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Sunday, March 23, 2014

Spring is in the air


Spring is finally here! It sure has been a long hard winter. I have definitely been spoiled over the last few years because we have been having very mild winters. That was good in one respect because I didn't have to be confined to the house, but in other ways bad because a mild winter means more bugs in the summer. Every summer my husband Mike swears that we will be moving to North Dakota or Wyoming for cooler summers because he hates being hot and really hates bugs (they love him)!

I would like to introduce my newest tool today called Cutting Corners. I know we are all guilty of buying tools and templates that we think we will use and then they sit in a box or drawer never to be seen again. Well, I wanted to design a template set that can be a multi-purpose tool. One that can be used for a variety of projects and is not confined to one particular type or size of pattern.

I originally designed the template set because I got tired of drawing lines on the backs of squares for Snowball blocks, Flying Geese and other patches that called for triangles on the ends.

 

Look at all of the patches and sizes it can make! Half-square triangles from finished sizes 1-1/2" to 4", Quarter-square triangles from finished sizes 3" to 8", Flying Geese from finished sizes 1-1/2" x 3" to 4" x 8", and Square-in-a-Square finished sizes 3" to 8". And that is just some of the things it can do! It can also trim bias seams for bindings and borders, make Snowball blocks and Bowtie blocks, and the most important function is, it eliminates the need to draw diagonal lines on the backs of the square!

 So you are probably asking how does it do all of these things! There are two templates in this set. A triangle that can be used to "cut corners" and make half-square triangles. This is the triangle template. It has marks on it for the different size half-square triangles. The marks are the finished size. The strips are cut 1/2" larger than the finished size.



 This is the square template. It is used for making quarter-square triangles, like for the center of the Flying Geese unit. The strips again are cut 1/2" larger than the finished size.

It can also be used for the center square in a Square-in-a-Square block.
 

The corresponding half-square triangles are cut to fit around the center square using the same markings as the square. See how nice the triangles fit the square. No more matching centers before sewing.

 

 Don't want to draw that line on the backs of the squares for Flying Geese units? Cut the rectangle and squares as indicated in the pattern.

 
Place the squares on the ends of the rectangles and trim the corner with the triangle template, lining up the template as shown.

Sew, then repeat with the other side of the rectangle. Perfect Flying Geese each time!

The possibilities are endless! You can do the same thing with Snowball blocks as you did with the squares on the Flying Geese blocks.

Pretty cool huh? Well the are available on my website. All of the measurements and instructions for use are included in the set. Check them out: Cutting Corners

Got to get this out. Please share with your quilting friends. As always, do what you love and love what you do. Toby

 


 

 

 

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,these sound so neat! Would love to win! Thanks for your Blog+sharing!

msstitcher1214@gmail.com

Patty said...

These sound so useful. Thanks for thre chance to win them!

Kastewart said...

I would love to try this!

Anna brown said...

very cool tools ..I think a nice breast cancer table topper would be made happyness04431@yahoo.com

Barb said...

I would love to win this . Thanks for the opportunity!

Lala said...

I like it! I like it! Thank you for your blog and your creativity! Lauralee Green
lauraleegreen@gmail.com

Rina Mason said...

These look like they would be very helpful and make piecing so much easier.

joy mn said...

How wonderful ! These will come in handy with my square in a square! Thanks so much! You can reach me at joylynn1958 at yahoo dot com. Hope you heal quickly from your surgery!

vwlady said...

These would really be a time saver! I'd definitely use them for making the "dreaded" flying geese! thanks for the chance!

Mari Hintz mari.hintz.1@gmail.com said...

I wish I had had this on my last quilt project. Lots of flying geese

Anonymous said...

I'm working on a quilt-a-long with star blocks and your templates would be very useful. Congratulations on designing such a great tool.
wlinda_ca@yahoo.com

Julie in GA said...

This looks like a great tool. I would definitely like to try flying geese using this.

Sewbig said...

These look like what I need for making flying geese. Would love to try them. Thanks for the chance to win.

JanineMarie said...

This would make Flying Geese blocks so much more fun--I might work them into a fall quilt that's in my head right now. Thanks for the chance to win.

happyjax said...

I always need help with flying geese. I have yet to find the process that works for me.

by Laura McFall said...

What a great tool! Hope I get a chance to try them out by winning! Thank you...

Pauline said...

I would love to win this set! I recently made half square triangle blocks and did a lot of marking. This tool would have been wonderful to have. I am sure that I would make each of the type of blocks successfully and in a shorter time with this tool. Thank you for the opportunity to enter your drawing.
Pauline
lvtoqlt@mac.com

Pat Wade said...

I really like these templates. They look especially good for the snowball quilts that I enjoy.

patwade@cox.net

Rozz01 said...

The tool would be helpful for making triangle points on stars.