True fabric therapy...it really works...

I have been having quite a bit of trouble motivating myself to do much these days.  And there is much to do.

Not surprisingly, I have felt like playing with fabric a bit, but mostly in a mindless, soothing way.

I decided to make a few HST's (half square triangles) using brights and some of the black on white fabrics I have been collecting.  How can one NOT be cheered by working with these peppy, beautiful fabrics?

What is it about cutting fabric that makes it so soothing?  As I sat and filled a few bobbins, I worked out a deal with myself...I would do some needed tasks in small doses, then reward myself with some fabric play.  

Then I went outside and weeded for a while in the overgrown flower beds (ugh) knowing that filled bobbins and a pile of 3.5" squares were waiting for me in the cool, quilt cave...

There are a lot of ways to make HST's, and this time I decided to do the method where you draw a diagonal line then stitch on either side of the line.  Here are a few waiting to be chain-pieced, waiting patiently, enticingly by the machine.

I sew down one side of the line, chain-piecing, for a while, then turn around and go the other direction.  Once I cut the chain-stitching, I start accumulating a pile just waiting to be pressed, cut apart, opened, and pressed again.

I started with six squares cut from each bright/black-on-white fabric combo so that I would end up with twelve identical HST's.  I'm thinking of a project that will use nine of them per block, and the remaining three will be used in something else.

I used up about 5 bobbins making a HUGE pile of prepped HST's (all while watching/listening to "Big Bang Theory" episodes on DVD).

I press the squares first, to set the stitching (does that really help patchwork lie flatter?  That is what I do because I heard you are supposed to do that...).

Just a quick snip with sharp scissors to release the HST's...

I am choosing to press toward the darker fabric, even though I am a little uncertain what I will be doing with all of them.  That is my usual rule of thumb...

I have decided to use nine of the twelve HST's to make some of these blocks.  I have been watching some of you in Blogland play with this design (like Nifty Quilts and Exuberant Color).  The pattern goes by many names...Tennessee Lightnin', Streak of Light, Zig Zag, to name a few.

This will be a good challenge for me.  I am a symmetrical girl...I like blocks I don't have to think too hard about when I am arranging all the scrappiness to find just the right balance of color and value. 

There are actually four different block orientations required to make a quilt of this design.

Each block is made from nine HST's, and the bottom left HST block is oriented differently in the four blocks, as shown below with my queer little yellow arrows.  Some of the fabrics are directional, which I am complete ignoring.

I am going to have to think about things as I mindlessly piece the blocks to make sure I am making a similar number of each of the four settings.

Wish me luck!

In stitches,

Teresa