A Sneak Chicopee~k

The time has come to untie and cut into this bundle of pretties:  Chicopee by Denyse Schmidt.

I admit that these fabrics are a little outside of my comfort zone, outside of my "norm" (the purples especially) but I have enjoyed this bundle from afar for the last few weeks, and decided the time was right to whip up a whole bunch of Half Square Triangles.

I am often asked how I manage to make my half square triangle blocks looks so perfect.  The reason is simple but time consuming ....

... I over-size my blocks and trim endlessly.  It is really boring, and requires multiple cups of coffee and lots of distractions.  You try not to count, nor look at the huge  pile of un-trimmed HST, but  e v e n t u a l l y  you do get there.

3 inch x 3 inch HSTs

And then you are ready to work on a layout/design.  

I have taken a very traditional star block and up-scaled the size, much like Jeni's Giant Vintage Star Quilt and Tutorial.   I re-jigged block size and the layout by alternating white fabric in the center of the block, and I have also pieced the large triangles using HST's.  Not difficult, not original, but traditional and definitely effective.

Chicopee Giant Vintage Star

Quilt top measures 40.5 inches x 40.5 inches

And yes, I made far too many HSTs.  I think I have enough leftover HSTs to make another quilt!

Thank you for stopping by,
Rita