Trim, trim, trim

We are still in the same busy predicament, but thankfully there was a little time for sewing this week. I have fallen behind with my bee commitments and must rectify!

First up is a half-square triangle based block for Kelly. I do love me a half-square triangle or two. Such a simple concept, seeminly limitless possibilities. The only part I don't like, however, is the trimfest that has to happen on each little square, to relieve the square of its dog ears and make sure it is, in fact, a square. Otherwise you end up with wonkiness, which we don't want, in this case.

While trimming these little ones (and aren't they pretty - I'm not sure which fabric line this is and perhaps I'd best not ask because it might force me to purchase some), I experimented with a few different methods of squaring up. I don't know about you, but I need to find some more techniques that save time!

What worked quite well I think, was to simply snip off the ears (not too precisely, to begin with). Then lay down the square with the diagonal running upwards from left to right, with the bottom side square against a line on your cutting mat. Hopefully the left side will also be square against its cutting line, but don't worry if not. So, with bottom squared up, trim the right hand side as necessary - in the case the squares were trimmed to 2.5 inches. Then rotate clockwise so the just-trimmed edge becomes the bottom edge, and trim again. With any luck that's all the trimming you'll need to do, but it's quick enough to check with your ruler.

I ended up trimming two squares at once and this seemed to work quite well too.




And here's the final layout for the block. Unfortunately there wasn't enough white fabric to complete it, so I'm going to sew as many rows together as I can and then Kelly will complete it.

Next up - a dresden circle which will be interesting!