Free Fun

From the free table at my last guild meeting I picked up a zip-loc bag containing precut triangles, predominantly red and white but with enough tiny flags on the white print with to be patriotic. There was no pattern or notes of any kind in the bag. I was on my own. The first thing I did when I got  home was count and sort the pieces in the bag. There were 24 red triangles, 24 white triangles, 8 red triangles tipped with white and 8 white triangles tipped with red. The tipped triangles were a curiosity and I pondered what to do with those. I calculated I could get 8 blocks total out of the 64 pieces. If I paired solid rectangles among themselves, I could get 6 blocks of those, and if I paired tipped triangles among themselves, I could get 2 blocks of those.

But what if I intertwined those two populations? I tried pairing a solid triangle with a same color triangle tipped in the opposite color and learned that four of those units could assemble into a cute central pinwheel. I was able to make 4 mini-pinwheel blocks, 2 red and 2 white.  That meant I could make 4 more blocks out of all the solid triangles. The 8 block total I could make was 4 pinwheels and 4 mini-pinwheels. Since the mini-pinwheels were either predominantly red or white, I took care to make 2 large pinwheels of red/white polarity and two pinwheels of the opposite white/red polarity. Next up was how to assemble these 8 blocks.

At first I tried a light to dark vertical theme grouping similar blocks together for more impact  as seen in the first two images on left. Then, still keeping the light-to dark algorithm, I interspersed small and large pinwheel blocks as seen in the  right most image, liking this slightly better.

But I was really quite fond of those mini-pinwheel blocks and still wanted to group them together for more impact. I followed my desire to place them in the center as I tend to do with my favorite blocks. I placed the large pinwheel blocks in the top and bottom rows. All that remained to decide was how best to situate those large pinwheel blocks in order to best take advantage of their two different polarities. The top and bottom diamond formations in the next image were interesting but not really my cup of tea.

I was most content with the following placement where the top and bottom rows followed a high contrast checkerboard of triangles pattern instead of forming a central diamond. Also this arrangement does not have a top/bottom orientation based on dark/light and can be used horizontally as well as vertically. The blocks are a 6" finished size and this assembly so far is 12½" by 24½".

So what will I do with this creation? Shhh... do not ask that question! Perhaps it will be short table runner. Or perhaps it will become a wall hanging for a small space. If inspired, and if the right fabrics float my way or tumble out of my stash, I may border it for a community baby quilt. The possibilities are endless. At the very least, it will keep my other UFOs company in my closet/drawer/box. I enjoyed thinking this through, like solving a puzzle. That technique with the tipped triangles forming mini central pinwheels caught my attention and I may try to use this newly-learned trick again somewhere. My afternoon was spent in low stress bliss.

By the way, also in that zip-loc bag were other triangles in super cool prints and striking colors. There were 4 white triangles, 8 print triangles, and 4 white triangles tipped in 4 of the colors of the 8 prints. What can be made of this? Adding a white would surely stretch it further. Or maybe, this pleasing combination may find its way back into the zip-loc bag and onto the free table at the next guild meeting. I should not have all the fun!