HRT But Not Like That

 I am moving on to Clue 4 of the Lupine Mystery quilt. And that means that I'm trying out a new tool, one of several special rulers that I have for making half rectangle triangles (HRTs but not the hormone replacement kind!). This Bloc-Loc one is actually a pair of rulers, one for each direction of the angle.  This makes the markings on the ruler so much easier to use for me. 

I really like how the Bloc-Loc channel grabs and holds the pressed over seam with the HST version that I've been using for a while now. Just to note: these Bloc-Loc rulers don't really work for pressed-open seams because the channel is cut to accommodate the three layers of fabric that is on one side of the seam versus the single layer on the other side.

Once I've made the trim on the first two sides, I just rotate the whole ruler with the block underneath it around and then slide it up the channel along the seam and trim the remaining two sides.

Repeat with the other ruler that has the angle going in the opposite direction and then I've got one set done. And then another, this goes pretty quickly once you get started.

 Still a few more left to sew, to finish up the rest of this set.

Next, I know that I need to make the next set with two prints that actually matter which side is "right side up" to make sure I really understand how to use these rulers.  It's so easy to turn over pieces when they're either these batiks or white on white prints that are "close enough" on both sides.

June Flower Friday

 

It's time for another Flower Friday! I'm enjoying this new rose that I planted. It was a Costco purchase which are usually pretty good. This one is taking off, but it's next to the Jasmine so it got wrapped up in vines and pulled to the edge of the fence. Of course the deer took advantage of that situation. So I have to keep on top of the Jasmine creeping over again. The other rose I bough at Costco was planted in a spot where it's not getting enough sun, but the flowers have been lovely, they're a silvery pale lavender.color.

We visited my SIL earlier this month, and DH helped my BIL construct this support stand to hold up his Passionflower vine. It's quite heavy with fruit and needed some support. 

My BIL is an amazing fruit and vegetable gardener, he spends a lot of time on his garden. It just so happens that Passionflower is a fruit with a truly beautiful flower. Here are some flowers that haven't opened up their buds yet.

Here's a view of part of our garden and house, the fig tree is on the right, the pomegranate is in the center near the house where it is almost entirely blocking a window. There should be iris and peonies near the day lilies in the foreground but the gophers got them. (booooo)

A night time full-moon picture through the redwoods from underneath the Angel's Trumpet.

Santa Barbara Daisy is doing well in the semi-shade, spreading out like it's supposed to.

A surprisingly late plain old purple iris bloomed. These are boring compared to the fancier varieties, but I truly love this color combination of all the purples almost to blue and then out to lavender almost pink.

The Bear's Breech (aka Acanthus) are going great this year. The big exuberant leaves wilt during the hot part of the day and then recover later. But wow, this is the most flowers ever! The out of control Wisteria is looming in the background.

Such a beautiful flower structure.

No really, I could look at these all day, they are so complex and interesting.

Some of the Day Lilies are blooming.

I really like seeing these slowly open and unfurl.

I really love this picture with all those water drops.

The scented Geranium is spreading out well and battling for supremacy with the Jasmine.

Roses, Scented Geranium, Day Lilies, volunteer ferns and Jasmine in the background.

Lupine HSTs Done-zo

I love when my iron pretty much matches what I'm ironing.

Trimming off the little dog-ears.

Before I cut out the remaining 8 sets, I added some True Grips to my Bonnie Hunter Essential Triangle Tool, and wow what a difference it made! Why didn't I think of this earlier??? I think I've gotten used to the great Quilters Select built-in grippiness of their rulers.

There's all of the middle size of the HSTs required for the Lupine Mystery quilt all laid out. I think I made one too many set, so one will likely not get used (on the front). 

It seems like that took me absolutely for....e.....ver to finish all of those, but, it's a total of 300 HSTs!

Middle Sized

 

I've moved onto the middle size of the HSTs required for the Lupine Mystery.

There's eighteen out of twenty-five sets done.

New Iron Day

 

As I don't do unboxing videos, here's some unboxing pictures instead of my new Oliso iron. It's a special version that I couldn't resist, because of the lovely purple and the cherry blossoms. My old Oliso iron lasted for ten long years of pretty heavy duty usage and it always worked perfectly for me, right up until it didn't. First the touch lift stopped working reliably, and then it started leaking, so it was definitely time for a new iron. For a tool that I use so much, having one that wasn't functioning properly was super annoying.

I had resisted getting the Tula Pink and the Kaffe Fasset versions, because the main colors of the irons weren't colors that I really like. But this one was so perfect for me. And I learned about a new-to-me artist, Yaya Han, she's a super talented costume designer and cosplayer,,

I didn't realize that I was getting the matching pressing cloth too. Isn't it pretty? The fill pitcher is slightly lavender which was a nice surprise. Those are just my own purple scissors, but I thought they looked nice. All photographed on DH's old lavender work shirt that is in my to-use-at-some-point basket.

I got the iron all set up pretty quickly, along with a brand new heavier duty extension cord. I like to be able to unplug the iron when I go away from home, and the wall plug is in an inaccessible spot. The new iron works very smoothly, the action of the foot lifting is quieter and to me it seemed to heat up faster and a bit higher (that may be due to the higher rated extension cord).

I got right down to ironing a bunch of purple fabrics for the Lupine Mystery quilt and was very pleased to be somewhat back to normal as far as my ironing set up goes..

Biggest HSTs Done

 

I made the rest of the biggest size of HSTs for the Lupine Mystery.

I made a few sets two many as I got too into cutting them out. Guess the extras will be going on the back or something.

Wow! That's a lot of HSTs! I think these are looking pretty good. But I think that the two sets that are really quite purple compare to the others need to not be used.

They really did stick out. I think these will work out. Now on to making the middle size of HSTs, and these will be pink and purple.

Getting Bigger

 

I decided to switch over to making the much larger HSTs for the Lupine Mystery quilt. These are so much easier to work with, so much less fiddly than the small ones that I finished yesterday. I made these pretty quickly and now I need to cut out and sew the remaining eleven required..