Monday, June 18, 2012

Seven equals six?

Tennessee lightning block
When does seven equal six? When you are making the Tennessee Lightning block with half square triangles via this method. Why? Because you get 8 half square triangles per subdivided square.

Click photo to see cutting and stitching lines.

And to make the Tennessee Lightning block, you need nine half square triangles.

So, in order to get six Tennessee Lightning blocks from the same light and dark colors (in my example, red and tan batik), here's the math:
Seven blocks times eight half square triangles equals 56 half square triangles.
56 half square triangles divided by 9 needed per completed block equals six completed blocks.
Are you still with me?

We need 48 completed squares for the baby quilt. We're using 4 different light and 4 different dark fabrics, and there are six sewers.  Let's see if I did the math right when the completed blocks come back to me for assembly (yikes).

I have to say, that despite the mental gymnastics, the half square triangles came out decently square using this method.
(And of course, if you are doing a different method of half square triangles, or if you want your blocks to be more scrappy rather than planned, then you are on your own for the math.)

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