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Week 11 | Long Time Gone Sew-along | Half Square Triangle Block 2

Long Time Gone Sewalong - Learn how to sew and assemble Jen Kingwell's Long Time Gone with this sewalong from Angie (GnomeAngel), Nicole (Snips Snippets) and Marti Michell. See more at www.GnomeAngel.com

It’s another easy block this week which is good because it gives me a chance to provide some clarification about the rules of the game. To be eligible for prizes you must follow the pattern. The only exception to this is if you follow Marti Michell’s tutorials because Marti is slightly modifying the pattern to work with her templates. We will be checking to make sure the winners have followed the pattern and/or Marti’s version. While we support and encourage people to express their individuality when it comes to making quilts, for the purpose of this event we need parameters to help us be able to give everyone an even playing field and the best way for us to do this is to have people stick to the pattern.

Also, we’re happy for you to jump ahead. This doesn’t disqualify you from prizes. The only requirements for being eligible for prizes is that you:

  1. Post a photo of each of the blocks in their relevant weeks in your timezone. You can find the block timetable by clicking here.
  2. Complete the quilt top and post it to Instagram within 12 July and Midnight 21 July 2017 in your timezone.
  3. All photos will need to have all the relevant hashtags on them.
  4. You will need to be following all the relevant Instagram accounts at the time of drawing.

You can totally be adding sashing to your blocks now, working on pineapples, whatever you need to do to get the quilt top done and posted to Instagram within the timeframe. However, you still need to remember to post your weekly block photos so that you continue to maintain prize eligibility. If you’ve still got questions be sure to check out the Frequently Asked Questions by clicking here. Now, on to today’s tutorial!

Tutorial: Half Square Triangle Block 2

Long Time Gone Sewalong - Learn how to sew and assemble Jen Kingwell's Long Time Gone with this sewalong from Angie (GnomeAngel), Nicole (Snips Snippets) and Marti Michell. See more at www.GnomeAngel.com

General Information

If you’d like to know “My Top 10 Beginners Patchworking Tools” you can find them by clicking here.

Measurements for the pieces needed to construct this block will not be provided in this tutorial. It is a pre-requiste of making this block that you have a copy of the pattern, Long Time Gone by Jen Kingwell. Measurements, where applicable, can be found in this book and it’s associated media.

Conversion Charts

If you’re using the Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Templates you can find the conversion chart by clicking here.

How to Make the Block

General advice:

  • Tolerance Levels: you need to decide what is an acceptable tolerance level for “mistakes”. For example if your blocks are consistently 6¼” instead of 6.5″ are you ok with this. Or if your seams matching are less than an eight of an inch “off” are you ok with this. There’s no hard or fast rule and it’s different for everyone, so remember it’s your quilt so make your decision for you.
  • Press your seams at each step. Click here for a great article on how to press your seams for patchwork.
  • You can iron and starch your fabric prior to cutting. I also starch when pressing bulky seams.
  • When pinning, pin away from you so that you don’t move your pieces when pinning.
  • Where possible I chain piece all the pieces I can in one step. If you’re unsure of what chain piecing is, click here for a tutorial on how to do it. However, for the purpose of the tutorials I will step you through all the seams individually.

Block Construction

1. This block is so simple – the only trick to it is to lay out your blocks as you make it so you don’t get the order confused. By now you should know how to make a Half Square Triangle unit, but just in case you don’t here’s a handy diagram that shows you how to make them. Make 28 half square triangle units as per the pattern measurements on page 17.

Tip: If you’re like me and like to trim down to ensure accuracy when making your half square triangle units then roll the squares measurements up to the nearest whole number.

How to make a half square triangle by Angie Wilson of GnomeAngel.com

2. Once you’ve made the half square triangles, cut the remaining squares as per the pattern on page 18, and then lay out your block as per diagram 1.Long Time Gone Sewalong - Learn how to sew and assemble Jen Kingwell's Long Time Gone with this sewalong from Angie (GnomeAngel), Nicole (Snips Snippets) and Marti Michell. See more at www.GnomeAngel.com

3. The way I approached this block was to do the two units of 4 HSTs on either side of the middle block first so that I could easily chain piece the remaining rows.

Tip: Nesting your seams will help with accuracy with this block so if you can alternation the direction in which you press your seams. You can see a video on nesting seams by clicking here.

4. Chain piece the remaining HSTs to make 4 rows as per diagram 3.Long Time Gone Sewalong - Learn how to sew and assemble Jen Kingwell's Long Time Gone with this sewalong from Angie (GnomeAngel), Nicole (Snips Snippets) and Marti Michell. See more at www.GnomeAngel.com

5. Join the 2 4 HST units to the sides of the middle square as per diagram 4.

6. Chain piece joining your rows together as per diagram 5.Long Time Gone Sewalong - Learn how to sew and assemble Jen Kingwell's Long Time Gone with this sewalong from Angie (GnomeAngel), Nicole (Snips Snippets) and Marti Michell. See more at www.GnomeAngel.com

7. Join the remaining rows to complete the block.

Make: 1

Alternate Block Information

Don’t forget that you can head on over to Snips Snippets and see what Nicole has made this week using her beloved stash of Anna Maria Horner fabrics. Click here to visit Nicole.

Prize Winning Details

Of course the ultimate prize is making this amazing quilt, but if you’d like to also throw your hat in the ring to win some amazing prizes from our amazing sponsors then here’s the information you need to know. You can find out more about our sponsors and the prizes on offer by clicking here.

How to Win

We’ve made it as simple as possible for you to win. To be eligible for all prizes on offer all you have to do is:

  1. Post a photo of this week’s block to your Instagram account between 24 May and Midnight 30 May 2017 in your timezone.
  2. Tag your photo with the hashtags #LongTimeGoneSAL #AlisonGlass #AndoverFabrics #SewWithTheBest #AnnaMariaHorner #FreeSpiritFabrics #JenKingwell #LongTimeGoneQuilt #AmitieTextiles #MartiMichell #LovePatchworkQuilting
  3. Be following these accounts on Instagram:
    • @GnomeAngel
    • @SnipsSnippets
    • @AlisonGlass
    • @AnnaMariaHorner
    • @JenKingwell
    • @AndoverFabrics
    • @FreeSpiritFabrics
    • @MartiMichell
    • @LoveQuiltingMag

Please note: You do not need to tag these accounts in your images, if you use the hashtag #LongTimeGoneSAL we’ll be able to find you!

You will need to also do the following:

  1. Post a photo of each of the blocks in their relevant weeks in your timezone. You can find the block timetable by clicking here.
  2. Complete the quilt top and post it to Instagram within 12 July and Midnight 21 July 2017 in your timezone.
  3. All photos will need to have all the relevant hashtags on them.
  4. You will need to be following all the relevant Instagram accounts at the time of drawing.

This is the requirements to be eligible for all prizes, if you wish to select which prizes to be eligible for see the individual prize requirements by clicking here.

Need help keeping all of that clear in your head, then get your hands on the Long Time Gone SAL Tracker by clicking here to download.

You can find out all the information about prizes on offer from our amazing sponsors by clicking here.

For more information you can find commonly asked questions and their answers by clicking here.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase those items through my links I will earn a very small commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link, in fact in some cases I can offer you a better price via an affiliate link. I will not recommend something that I do not use myself. These commissions help me keep being able to provide you with great content for free. Thank you, in advance for your support!