Half Square Triangles

The block begins with HST (half square triangles)

After seeing a demonstration at my local quilt shop, I decided the Go! Baby Accuquilt was the way to cut triangles.  Every triangle gets a notch on each end that allows you to obtain an accurate 1/4".

Go, baby, go!

After a trip back to the quilt shop (nearby, thank goodness!), I had a replacement Go! Baby and was finally in business!  Just when I was going to get started, things ended up going backwards, but the replacement machine worked perfectly.  The first one didn't press down against the mat in order to send the mat, fabric and die through the machine to cut.  The owner of the quilt shop was so nice, she replaced my faulty one immediately with one she had on hand!  I really appreciate Joy at Bismarck Sewing and Quilting.

From the new Go! Baby, perfectly cut half square triangles to sew!  Did I mention that they will finish to a perfect 2" square and that I didn't have to go back and "fix" them all to make sure they were perfect.  I'm sure this saved me about 1/2 hour of time since the pattern called for creating 16 HST with the red and white fabric.  The white fabric is directional....I'll cut half going lengthwise across the grain and the other half going straight across the grain so that my directional fabric goes the same way...I hope!

The die is covered in thick foam with extremely sharp razors that cut through several layers of fabric at once!  It was so nice to turn the "wringer washer" crank and end up with enough HST the first time through, all perfectly cut and accurate when sewn at 1/4".  Note the notches on each edge to be sewn.  The notches show you the 1/4" and exactly where to sew - now that's great stuff!  First the scissors, then the rotary cutter, and finally Accuquilt!!!  (I've got my eye on the Sunbonnet Sue die and purchased the 2 1/2" double strip die and mat at the quilt shop today.)