8/23/19

Triangulation

With the half square triangles I made yesterday, I could populate a small country. There are 256 in all. If that sounds boring to you, just imagine how my cat felt.


I worked on them the whole live-long day, taking breaks for lunch and...well, you know. By day's end, I had sets from four out of five fabrics.


Only this color was left to do...36 of these.


We had dinner, and Mike had some things to do outside. As for me, I really wanted to finish them, and so I went back into the sewing room and finished off the last of them. Here is the population of my little country. What name shall I give it? And what flag shall it have?


Okay, so 256 half square triangles will make 16 star blocks like the one you see below. I was considering the best way to chain piece these.


Since I need a much larger work space to lay out all 16, I decided to stack them on the lid of one of my bins for easy transport. When all 16 were stacked up, I had one HST left over. Of course I did.


If I'd miscounted somewhere, I would have expected to have at least two left over, right? Since each little square makes two, it didn't seem possible I could have just one left. Obviously, I'd messed up in my stacking somewhere. As I was falling asleep last night, I figured I could go through these pairs two by two to find the errant one. It was the first thing I did when I got up this morning, after getting a cup of coffee. You don't think I could face this challenge without coffee, do you? Well, do you?

Okay, so I went through them two by two, and I found one more extra that didn't match the first one. Which meant, of course, that I had to go through them yet again. Finally, they're all matched up and placed correctly. I think.

If this all sounds terribly boring to you, imagine how my other cat must feel.


When she's sleeping, it's sometimes hard to tell which end is head, and which end is tail.

Mike was still busy, and so I decided to cut the 12 circles for the yo-yo's. I remembered that I have one of those Olfa circle rotary cutters. I won it at some point in time. If you've never seen one of these contraptions, you can watch how it works in the video below. If you can't see the video, then click right here.


Since I won mine, I have it whether I wanted it or not. Personally, I'm not sure it's particularly helpful, but I used it anyway. It's a little scary and dangerous and it seems like a perfectly good way to cut yourself. Nevertheless, here they are...all round, and everything.


And that was the end of my sewing day. Looking at this, it seems all sunny and bright...and I was pretty darned happy to have all those HST's finished. Yoinks.

Today I have to head to downtown Portland for a dental appointment. Many years ago...like maybe multiple decades...a tooth chipped for no discernible reason. My dentist at the time reminded me that my teeth were, um, something like 40-50 years old, and they were showing their age. (Thanks for the reminder.) So he put a composite on it, and I forgot all about it. Until a couple of days ago when the composite chipped off, and my old chipped tooth was there to remind me that even my composites are getting old. There's no respect for your elders any more. Have you noticed that too? So anyway...I'm getting it fixed once again. Maybe this one will outlive me.

Also, it's a day for going out on the boat. I doubt there will be much sewing, if any. Sad face. Tomorrow I'll be picking up apples for making applesauce. Also, the farmers are offering bulk tomatoes for the next couple of weeks. I have just one week to do any more canning before we need to get ready to leave on our upcoming trip. I thought long and hard about the tomatoes, and decided to get 25 lbs. of "seconds." I'll use them for making plain old canned tomatoes...nothing fancy. My weekend work is cut out for me. Maybe next week I'll have some more time for sewing those stars together.

9 comments:

Katie said...

I admire your focus in finishing all those half square triangles. Then again, sewing them is the easy part - trimming them is another story altogether! As for the name of the half square triangle land, I am at a loss, but am absolutely sure the flag should contain some half square triangles! Good luck with the tomato canning...we do that here and the hubby helps. To be honest, I think he rather enjoys watching the skins split as he scalds them for me!

Julierose said...

I have no idea how you can sew all day long like that...boy you have some stamina, girl!! :))) Just one hour cutting or 1/2 hour sewing and I need a break or to just do something else!! My olde bod yells at me to "stop doing that"--;((( I am a "Snail-Sewer"...[see my sidebar]
S I G H
I love your stars--they will be so pretty...lovely fabrics...
good luck with the apples and tomatoes...hugs, Julierose

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I love making HSTs and these stars are going to be very pretty in your fabric choices.

piecefulwendy said...

Uffda -- as we say here in MN -- making that many HSTs is a task, for sure! Glad you got 'er done, though! I'd really like it if my dentist would put a composite on my chip. Maybe I should go in and ask, rather than do the avoiding thing I'm doing. Haha. You had a lovely day for an outing on the boat!

Sandra W said...

So does each stack of triangles have the same number?
Did you square them all up as well? They look quite perfect.
Can you show us a photo of the finished quilt? Or did I miss it?
As another reader said--you certainly do have stamina. Well done.

Natureluvr57 said...

Oh my, now you've reminded me I need to get my box out for the gazillion HST's I need to sew but on second thought I won't. Love the star but mine will be pinwheels. I can only sew so many, then I have to make some pinwheels. I made three large tractors from Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage book and the rest of the quilt is all pinwheels-I think 6 1/2 blocks. They're just a twin size and thought I could use them to cuddle up in while watching tv in the winter and two will be gifted. I can't remember how many HST's I need or how many completed pinwheels I need but I do get HST burnout. I'm not doing much sewing until gardening season is over. If I had a designated room I could leave them all out it would be different but I have to keep them in a box, take everything out, cut or sew, put everything back including the sewing machine and I'm just too pooped or lazy after working outside most of the day. I'm creating a new flower bed since I transplanted a hardy geranium elsewhere and that's no easy project. I really need a small tiller to help me out. Take care

Beth Strand said...

How funny...I broke a tooth or the composite side of it last week and have to go to the dentist Tuesday!

kc said...

yeah, I'm with you on the HST's...I'd have had to finish them up too. And then I'd have had to go through them all till I got the count right. Being me, though, I might have given up halfway through and just started sewing, figuring I'll figure it out eventually. Cats look quite comfy, if a bit bored.

Dick popped his one crown off the other day, flossing a little too vigorously. Same crown as what came off a year ago, after only being on a year. Cost us almost 200 bucks! Think we could submit the bill to the original dentist, who promised it wouldn't come off again? I doubt he would pay up, but it's tempting, just the same!

Colorado is beginning to cool down a bit....woke up to 55 degrees this morning. But, Pueblo went back up to 90 during the day. I think we only got to 81 in Col Springs. I think I heard 48 for one of the nights coming this week. Yikes!

quiltzyx said...

I would have had to finish all the HSTs too. The stars will be lovely made from them.

Mmmm applesauce. I've made some for myself a time or 2 (not for canning) & my mom used to make it too. Sounds good right now. :)