When I decided that this year I would do a metric version of Bonnie Hunter's mystery, I was confident that I could cut any shape that she could use. But for part 2 of Grand Illusion, she gave me more of a challenge than I was expecting!
Cutting half-square triangles from strips is easy with the Omnigrid metric HST ruler:
This will cut a HST which will finish at 5cm. No worries there.
But the diamond shape we need was a bit tricky! I will admit I didn't do any maths to work out what was required. I drew the shape, drew seam allowances around it, then measured that. And it turned out that what I needed was a strip the same width as for the triangle, from which I would cut diamonds 5cm across:
I didn't make a template, because it was easy to line up the 15cm square ruler so that the 45deg line was on the bottom cut edge of my strip, and the cutting edge of the ruler was 5cm from the diagonal edge of my strip.
Lining up the first triangle to sew:
Pressing it back after sewing:
Lining up the second triangle:
Measuring the result:
Success! It measures exactly what it should.
So far I've only made two complete units, but all the other components are assembled and trimmed:
They will be sewn together tomorrow.
Check out the link-up at Quiltville
here to see everyone else's part 2. There's hundreds of them!
17 comments:
Beautiful diamond units, your colors are so bright and cheerful.
There seems to be lots of "winning" over step two. Your metric result is a sure success.
So impressed with your cutting, I can see how having the right ruler has made it possible. It will be interesting to compare overall sizing later on.
Such precise cutting! Nice bright colo(u)rs.
We were in Melbourne in May. Just a couple of days as part of our two-week trip. I likened Sydney to Toronto and Melbourne to Chicago (better weather, of course).
Looking good!
Very impressive
You clever Girl! Quilters are so smart. Beautiful Double Diamonds..
Awesome! Knew you'd be able to figure it out. Love your pinks!
Your units look absolutely perfect! Kudos!
Looking good! and I love the way you worked it all out!
Beautiful blocks!! You are really brave for translate all in cm!
Very nice work. Your steps are easy to follow for metric conversion too. I love the swirly pink fabric.
Hello from Missouri again! I haven't tackled this step yet as my father passed away last Thursday evening. I plan to try all 3 of Bonnie's methods, a strip piece method posted elsewhere AND your metric method! Even though I am from the USA, I was a science teacher and metrics don't scare me ( in fact it makes more sense). I enjoy learning with mystery quilts, so when things settle down here I will try them all. I really like your colors!! Or is it colours?!
New rulers are on my wish list, just haven't got around to getting any. Colours are great, look forward to seeing the next step.
I love your fabric, especially those pinks with the yellow. This is going to be great.
Yours is looking very pretty ! I did the last clue by cutting 2.5 x 4.5 and adding 2.5 squares. I get bonus hst, but it's extra sewing. Plus the fact I've had to rip some (a bunch) out because I didn't pay attention to the direction they were sewn. I am sure I will be paying closer attention in the future !
I started up sewing strips together and cutting. But I ended up like you. This is the easiest way to do this block, and dosn't need anything else than a 45 degree ruler to have a perfect result. You could even do it with just an ordinary ruler too.
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