We are having fun with Bonnie Hunter’s Easy Street mystery quilt clues!
Bonnie posted Clue # 5 for Easy Street early this morning.
WHAT ARE THE FINISHED SIZES?
All Inklingo shapes are named with the finished size because when you know the finished size it eliminates the math. Inklingo is fantastic for quilters who are passionately creative—but math challenged!
Normally, Bonnie includes the finished size of the shapes in her instructions.
This time she gave Monkey and me a great opportunity to show how to figure it out when the designer doesn’t tell us.
Let me show you how I know the triangles are 1.5 inch HST.
BABY STEPS
You can download Bonnie’s Easy Street Clue # 5 and follow along. Don’t worry. These are baby steps.
- The 3.5 inch squares are 3 inches finished. Easy peasy. Are you with me?
(Hint: All I did was subtract two 0.25 inch seam allowances.) - When the two triangles are added, Bonnie’s instructions show that they meet at the middle of the 3 inch squares, so they must be 1.5 inch triangles.
(Hint: 3 divided by 2 = 1.5) (I told you they were baby steps.) - The triangles are Half Square Triangles because the straight grain is on the two short sides.
(Hint: If you are not familiar with the difference between HST and QST, there is a good review in the free Triangle Tips PDF.)
DOES IT MAKE SENSE?
Does it seem logical that Bonnie would be using 1.5 inch HST? Yes!
I don’t know how this mystery quilt will look, but it seems logical, because the triangles in previous clues were 1.5 inches. It would seem strange if we were going to sew a very slightly different size this time.
There’s a method in her madness. LOL I’m sure of it!
GOOD NEWS!
If you bought Inklingo HST 00B for the Flying Geese and Shaded 4-Patch in Bonnie’s previous clues, you have what you need for Clue # 5.
1.5 inch HST are in other Inklingo shape collections too. (Index of Shapes)
HEAD-CAM MOVIE ON YOUTUBE
You can sew these units with less waste with Inklingo!
I show the method in our old “How to Sew Snowball” movie on YouTube.
The units in this clue are part of a Snowball or Square-in-a-Square block, which Inklingo quilters do without wasting as much fabric.
I did that movie wearing a tiny camera on my forehead. The camera was pretty crummy and it broke right away (thank goodness!), but I think you still get the idea.
(Hint: The key is Inklingo’s precision corners!)
TRIANGLE TIPS PDF
In addition to that little movie, there are illustrated Inklingo instructions for Snowball and Square-in-a-Square blocks on pages 14 and 15 of the free Triangle Tips PDF (under the Machine Piecing tab on the website).
USE YOUR SCRAPS
It doesn’t matter whether you print the HST with Layout 1 or Layout 2 because the individual triangles are cut apart before sewing. You can use scraps as small as 3 x 5 inches or print on 2 inch strips if you need to. (Top Ten Tutes)
There are other tips on the blog for previous clues:
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I wonder what the next clue will be.
Thank you, Bonnie! I am truly hooked on mysteries now.
Linda & Monkey
New to Inklingo? Order and download free shapes and start sewing in the next few minutes. Quick Start (Always FREE.) There are triangles, diamonds, and squares in the free collection—great for dozens of different blocks.
$10 Coupon! 6 Year Anniversary Special on the handbook
Inklingo is amazing, I’ll be spending time here.