HSTeria May Be My Constant State

As I read posts around the blogiverse by quilters participating in the HSTeria QAL, I thought about my own relationship with Half-Square Triangles and realized that HSTeria may be my constant state  :-)


I often make them for my quilt projects projects, like the Broken Dishes blocks I am making for the Rainbow Scraps Challenge.

Here are 25 of the 84 blocks I've made so far. Each block is made from 16 HST units, arranged by value to create star shapes. All of the fabrics are coming from my scrap bins.


I create scrappy variations of blocks by changing square and rectangle shapes to HSTs, like my Oak Leaf block pattern.

I always include them in the Block patterns I create for the block lotto (like January's Double Chevron block) because I think making friends with these triangle squares creates many more design possibilities.

This is Kate's project using some of the Double Chevron blocks she won in January.

HSTs are one of those things that can be made using many different methods.  A few years ago, I put together a tip sheet that describes 7 methods and the math you need to know for each–you can download it here:

Sophie's Tips for Half-Square Triangle Units

I love these little triangle square so much that when I find myself with bonus units or triangle shapes are off-cuts from another project, I cannot thrown them away.

All the tiny string-pieced triangles in the quilt I made for Another Little Quilt Swap earlier this year, were from a small ziplock of triangles left from cutting shapes from string-pieced fabric for another quilt.

The HSTs in this 20-inch square quilt are 7/8 inch (finished size.  At the time, it seemed impractical to save anything smaller until ...





... I recently made a bunch of 5-inch Violet blocks for a sewing machine cover.   Out of habit, I sewed up the bonus triangle squares ... which turned out to be 1/2-inch HSTs (finished size.)

I was so unsure that I'd ever use those tiny bits until I thought of sewing them into 1-inch pinwheels to use as corner stones with some more HST bonus blocks from the I-spy star quilt I made last weekend.

I haven't completed the tiny pinwheels yet, but here are the completed blocks on the design wall.  I had initially thought to float the pinwheels with white sashing between the blocks, but today, I'm thinking a solid color (non-white) might be better.  What do you think?

I'm joining the linked lists for the HSTeria QAL and WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced.