Friday, December 4, 2015

Allietare - bring on the reds!

We got our next clue for Allietare this morning - still using the constant gray, but it's now time to crack into the reds.
Today's pieces could either be made with rectangles and squares, forming flippy corners, or by using the Companion Angle ruler combined with the Easy Angle ruler.  Now I like flippy corners as much as the next quilter, but the waste really bothers me.  If the bonus triangles from the corners aren't going to be a useful size, I generally will opt for the rulers.  Waste not, want not, and all that.

I grabbed some reds and my rulers and got right to work.  My selection of that color has really improved since last July when the RSC made me realize I had almost none.  Now I've got a healthy stack to choose from.  And as long as I had them out, I cut extra strips in sizes I use - 1.5", 2.5", and 3.5", as well as 2" strips for Allietare.  I started to just cut what I needed for today's clue, then decided that I'd do extra 2" ones, since Bonnie uses a lot of 2" strips and squares.  If I don't need them for this quilt, they'll just go into stock.

So, I cut 2" strips and stacked them up, ready to cut the pieces for clue 2.  (The fabrics are upside down as I find it's easier for me to see them that way - higher contrast between the fabric and the cutting mat helps a lot.)


Then, just because of my natural minginess, I used my easy angle ruler  


to cut the end of the strips to prepare it for using the companion angle ruler.  This way the end is a usable HST measuring to 2" (unfinished) instead of waste.


Bonnie hasn't called for any red HSTs yet, but I figure it's a real possibility, so why not be practical and efficient at the same time?
After cutting my four matching trapezoids (or decapitated geese, as Bonnie referred to them), I used the easy angle again to square off the end.


And that little bit at the end looked like it would yield another couple of triangles


 with very little waste, so I cut them, too, and set them aside for later.

.


Here's some of those decapitated geese. 


And here they are with the neutral rectangles added.


And a couple more sets on the way.


Four out of 20 finished, 2 more on the way, and I've been cutting more 2" strips of neutral backgrounds.  (Which I would have done when I had those fabrics out to cut strips for HSTs, if only I'd known.  I cut extras of the reds I handled today, and I plan to continue doing extras when I start with the golds and blacks.  I can always use 2" strips (piglets!) (sawtooth stars!), so I might as well stock up.)  These will keep me busy this coming week, as well as the rest of the HSTs (I still need 100+ of those!), not to mention my actual REAL projects.
I have to chuckle when I recall someone who should have known me better once asked me 'What on earth are you going to do with yourself when you retire?  You're going to be so bored...'
Yeah, right.


Linking up with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework, since this is a scrappy-all-over project!  Come join the fun!
And also linking up to the Allietare Linky Party at Bonnie's place!  Lots and lots of decapitated geese!


12 comments:

  1. Now I KNOW you and I are cut from the same cloth! Not doing Allietare, but I've been cutting Easy Angle triangles before and after my Geese on the Move, too. Can't bear to toss a triangle cut. I've also been cutting extra geese, squares, and bricks from the remainder of my strips. Your constant gray is interesting. Pretty reds, too.

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  2. Great technique Gayle. Kudos to you for that. Enjoy! ;^)

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  3. Wow, you got going with those quickly! I've had too many social things on this weekend. But hope to get started on this later today.

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  4. Gayle, I can't believe it! Monkeys, piglets and now decapitated geese. What will I say to my good friend who has been feeding gees in the park for thirty years? If he finds out what my quilter friends are really doing....well, it will have to be my deep dark secret forever.

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  5. I love Flying Geese and what a great use of your end triangles! Love the red fabrics by the way.

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  6. Looking great! Love your progress on the mystery.

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  7. I like your "minginess" and if those triangles aren't used elsewhere in the quilt, there's always another quilt.

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  8. Moving right along! I have a hard time with fabric waste two. I don't mind putting in the extra work. Thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!

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  9. Love your reds, so bright and delicious One more color to add...our gold.

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  10. Beautiful fabrics! ..I've started saving crumbs now...cannot throw it away either.

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  11. Reds, reds, reds--can't get enough! Yours are lovely.

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