Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Little Leftovers

 Good morning!!  Playing with the leftover half square triangles here; you know, the ones you get when you sew that extra seam on a flippy corner?  I save them, of course.  Do you??  I just have been wondering what to do with them!!  Above is a table runner...
 and the same blocks, arranged in a more quilt like manner.  I did not have enough to make a big quilt, so the table runner it is!!  The runner still needs a border, but that will come.  So here is how to do it...
 Maybe you have a bag (or two) of these half square triangles.  First thing is to trim off those dog ears, and make the squares all a uniform size.  It doesn't really matter how big, but they have to be uniform in size...pretty much!
And here is the block!!  Not perfect piecing here, but I am sure you can make them perfect, LOL!!  In my opinion, this would make a marvelous leader and ender project, with all your pieces trimmed to size and ready to go.  I used the whole bag of triangles I was wanting to use up, so yahoo!  Alas, I have several more bags to use up still...



*********************Just some thoughts************************


I recently was at the cemetery, visiting a loved one's grave, on Memorial Day.   Dear husband went back to the car, but I wandered a little bit...and saw so many flags adorning the graves of our veterans.  The VFW had placed flags on all the Vets headstones.    I looked at the dates as I wandered, and was struck by so many generations of young people, who put their bodies in harms way, to protect me and my family, and all of us...and was overwhelmed with gratitude and sorrow.  Those brave soldiers were born in 1919, perhaps, and served in World War 2.  Born in the 1930's, and served in Vietnam and Korea.  Born in the 1970's and 1980's...and served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

As I quietly walked back to the car, my eyes filled with tears, I am filled with such gratitude that so many brave soldiers protected me, and mine...and yours.  This includes my Daddy, who was in World War 2.  God bless our Veterans and all the soldiers who did not get to come home, from all those far away shores.  Happy Memorial Day, a little late...


*******************************************************************


Julie


21 comments:

regan said...

The table runner is sweet! And what lovely and heartfelt words for Memorial Day.....and every day! Thanks!

Quilter Kathy said...

A gorgeous tablerunner!
I have bags and bags and bags....thanks for the ideas!

AnnieO said...

Leftovers are great! I love your table runner. I need some placemats so this would work well for that idea too, I think. I have a bunch of those corners....

Your Memorial Day memories and thanks are so true!

canuckquilter said...

Thanks for the inspiration. I'll tuck the idea away for future reference as my bag of flip corners grows...

LuAnn said...

Beautiful runner; and beautiful words about our Veterans who have kept us safe.

Teresa said...

Yes I save my HSQ that I cut off from various blocks like flying geese and snowball...and someday I will use them. I have all different sizes and thought it would be fun to incorporate all the sizes into one quilt. Your table runner looks great. Thanks for the reminder of the debty paid on our behalf by so many brave men and women.

Nancy said...

Visiting the veteran's section of a cemetery is sobering - your thoughts express well how we should all react. God Bless those who serve(d) this country to keep us safe.

Great use of the "waste" triangles.

Raewyn said...

Great to see I'm not the only one who saves all those little cut-off triangle bits - your use of them is great - lovely setting - thank you for the inspiration!

Randy D. said...

GREAT idea for using up leftover half square triangles. Thanks for the setting!!

Janet O. said...

Of course I save the triangles!! : ) I absolutely love what you have done with yours.

Wonderfully sobering thoughts on our Veterans, Julie. Thank you!

Kindred Quilts said...

Wonderful that HST scraps end up as a table runner!
Thanks for the reflective words regarding the veterans of this great country, past and present.

Merilyn said...

Great use of your left-overs!!!! The table runner is very versatile with all those scraps creating such an all year round look to the table!!!!!
Thankyou for sharing your Memorial Day thoughts with us!! My family lost 3 young men from WW1. When you see how young they all were, you realise how great their loss was, just babes really!!!!

Regina said...

I have some of those left over from a swap/challenge project with 2 friends. My plan is to make tote bag panels with them and gift them to the other 2 friends.

Kyle said...

You have a real eye for putting all those pieces together.

Lori said...

I agree about our Veterans. They sacrifice so much!

No, I don't save the other half of HST!

Leeanne said...

More eye candy......wonderful!

Ruth said...

Yes, I do save them and have a bag under my sewing table. I most recently used them to make a donation quilt with pinwheels in various sizes. It was fun to use them, but I don't save them if they are real tiny. I like the table runner. It is very sad to see the graves and to think about the lives lost for our country, so I am very thankful as well.

antique quilter said...

great to use those left overs and make a table runner or quilt all worth it.
love yours!
Memorial Day hit me this year too. So thankful I live in the USA
kathie

Lois Arnold said...

Half Square triangle is my middle name. LOL Love them! The tablerunner is very sweet as is your Memorial Day tribute to our vets!

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

I love your runner, clever use of leftovers! Thank you, Julie, for your sweet words of tribute to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

Vesuviusmama said...

I always keep them, but they are really piling up because I rarely USE them. I need to make some small projects to get them back under control!

Puffins and purples!!

I was tempted by Puffins...a squirrelly breed!!  LOL!  This fabric was shared with me, and I have been loved these bright, candy corn colors...