Disappearing Hourglass

 Created for Project Quilting 15.4 Hourglass challenge.

Sometimes I see these challenges and need to let them incubate a bit before and an idea forms in my brain. This one I just greeted with a smile. I have been contemplating disappearing blocks for a project in my near future. For the Project Quilting 14.3 I made a 54 40 or fight block disappear. Fun! I was looking at pinwheel or hourglass blocks as future as possibilities. So, thank you, Trish, for making the challenge match the idea in my head. 

I started by string piecing half square triangles, then assembling them into hour glass blocks. Why string piecing? Because my basic philosophy is “Why would you use 5 fabrics when 50 will do?” Please note, tis is the hourglass in my project. It's harder to see it later because I made it disappear.

My unfinished blocks measured 9 1/2”. I lined up the 1 1/2” line on my ruler with the center seam and cut, then cut again 3” from the first cut. This left 1/4” inch waste at the edge and I discarded it. I rotated the block and made the same cuts on all 4 sides.

Next up, I needed to decide how to “disappear” the blocks. I tried 2 different layouts. The first was by rotating the middle piece on each side so the pointing out parts pointed in. 

For the second choice I rotated the corners and the center. I think both are interesting, but I went with option 2.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.

15” x 30”