My mom used to always yell at me and say, “Use your head and save your feet!!!”. Â I admit I have used that phrase many times on my own kids and even often hear me saying it to myself.
Today I am putting that practice to my sewing. Â Last week my friend Nell and I issued a challenge to finish up a Bonnie Hunter UFO before her new free mystery gets underway. Â I picked to star working on Stars over Shallotte. Â The blocks need 2″ unfinished half square triangles. Â Well rather than sew all of them, I am “using my head to save my feet”.
After reading through the instructions, I noted that to make the border pieces I sew 2 1/2″ squares onto a 3 1/2″ piece. Â If I do that and sew a second time, I can end up with 2″ unfinished half square triangles that I need for the blocks. Â So I am making the border pieces first. Â Here I sewed the first diagonal seam and then a second.
I cut between the sewn lines and took them to the ironing board.
I now have the 2″ unfinished half square triangle that I need for the block…Ya hoo!!
I am taking today off to finish up a dead line quilt. Â It will be so nice to have this one in the mail and gone…I am going to take a couple days to work on this (I need a little me time sewing) and then I’ll be back working on another deadline project.
To see what others are working on, check out Patchwork Times.
How clever to figure out a way to get two units made at the same time! I’m still mulling over my color choices for the mystery.
I wish my brain worked like that! So jealous of your abilities!
I guess that is why they frequently say to read through the instructions completely before beginning. I never seem to do that but maybe I will try it. ;-) I, too, am mulling over my colors for the new mystery.
How serendipitous that you are able to use the waste triangles from the border to make the blocks. I hate it when I don’t read through instructions first, then later find I could have saved a lot of time!!
Very smart! And I love what I see so far of your plaid color palette!
What a great tip! I don’t think I would have ever seen that, so I’m going to stick it up on my bulletin board to remind me to think ahead!
How clever! Reading the instructions completely before beginning is a great idea if you can put the two and two together and realize that you can make two units at the same time!