June 01, 2016

Just the Basics Mystery Quilt - HSTs (Again, But Not as Many!)

Welcome back for month 4 of the Just the Basics Mystery Quilt!
Just the Basics Mystery Quilt-a-Long | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
I can't believe this is month 4 already! We'll start joining some units together this month, which always makes it feel like the quilt is really coming together. But first, here's a little reminder:

Introduction

 

Running from March to August 2016, the Just the Basics mystery quilt-a-long will require no special rulers and no scary techniques. The design is confident beginner level and there will be no paper piecing, no applique, no improv piecing and no y-seams! Not that there's anything wrong with any of those techniques, but sometimes it's fun to see what you can make out of basic blocks.

I promise, the basics are anything but boring!

It's never too late to join in. All of the posts can be found under the tab at the top of the blog, so you can start anytime. New posts will be published here on the first Wednesday of each month. You can follow Devoted Quilter by Bloglovin, email or Feedly to be sure you don't miss anything - the links are all on the sidebar. 

Remember, you can choose to make the Just the Basics mystery quilt in the 48" x 48" baby/wall size or the 60" x 72" throw size. Either way you'll cut and piece the units the same, but you'll make more of each unit for the throw quilt.

If you're on Instagram, don't forget to share your progress! Use #JustTheBasicsMysteryQuilt and tag me @devotedquilter.

In case you're just getting started, March was fabric selection, April was HSTs and May was Flying Geese and Square-in-a-square blocks. Now let's get going!

This Month's Instructions


We're making HSTs again this month, but not nearly as many as we made back in April. This will be the last time we make HSTs for this quilt, I promise! Then we'll join some of April's HSTs to this month's and your quilts will really start to take shape.

As a reminder, here are the fabrics I've chosen for my quilt.
Just the Basics Mystery Quilt-a-Long | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com

HSTs


We'll be using fabrics 1 and 3 for our HSTs this month. In my fabrics, that means I'll be using the grey and the black. Once again, we'll be making these two at a time, chain piecing and making them larger than we need so we have room to trim them to the perfect size.

For the baby/wall size, you need 64 HSTs.
For the throw size, you need 120 HSTs.

Cut 


For baby/wall size

From fabric 1 - 32 squares 3" x 3"
From fabric 3 - 32 squares 3" x 3"


For throw size 

From fabric 1 - 60 squares 3" x 3"
From fabric 3 - 60 squares 3" x 3"

Rather than repeating the entire, in-depth tutorial I did back in April, I'm going to post a shortened version this month. If you want the in-depth version again, check out April's post.

Choose your lighter fabric and draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on the back of each square. Pair each fabric 1 square with a fabric 3 square, right sides together. Stitch 1/4" away from the line on both sides. Don't forget to chain piece all of the squares at once to make the whole process faster!
HST tutorial | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
Cut apart on the drawn line. If you are using my method to trim, trim the blocks to 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" and then press them open. Otherwise, press the blocks open and trim using your preferred method.
HST tutorial | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
Now you have a lovely new batch of HSTs to use for the next step!
Half-square triangle | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com

 

Making Units 1A and 1B


You now have many (many, many) HSTs ready to be joined together. We'll be using the ones made this month and 64 (wall size) or 120 (throw size) from April.
Just the Basics Mystery Quilt-a-Long | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
Units 1A and 1B are almost identical, except for the orientation of the HSTs, so be careful as you join them together. For both units, press the seam towards your fabric 5, which in my case is the red fabric.

For the wall/baby size, you need 32 unit 1A and 32 unit 1B.
For the throw size, you need 60 unit 1A and 60 unit 1B.

Unit 1A looks like this:
Just the Basics Mystery Quilt-a-Long | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
 Unit 1B looks like this:
Just the Basics Mystery Quilt-a-Long | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
 Don't you just love the nice, sharp points you can get when you trim your HSTs? I certainly do!

That's it for this month. I've really been enjoying seeing your progress each month! Thanks to those who have left comments on the posts with links to blog posts and to those who have shared their progress on IG (#JustTheBasicsMysteryQuilt and tag me @devotedquilter). I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures again this month :)

2 comments:

  1. I grumble too. LOL I have last month's blocks done but haven't trimmed them yet.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This month wasn't so bad! Here's mine http://theflemingsnine.blogspot.com/2016/06/just-basics-june.html

    ReplyDelete

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