Triangles

I have this thing about sewing triangles.  I love to sew triangles.  I sew triangles when I can't think of anything else to make!  I have a shoe box full of triangles, sometimes alot of the same and sometimes not so many -- depends on the fabric that I have at the end of bigger pieces to make into triangles and sometimes it just depends on how much I am craving a certain colour.

I made these blocks from triangles in the bright blue, green, orange and red, each with white after seeing a really bright beautifully made granny square afghan.  Do they look like granny squares to you?

These navy blue and white quarter square triangles were done quite a while ago, mainly because I was trying to figure out if my particular sewing style needed to have the starting squares cut a little larger than the actual requirement.  I was reading some instructions that said if you make the starting square 6" inches and trimmed the block down after it was sewn, you would always have the right size.  So these were an exercise in accuracy.  Do you practice sewing, just to improve your sport?  You don't always have to be "playing a game" -- time to practice is just as useful.

 I wanted to make 4" quarter square triangles (4 1/2 inch unfinished) and if the starting square was 6", that became alot of waste!  I mean alot! Like 5/8 inch on two sides!

 So I made the square at 5 3/8 -- technically to sew it perfectly you add 1 1/4 inch to what you want the finished square to be when you are sewing this type of triangle.  I decided to add an extra 1/8 inch for varience.

 I discovered that I do sew a pretty accurate 1/4 inch seam allowance and that extra 1/8 inch extra was most often trimmed off -- thus a bit of waste. The few triangles I sewed with a slight difference in the seam allowance made the 1/8 inch extra worth the time that it took to trim the piece, because there would be the occasional one that would have sewn up just a tad too small to have a perfectly pieced complete block.

So adding that 1/8 inch leeway works for me, but adding 3/4 inch leeway is far too wasteful...

These practice triangle have been combined with that lovely deep red to create the traditional 12 inch square Ohio Star Block.

How do you put together triangles?  Do you find them to be as soothing to create as I do?  Do you use sewing of any sort to calm your nerves and ease the stress in your life?

I love sewing triangles!

PS.  These sets of blocks will be in the Etsy shop early in the week, just in case you are looking for a quick way to get started on a quilt AND in case you find making triangles troublesome...