Clearing the Decks

     I'm getting up in years and have decided it's time to clear out all the stuff I know my kids won't want.  I started with trying to use up all the fabric I have.  That has resulted in 14 completed quilt tops this year.  I still need to start the quilting process.

     My second project is compiling all my family's favorite recipes for my kids.  I get frequent calls asking how to make such and such a dish.  When  I mentioned  that  that I should just make up a cookbook, they all loved the idea and I am still getting reminders of  dishes to include.  I'm going to get notebooks and decorate them for each person and I think I will place the pages in plastic sheets to protect them.

    Along the same lines, I want to compile photo albums for each child, along with certificates and other things important to each of them. 

     Another thing my youngest son has requested is an autobiography from my husband and myself.  We were talking one day about various relatives that he knew nothing about, things that we had done or had happen to us, and he wanted to know more.  I thought about it and decided he had a good idea.  Not only would he have information on his heritage, but also an eyewitness history of the times by the people who have lived through them.  With my husband and myself he would get opposing views of various events since he is and always has been a liberal and I grew up a conservative.  I've decided to take it by decades, my personal story as well as what was happening in the world at the time and my reactions to those events. 

     I tried to talk my mother into doing this because I knew so few of our relatives. Unfortunately she wasn't interested.  My great grandfather came to this country from Italy and at Ellis Island they changed his name.  I still don't know the original family name and since she died several years ago, I will never know. 

     Just something to think about.

1/2 Square Triangles

     I don't remember if I discussed this before, but if I did, I think it bears repeating since so many patterns utilize 1/2 square triangles.

     Rather than cut out individual triangles, you can speed the process up by sewing the triangles first then cutting them apart.

There are two ways to do this:  You can work with a 1/2 yard or a yard length of fabric.  Measure off the piece into appropriate sized squares.  Divide each square in half on the diagonal.  Lay your ruler
the width of the seam allowance along each side of the center and mark.  Stack the marked fabric on top of the contrasting fabric.

 

Sew along each seam line shown by the dashed lines.  Cut along the solid lines.  Each square equals two completed triangle squares.

 

     If I don't need a large number of  same color triangles  I stack the two fabrics together and cut strips the appropriate width.  Mark squares down the length of the strip.  Mark center diagonal, then add allowance to each side.  

 

 

 Cut the squares apart, then cut the center diagonal line.