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”

Disappearing Broken Dishes

Created for Project Quilting 14.6 – Conquer a Fear challenge. 

Trish, our PQ challenge mistress, says your project for this final challenge of season 14 must involve conquering something that scares you.

HMMMMM...... I'm no longer a young lady. As a matter of fact, I turned 71 in January. And my life is in a good place. I've got great kids who found wonderful life partners. And I have 6 grandchildren who are all PERFECT and the greatest joy of my life. 

I've been quilting a long time and haven't met a technique I haven't tried. Curved piecing, set in circles, hand stitched hexies. All comfortably in my wheel house. So I went looking for a block for inspiration. Broken Dishes. Maybe. After all, I've been famous for dropping things for a long time. Not sure how to conquer that fear, but here goes. 

So I made 3 oversized broken dish blocks. Since only 2 fabrics bores me to tears, I string pieced everything using a color scheme of blue green and white. 

Pretty boring. But when I was looking for inspiration I came across a tutorial by Pat Speth for a disappearing broken dishes block. Yes, I could conquer my fear by making it disappear!

I rearranged the pieces and put the blocks back together and made them into the final table runner. So much better. 

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI

13" x 40"

Disappearing Fight

Created for Project Quilting 14.3 – 54-40 or Fight.

I started by drafting an 18" 54-40 or fight block. I wanted to strip piece the components of the block and felt this size was big enough to accommodate that. I put together one block with thoughts of possibly 3 to make a table runner.

The completed block didn't excite me. 54-40 or fight is a really cool block that can be used in amazing designs by alternating it another block. No time or place for that here. So I decided to layer my one block and quilt it and call it a day. Before I had a backing picked out my husband, Frank, came in and I quit for the day.

As I was waking up the next morning I had a thought of cutting up the block and putting it back together. This sounded more like how I might approach a challenge.

                            

Since my block was based on 3 and 6 inch units, I decided to cut it into 4 1/2" squares. so I started at one edge and cut. When I got to the center, I was 1/4" short of the seam, so I cut the seam out and continued across, then rotated 90 degrees and cut again.

I rearranged the piecees until I found something I like ad sewed them back together. This method reminds me of the disappearing nine patch technique, so I named it Disappearing Fight. It seems appropriate since the matter the block name refers to was solved without a fight.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI

16" x 16"