Blockheads {Block #39} My Block!

Good Morning and welcome to Block #39 of Blockheads!  Skip to the bottom of the post for the pattern, or read on for a great time saving resource.

I’m excited to share with you my Bordered Granny quilt block.  I used a fun mix of Strawberry Jam (coming in March) & Sunnyside Up fabrics–the white tonal is from Flower Mill.

  Before you let those HST’s square you away…it’s a big 24″ block.  So that makes them a very nice manageable size….they will be 2″ finished.  I know you’re still a bit concerned with all of those triangles.  What if I told you I made all of those triangles in about half an hour?

I see that you are not quite believing me… =)  It’s true!–If you haven’t ever used triangle paper, today is the day to begin!  And I’ve got a fun resource for you to get you on your way.

If you haven’t ever heard of or seen triangle paper in action, here is a YouTube video on how the product works:

Other YouTube videos are available as well just search “triangle paper” and you’ll come up with quite a few different options.

There are a lot of different types of triangle paper by different companies…sheets in various sizes or on a roll are the primary types.  I really like using the papers by Lisa Bongean and often have them on hand.

On Monday, when I went to make my Bordered Granny block, I realized I didn’t have the correct size triangle paper on hand.  When purchasing triangle paper, you would purchase the size you need for whatever finished size HST you are making.

Now, I really didn’t want to head out to my quilt shop to purchase triangle paper–but I even less wanted to spend time making all of these HST’s without it!

This leads me to the nifty resource I referenced earlier.

Printable triangle paper–purchase it, and print out however many sheets you need in the size you need from home!  You can see it peeking out under the pattern.

My friend, Lee of Freshly Pieced, designed this handy product and it was so nice to be able to use on Monday when I needed it right away.  You can read all about it on her site if you’re interested in more details or to purchase it.

Because we are printing on copy paper, it will be heavier than traditional triangle paper.  For that reason, you may find that you need to shorten your stitch length a bit more than you would with the lighter weight paper.  I set my stitch length at a “1” on my Juki and had no problem removing the paper.

I timed myself making the HST’s–the sewing, pressing, and removing paper time took me from 10:15-10:48.   I only had to cut out (5) 8″ dark squares of fabric & (5) 8″ light squares of fabric…so, it saved me time on cutting my fabric as well.

It’s so handy having these tricks up your sleeve when you need them!–Making HST’s without triangle paper takes quite a bit longer so I am always glad to have this resource.

You will find my Bordered Granny PDF Pattern HERE.

If you are using the coloring page you’ll find it HERE.

Happy Sewing!