HST Sampler: Pinwheel Block

Recently I demonstrated how to make half square triangles (HST) to my local quilt group.  They were all excited to practice and so we decided to make HST sampler quilts.  Before each meeting, I will prepare a sample block to share with the group.  Our first block is the classic pinwheel block.

Below are the colors I selected to use for the "sample" HST sampler quilt.  The color palette is inspired by the multi-colored polka dot fabric.  I love this print!  It is from an old pair of pajama pants that I wore out and would not give up.  

Today I spent a good, productive hour organizing the fabric for each HST sampler block.  It can be tricky to find the right balance of color through out a quilt, especially when you're using strong colors.  To ensure I didn't mix up all of my hard work, I simply pinned a labeled piece of paper to each stack.

This fabric organization helps me keep the blocks in order and the color in balance.

HST Bowtie block is scheduled for our next meeting!

Hope you're having a great weekend! - Kate

Fabric Stash Organizing Tips - A Tutorial

Practical Tips to Organize your Fabric:

Do you ever find yourself pinning pictures of how professional quilters have organized their collections of fabrics on shelves in pretty little piles?  If you’re like me, you mouth begins to drool and visions of organized sewing rooms start dancing in your head.  Sounds beautiful, right?  Yes it does!  But is it practical? No!

When pulling together fabrics for a new project I am constantly interchanging pieces until I get the right feel.  Can you imagine if everything was organized in little piles, stacked neatly on a book shelf?  I would go crazy trying to keep those piles in order.  My solution: a set of drawers.

Use a set of clear plastic drawers

Use clear drawers so that you can see what you have without opening drawers.  I love that I can see what each drawer contains; first, because I can admire my collection and second, so that when I need a certain color, I can see which drawer to open.  Saves time and frustration!

Organize by project, then color

It’s as simple as it sounds.  I like to keep fabrics that I have paired together so that I don’t accidentally steal from it for another project.  I designated one of my clear drawers to works-in-progress, or future projects.  The rest of the drawers are organized by colors: reds, blues, greens, browns, … with a category for those fabrics that just don’t seem to fit into any one color group.

My future projects (ahem... or works in progress) are in the prime top drawer for easy access

Here you can see my green stash and my brown stash sharing a drawer

Be disciplined with your system

Whatever system you choose to use, be dedicated to it.  What’s the use of spending all of the time and effort into implementing a new system, if you do not maintain it?  Return a red colored piece to your red section, return the work-in-progress to your designated place.  An organized stash is a happy stash (and happy spouses, too!).

Optional Extra Step:

This extra step takes some more time, but can be quite helpful when pulling together fabrics for a new project.  Label each piece of fabric with its measurements, i.e. 1 yard cut, or 3/8 yard, etc.  One of the easiest ways to label is to write the measurement on a post-it note and then use a pin to secure to the fabric.