Tricky triangles

I thought I would just sneak in a quick post before Christmas to give an update on what we (well actually just me) have been doing. After last month's retreat where Sofie and Lynne laid out their blocks I thought I needed to do the same so that I could refine my colour choices for the last few blocks.

Not that you can see the colours all that well as it was a hot day so I had most of our blinds closed.

Auditioning a few selections for a couple more blocks.

I've also been re-working Block #2. I thought I found a solution.

But then Judy dropped around and she did not approve! So she picked out this new combination for the centre, which I had to admit did look better.

Block #24 has a circle of triangles and because I wanted to try and have nice straight edges and pointy points on them I decided to use the starch applique method that I had used before on one of my CCCQ blocks. 

Here's how I prepared the triangles.

Iron on freezer paper templates.

Cut out with approximate 1/4" seam allowance.

Spray some starch into the lid.

Paint starch onto seam allowance - try and not get too much onto the template, otherwise it gets too soggy.

Press with dry iron until starch dries.

Think about which way the tails stick out so that they are not on the approach side.

Remove freezer paper.

Use a plastic template to mark the line to line up with the circle placement.  

I pinned the triangles down first, luckily I did as somehow they didn't all quite fit and I had to move them out from the circle by about 1/4''.

I decided to use glue as didn't want pins creating bumps in my edges and points. The glue is inside from the edge so you don't have to push the needle through dry glue.

Position the triangles, tweezers help.

Then finally sew!

 This was very fiddly and time consuming but I think I'm getting the desired result.

We are looking forward to our next retreat by the beach in Warrnambool over the New Year holidays, complete with support crew :) 

In the mean time we wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!