Hive 4 May Tutorial

HST Magic

Hi! I'm Barb Neiwert and live nearby the ski/summer resort of Sun Valley, Idaho. I fell in love with quilting about five years ago when I was inspired by modern quilt styles. And fabulous quilt fabrics. And gorgeous quilting techniques. What's not to love?

As your May Queen Bee, I had picked out a pattern for a simple star, but that fell through because there wasn't a measurement key on the pattern, and I didn't want to alter her pattern. Sigh.

So I searched around and decided it was time to make Half Square Triangles. In bright colors. And any design you want!  I found this wonderful quilt in the Stash Bee Examples, so would adore it if you lovely ladies would put your creative ideas together and make HST Magic.

The above example gives you a great idea of what you can do with HSTs, plus I've laid out some designs below..

They say it's all in the details, so here goes:

1.  Final block dimension will be 12.5" square

2.  Block components:  Sixteen (16) 3.5-inch square HSTs, which makes them 3-inch square finished.

3.  Color Scheme:  I really love the bright colors in the quilt above.  Deeply saturated color, modern design, Anna Marie Horner or Allison Glass are my current favorites, and I always love Amy Butler, too. But surprise me!  I'm thinking the end result will be a very scrappy look.  For background fabric, please use a solid such as Kona white or a white-on-white.  No creams please.  And maybe no blacks or grays or browns in this one!

Instructions:  

Step 1.  Construct 16 HSTs, either two or four at a time.  Karen, from Sew Many Ways, has a good tutorial on making HST two at a time. Check it out here.  To make four at a time, see this video tutorial by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilts. 

Use the following dimensions to cut your squares:

Two at a time:  Cut 8 four-inch squares of colorful fabric and 8 four-inch squares of white. Sew according to Sew Many Ways' tutorial.  Press the HST open with the seam away from the white.

Four at a time:  Cut four 5 ¾-inch squares of color and four 5 ¾-inch squares of white. Press the HST open with the seam away from the white.

Step 2.  Starch your blocks, then trim each HST to 3.5 inches square. Starching and exact measurement is critical because the bias will distort the squares slightly, and the starching and accurate trimming help keep the blocks square.

Step 3.  Now assemble your HSTs into any design you want, using all 16 HSTs.  Lots of possibilities!  I've shown a few examples below.  Just have fun, and make a block that is pleasing to you. I'm sure I'll love it!

The finished size should be 12.5 inches square. 

My question that I'm posing for you is:  Do you make quilts to use them or look at them? And if you make them to use, are you afraid to use white as a background fabric?

Mailing date for this block is May 31.  

Here's some eye candy with my own blocks. I used the Two-At-A-Time Method so I ended up with duplicates of each fabric.

   

  

 

         Have fun!
Barb