Layer Cake Quilt Along: Documentation II

Previously: Documentation I

The instructions for block 2 of the Layer Cake quilt along was posted last Tuesday (November 16th). It took me a little time to get started as I could not decide on how I wanted to make the half square triangles (HSTs). But, once I decided upon the method, I zoomed right along. It was scary because I am not confident when it comes to making HSTs.

The method I chose? I decided to make my own Spinning Star paper pattern (3 in. version). This is paper piecing! Paper piecing makes triangles and points a lot cleaner. Just layer two fabrics right sides together and sew along the dotted line. Cut it apart along the solid lines and viola! You'll end up with eight HSTs. By the way, the stitch length needs to be small (mine is small anyway). It perforates the paper and makes it easy to tear apart when ready to remove the paper.

Anyway...

The first thing I had to do was choose the fabric - 3 lights and 2 darks. This was tough! Since my last block was very brown, I wanted to go with "Pure" blue this time around. Ha! {FYI: in case you don't know, "Pure" is the name of the fabric line I'm using.}

The fabric all cut and the HSTs sewn together.

Now, I had two choices concerning the design of the block.

I decided to go with the first (left) design pictured above because it didn't look so busy.
The four HSTs sewn together (making 2) and the other two HSTs along with the two squares sewn together (making 2). I had to do some "anti-sewing" (ripping out seams) as I messed up twice. But, all in all, these came out great.

The finished block.
I now know that I need to press towards the dark fabric if I have some really white fabric. In spite of this, I am really pleased with this block.

The one thing I like about participating in something like this is that it challenges me (makes me go outside of my comfort zone). I also learn new things in the process.

By the way, I uploaded my picture to the Layer Cake Quilt Along flicker group (pool) Check it out for the latest (newest) blocks by the participants of this quilt along!

Next Up: Documentation III