Monday, August 6, 2018

Save the Thread!

I’ll never tire of sewing half-square triangles. It amazes me what quilters can
create with them! Do you remember this quilt of mine from early 2016? It’s all
squares and HSTs.

Back in February 2017, I attended my first QuiltCon, in Savannah, Georgia. I didn’t spend too much time in the vendor section of the conference—there were too many other things to see and do—but at one point, I found myself admiring the wares in the Aurifil booth. This display was beautiful. A highlight was the quilt Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill made, featuring all 270 of the company’s thread colors. So, so pretty!

At one point during my visit, my friend Megan and I noticed water seeping from the adjacent bathroom toward the booth. With the rallying cry of “Save the thread!” we sprang into action and picked up product, including giant cones of thread, that was displayed on the floor. To thank us, the nice Aurifil folks gave us goodie bags. (This was super sweet but entirely unnecessary. I am a woman of priorities. If the thread is in jeopardy, I’m going to save it.)

One of the items in the goodie bag was a charm pack of Aubade, by Moda designer Janet Clare. That single act of thread preservation, and the subsequent thank-you, brought about this quilt . . .


For the quilt top, I bought some more Aubade charm packs, paired them with Kona Snow, and remembering a post I saw on Instagram, organized the resulting HSTs in ombre fashion.


To finish this project off, I quilted on both sides of the seams. (Read that as: no marking!)

The backing is a print from Janet’s Field Guide line, and the ocean-wave binding is from her More Hearty Good Wishes collection.


I’ve long admired Janet’s work and was psyched to play with fabric from three different lines of hers in this project. (A local quilt shop still has Nocturne in stock if I need to address an acute hankering for her fabric designs in the future.)

Do you share my love of HSTs? Is there a pattern full of HSTs that you recommend, or have you designed your own HST quilt?

Linking up to Let’s Bee Social and Needle and Thread Thursday ...

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14 comments:

  1. HSTs are so adaptable and versatile. I remember that flooding very well and am so glad that the Aurifil booth and product was able to be kept from damage!

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  2. I love a good HST quilt and this one is great!

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  3. I think HST quilts are great- if I don’t have to trim the HSTs... These look awesome- it’s a beautiful quilt!

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  4. Oh, this is so lovely! I haven't seen an ombre quilt like this before!

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  5. Since I just started following you I am glad you showed your quilt from 2016-gorgeous!!!

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  6. I love both quilts pictured. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  7. Yes, HSTs are versatile :) I love the grey quilt as much as the rainbow one. And thanks for the backgroundstory. xo

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  8. I like the way you have set your HSTs on a graduated value, interesting!! Yes, I love HSTs and my patterns have tons of them!! The Scrap Dance series has several patterns now, and my newest pattern Chocolate Cherries uses them too.

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  9. Wow! That's a gorgeous quilt. Her fabrics are so pretty! I have a love/hate with HSTs, but the new methods for making multiple HSTs at once is so helpful. Crazy Mom Quilts has a quilt called Bruiser that uses multiple sizes of HSTs.

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  10. I do love the HST because it is so versatile. I do remember that rainbow quilt you made and bought the book because of it. It is still on my to do some day list.

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  11. I'm a new reader so this is my first time seeing that rainbow quilt at the top, and I love it! The other quilt is good too.

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  12. What a fabulous quilt, and I love the story to go with it! I've been trying to piece my triangle leftovers, and I've been wavering on what to do with them. This is so inspirational!

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  13. I don't think I ever heard about that Quilt Con story but I remember that Aurifil display so well. Your HST quilt turned out amazing! I love how you created the ombre look. HSTs can be so versatile but I really don't like trimming them. I'm working on a large HST project (9" HSTs) using Bonnie & Camille's April Rain fabrics and a navy solid. I thought I had a layout picked but now this quilt has me thinking that I might need to explore some more layouts.

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  14. This almost gave me a strong desire to create a HST quilt, good thing you're coming over on Tuesday to trim some up!! I'll even leave you a fresh blade.

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