Have a Stitchin' Weekend

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I spend a lot of my week days sketching and dreaming about new projects and then I sew a lot on the weekends.  I adore weekend projects that I can complete and smile about all week long so...

...welcome to

where I will share a tutorial or project every Friday that can be completed in a weekend {or less} so that your weekend can be as stitchn' as mine. :)

And because I'm not that creative, I will also be looking for guest bloggers to share projects so email me if you are interested.

Every Monday I'll be posting and giving ya'll the chance to link up and show off your weekend projects.  So grab the button from my sidebar and let's get started!

Weekend # 1: Half Square Triangles {That Girl Style}

I really like the look of half square triangles {HST's} and if there is a fast way to whip them up, 4 at a time, then I'm all about that.

I was playing quilt late one night when I put two layer cake squares {10" squares} together and started thinking about geometry.  Yeah, I know.  Nerd.

But in my nerd-ness here's what I came up with... 4 HST's from two layer cake squares with no measuring, line drawing, or pinning.  This probably isn't an original technique but here's how I did it:

Take one light colored square and one darker colored square and place them right sides together.

With a 1/4" seam allowance, stitch all the way around the perimeter of the squares. 

Make sure to stop a 1/4" from each edge and with your needle down, raise your presser foot.  Turn your fabric and begin stitching down the next side.  Repeat until you have all 4 sides stitched.

Yes, I know that your squares are completely sewn together... don't worry!

Take your sewn together square to your cutting mat.  Cut diagonally, corner to corner, in one direction.  Rotate your pieces together and cut diagonally the other direction.  

You should now have 4 pieces. 

Open them up, press and you will have 4 HST's that measure 6.5" inches square.

Square up to 6.5" and you are done! 

Repeat the above steps two more times to make the zig zag table runner.
 
Need a different size? Add 3.5" to your desired finished HST size to come up with the size squares you need. 

For example:  two 8.5" squares stitched together = four 5" HST's
two 9" squares = four 5.5" HST's 

Once you have all your HST's arrange them as shown.  My friend Randi has some other awesome ways to arrange HST's too.

Stitch the squares together and then the rows together paying attention to the seams... HST's always look better when the seams match up.

Press your seams and then baste, quilt, and bind like this or this!

See ya'll Monday with your weekend projects!

Have a Stitchin' Weekend!