressive!) stack of crumb blocks.

i especially LOVE some of the layouts suggested here. i'm thinking my youngest daughter B might like to do some playing on the design wall this week...

thanks for stopping by! i always appreciate the camaraderie, the feedback and the inspiration that i get from following and checking in on other blogs! i hear blogger is going wonky, but it's still "normal" for me...

i have a couple finishes to share, and the new baby is 3 weeks old already- Addie Kathleen joined us on May 13. she joins her 2 big brothers, and of course everyone is enthralled with her. pictures soon! 

a brief tutorial on isosceles triangles- how to sew them, not how to spell them!

a new RSC19 project for me this year is to make a monthly donation quilt, using the color of the month, and a complimentary fabric for the alternate triangle. 

after a couple bumpy months of trial and error, the math behind the isosceles triangles finally hit home, and my quilts are turning out the correct size now, rather than bafflingly too large. (you can read about my geometry revelation here.) 

i did have a few questions about the triangle quilts, so thought it would be "fun" to do a tutorial. i'm just going to try and hit the high points, and make things a bit less fuzzy, should you decide to do one of your own. (i say "less fuzzy" because i'm sure it won't be crystal clear at the end...) 

first, i cut my strips (light and dark) in preparation for cutting the triangles. i usually put a new blade in my rotary cutter at the beginning of the month. here, I've cut strips 6½" wide- conveniently the width of my main ruler. (if i had a wider ruler, i'd probably cut my strips wider, too..) 

then, i'll use my isosceles ruler, and line up the strips with the 6½" line, and cut the triangles across the WOF, flipping the ruler up and down as i go. if i remember correctly, i get 4 sets across, giving me 8 triangles from each strip.

here is a ruler similar to what i'm using, just a bit bigger. (not an affiliate link) nextly, i use the leftover bits on the end to cut my side triangles. the only difference here is to line up the straight edges of the triangle, allowing for the seam allowance. 

hopefully you've figured out your math correctly, and cut out the right amount of triangles and side pieces the first time. 

the ruler gives a nice cut off point, making it easy to line up and sew, without getting all those annoying and bulky dog ears on the back of the quilt. 

now it's time to sew! (and i do find it super helpful to have the schematic of the quilt to refer to...) i like to sew all the rows together so the straight of grain (SOG= WHITE ARROW) is running parallel with the rows. this will make it easier to tie/quilt it, without the quilt getting all stretched out and wonky. also, i always keep the color of the month pointing up. (in this case, the green, which is actually upside down in this picture. oops!) 

now it's time to flip the triangles right side together in preparation for sewing. the SOG = WHITE ARROWS, the BIAS/SEWING LINE = YELLOW ARROWS. use an accurate ¼" seam allowance throughout. although- if you use any consistent seam allowance, it will be fine... 

here the 2 triangles are sewn together, and the arrows show the orientation of the bias and straight grain. continue sewing your triangles together until you have enough for the width of your quilt, then add the half-triangles on the ends of each row.

my isosceles quilt has 13 rows as designed, but it would probably be better with 14 rows. (you can see A's embroidery project keeping my 1st row company on my design wall. she's making 12 of these animal blocks, and now has 8 of them done. each is "sashed" with Kona cotton solids, and i'm really excited to see it done! it's going to be a fantastic quilt!) 

and here we have the classic "receding rectangle" picture of the completed quilt top. it will be tied at one of our next Scraps2Wraps meetings, and then passed along for a local need, or donation overseas. 

so: i hope my little tutorial helps make the waters a bit less muddy! questions? ask away in the comments, and i'll answer as best i can!

the yellow is fading in the distance...

i'm such a terrible blogger these days! you certainly wouldn't know it by my blogging schedule, but i'm actually pretty dedicated and on top of the whole RSC19 thing. but it seems to be such a pain uploading and posting about it, that i guess updating and catching up is one of those things that i end up procrastinating about! 

my isosceles triangle quilt of the month {yellow} is actually done. my plan is to piece one a month for our church sewing group. i finished the top on Wednesday, but forgot to take a picture. i have lots {AND LOTS} of green in my stash, so i complemented the yellow with green. 

something you probably can't tell from the picture: i re-formatted the layout to accurately reflect the ACTUAL size of the triangles, not the size i mistakenly ASSUMED they were. an isosceles triangle has 3 equal sides.  they're cut at 6½" high. i thought they were also 6½" wide at the base. (math is really not my thing...) 

both the red isosceles quilt and the yellow one turned out MUCH WIDER than my design on EQ5 indicated they would. hmm... (apparently i'm also a slow learner, since it took two quilts for the light bulb to go off in my head...) i enlisted the help of my trusty tape measure, and an isosceles triangle that is 6½" high is 7¼" at the base. problem solved!  

and again, the blogger can be heard saying incredulously in the background "why, i didn't realize i had so much yellow!"

or am i the only one who says that every month? nearly 60 crumb blocks to add to the stack, as well as the crumb blocks left over from RSC17.

trimmed at 6½", will finish at 6" in a project...

be sure to click on over to Angela's on Saturday morning, where you can see what everyone else is working on, and what the color of the month is for March. 

running right along with the reds...

i'm late the the RSC19 linky party today- we were butchering our pig! we raise about 12 pigs a year, and 2-3 of them are for the family. over the years we've learned to butcher our own- bacon, hams, linked sausage and all! when we first moved to our little farm about 11 years ago, we sent our pigs to the butcher, and got them back frozen in little packages, labeled and in a box ready for the freezer. 

we've *always* butchered our own poultry- the meat birds, turkeys and even the old worn out laying hens. i wasn't too keen to learn how to butcher a pig, but.... Dave really wanted to do it, so about 9+ years ago, we dove right in! we bought a DVD from somewhere online (like askthemeatman.com or something like that...) our first time butchering (breaking down) the hog, we set up the little portable TV right at the end of our stainless steel counter... then we pressed play, watched the first couple steps... then pressed pause and did just like the professional butcher....

play... pause... cut, cut, cut. play... pause... cut, cut, cut.

now, after 9 years or so, and about 20 pigs, we can do a pig relatively easily and painlessly. i don't think we even turned on TV (or youtube) all day! we're not professionals by any means, but we're confident beginners, and know just what cuts and seasonings we like in our hams, bacon and sausages. (here's the book we use for all our sausage recipes- it's also full of other great info, too, if you're interested in that sort of thing...) 

anyway- little C (who's the oldest grandson at 2yo) walked in this morning, all ready to help Pap cut up the pig! within minutes, he was set up at the work table with a big piece of fat, and a {butter} knife and fork. he proceeded to saw and sort meat with Pap for over an hour! (we worked inside boning small pieces of meat at a time, and then putting it back outside in the 20° weather to cool off and stay safe.) Behind C you can see his little brother L (10 months old) and our youngest daughter, B who is 11. 

now: on to the RSC19 reds! i finished my isosceles triangle quilt this week. it measures 68" X 82". i know the picture isn't the greatest- sorry! my triangles are 6½" per side. i cut my strips WOF at 6½" and then used my triangle ruler to trim them to the right size/angles. (if there is interest, i can do a *tutorial* next month on how i do it...)

this quilt will go in to our church sewing group- Scraps to Wraps and will be tied and donated locally when there is a need. i'll piece the backing, and also cut the binding from my stash. then when we have a need brought to our attention, it will be ready to go with minimal fuss. 

i happened to also have this completed quilt here at my house, and since it's primarily red i thought i'd share it today too. the pattern is called Friendship, and it was pieced by me and quilted by my friend Karen. it's also a donation quilt, and will be mailed off to the MCC quilt sale in Nebraska next week. 

(these postcard patterns are available at my LQS for about $2. i'm a pattern junky when it comes to these things {have you seen how much quilt patterns can cost these days?!} and i have a whole stack of them in my sewing room, just waiting for a pile and inspiration to collide...) 

and: welcome to all the new RSC19ers! i've noticed a bunch of new quilters/bloggers have joined in the RSC fun this year! welcome, again! i don't post here on my blog as much as i might like, but you can follow me { jlcap69 } over at Instagram. i'm more active there... and be sure to click over to Angela's at soscrappy and see what everyone else is stitching up this weekend! 

Plugging right along...

i haven't actually done too much sewing this week on my RSC projects, but i've done some cutting, planning and pondering!

that counts for somehting, right? ha! 

one important thing i did was to re-install EQ5 on my computer to help me with designing and sizes of some of my quilts. (yes, EQ5 is old- but it works just fine for me!) i was especially glad to have the math help with my isosceles quilt. (still can't spell that...)

but- even with the extra math boost, i somehow managed to cut too many triangles! oh well, i plan on making one each month anyway, and maybe i'll have enough *extra* blocks at the end of the year to make a rainbow one! (that would be pretty cool, actually!)

linking up with So Scrappy on Saturday morning.