BLOG 156

DELECTABLE MOUNTAIN continued

 5 Use a ruler and rotary cutter to cut across the diagonal line. This will produce 2 half-square triangles.

 

 

                                   Cut on the diagonal

 

 

 

 

 

                        Two half square triangles

 

5 Prepare and cut several of these and place them in a pile beside the iron with the dark (red) fabric on top.

                                              Dark on top

 

6 Lift the dark triangle away from the light triangle and press to produce a square. Having the dark fabric on top ensures that the seam allowances automatically go towards the dark fabric. 1 light square + 1 dark square = 2 two-coloured squares.

  

 

                               Press to make a square

 

 

                                                    2 squares

 

7 Use a rotary cutter and a suitable ruler to reduce the size of the square. Place the diagonal line of the ruler along the seam line and trim away the excess fabric. The finished size must be divisible by 4. I am working on a 4 ½” square.

 

                                                Trim

 

8 The half-square triangles are now going to be cut into 4 equal strips to produce mirror image building blocks.

TIP: I found it useful to have this prompt beside my cutting mat after cutting 36 squares all the same way!!

 

                                   Aide memoire

 

Here, in pictures, is the cutting, re-arranging and sewing sequence. I cut my strips at 1 -1/8 "

 

                    Cut equal strips (dark lower left)

 

 

                                        Re-arrange

 

 

 

                                Sew together

                      Cut equal strips (dark lower right)

 

                                               Re-arrange

 

 

                                      Sew together

 

These are the building blocks for Delectable Mountain. Build up a quantity of blocks and play around with them to see what you can come up. Below are some of my attempts.

 

 

                                         Building blocks

 

                                    Traditional

 

 

                                          Reflection

 

 

                                                Wavy

 

 

                                 Positive/negative

 

                              Coming and going

 

 

                                       Birds

 

Decisions, decisions! More of this next time.

 

PS Just had a thrilling afternoon watching Andy Murray win Wimbledon. Sometimes we can say of a match that the winner didn’t really win, it was just that his opponent lost. But in this instance Andy won a remarkable game; it was a huge victory and all down to his great talent and unflagging tenacity. Feel very proud to have witnessed it!