Half Sqaure Triangle Quilt and 3rd finish for Q3 FAL

This quilt is the second quilt I taught in the beginner quilt class I teach. This is the version I sewed along with the students.

I wanted the class to be able to tackle Half Square Triangles since they are used in so many different quilt blocks.

What better way to learn them, than to make a whole bunch of them and turn them into a quilt.  We used 5 inch squares and the two at time method to create our HSTs for our quilts.

I like splitting my yardage in half for backings and adding a coordinating strip in the middle or slightly offset. I feel like I have less left overs when I do it this way.

Making a quilt with just HSTs also gave the class a chance to fiddle around with their own design layouts, which was fun.

Below are a few of the layouts the students came up with.  It is fun to see all the different color ways and layouts everyone came up with.

Catrina's

Derricka's

Miyako's

Sherryll's

  

This quilt is also my 3rd finish for the third quarter of the 2019 Finish-A-Long.

This one just barely turned into a UFO when I put it aside to work on a couple other projects.

I didn't want it to stay on the UFO pile though, so I added it to the list this quarter. All it needed was some quilting and binding and now I have another completed quilt.  Yay!

Check out my full Third Quarter list of UFO hopefuls here.

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Results from Teaching a Beginner Quilt Class

I started teaching a beginner quilt class at the beginning of this year. These 9 patch quilts are the first project we worked on. As the teacher I sew along with the class and make what they are making.

What made me decide to start this class was the phrase, "I wish I could quilt."  Over the past year I  have heard that phrase a lot when talking to people about my quilts.

I would respond, "If you can sew a straight line you can quilt." Sometimes I would add, "If you are really interested, I can teach you."  Sometimes I got an "OK"... or "I have a machine, but never even opened it,"... or "I'll have to take you up on that."  But no one really took me up it and I'd still hear the phrase,  "I wish I could quilt."

So I decided to start a quilt class.  I mentioned it to one of my friends at church and she said we could use the church building and suggested Tuesday nights.  I knew I couldn't meet every Tuesday night, but wanted to do it more than once a month, so we decided on every other Tuesday at first and then after the first couple of classes we changed to the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month.

I opened it up to anyone who wanted to come free of charge. All they needed to bring was their own supplies. My husband even comes and started his very own quilt.  This is his blue one,  He sewed most of the 9 patches and quickly realized sewing is not for him, so I helped finish his up.

He still likes to come to class though. He enjoys the design process, playing with the pattern layouts, and hanging out with me, but the sewing part just isn't for him.

It has been a fun class.  All skill levels are represented from those who have never sewn a stitch on their machine to people who have made several quilts already.  We have already done a second quilt with half square triangles and are about to start our third quilt in the middle of July.

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