Strippy HSTs for PCQ

When I went to my first PCQ Sew Day, I met Patsy, the chair of the charity committee. I didn't realize at the time, and sign-ups to participate were open to all club members, but mostly the Sew Days have been for the charity committee members due to social distancing during Covid. Patsy and I kind of hit it off. Turns out there was an opening on the charity committee and she invited me to join. 

Each month the committee does a project to benefit one of our charities. The local family services agency is one of them, as is a local hospice. So far since I've been here we've made boy-themed quilts per the agency's request, fidget mats for the hospice, and jelly roll race tops. The finished jelly roll quilts will go to families transitioning out of homelessness, or if suitable to kids going into foster care. 

The theme for May is Kids' quilts. Patsy asked me to suggest a pattern that would work with the resources they have both in terms of supplies and time. The quilting room at the PC Creative Arts Center has many bins overflowing with fabric that's been donated, all sorted by substrate and color. In terms of time, the person in charge of the month's project does advance prep, then the whole group has a half-day Work Day to make up kits for the Sew Day. During the winter the Sew Days are full days, but PebbleCreek has started summer hours now, so instead of a full day Sew Day we'll have only a half day. Each month, everyone takes home their partially finished top and finishes it at home. 

The project I came up with is Strippy HSTs. I can do some advance cutting. We can use my Accuquilt Studio cutter and cut 2" strips on the Work Day, which is tomorrow, and package up kits. Then on our Sew Day we can make blocks and the girls can finish setting them together at home. 

The Strippy HST block looks like this: 

Patsy and I pulled all the kid-friendly prints from the club's stash and I cut them into large squares, enough for 12 kits. I added some from my own stash; these are FQ finds from my recent shop hop.

Some of the prints are dark like these, and some are light. Since HSTs work best with value contrast, we'll cut light and dark strips and package the kits accordingly. 

Here are photos from my test blocks. I'll post an actual tutorial with measurements later. 

Large square folded in half and pressed. This example is a light square which will have dark strips.

Strips, which when sewn together will make a unit larger than the focus print square.

Then I'll sew on each side of the pressed fold, cut, and square up to make two HSTs. 

This is as for as I got with photos - I was on a roll making blocks and forgot to take more process pics. 

Each kit will have 24 large squares of kid prints and enough strips and triangles to make 24 pieced units, which will result in 48 blocks which will result in a 45" by 60" top. 

As I said, I'll post an actual tutorial later, with dimensions for the square, strips, and small triangles. This method creates wonky blocks, no precise matching. 

Tomorrow is our Work Day, so I hope to take some more pics and post more about it later. Meanwhile, I have a sample top to finish so I need to get to work. 

Link up: Quilt Fabrication