Happy October.  I am pleased to say we are back in our manor with new bathrooms, mini split air conditioning, and light weight sliding closet doors that can be opened and closed easily without throwing out my back.  It is so good to be back home.  Although I am not wearing ruby slippers, I have to say, “there is no place like home”.  

In preparation for the renovation, we had to pack up quite a few of our belongings.  My closet was one of the items on the list of things being renovated. I got new doors, new shelving, and new flooring.  Before the closet could be updated,  all my clothes and the other things stored in there had to come out.   

At the same time we were packing up our belongings, we decided it was a good time to donate excess stuff rather than keep things we no longer use.  I reviewed my fabric collection and passed along those fabrics I no longer wanted to keep.  I found that I had many Kona Cotton solids taking up a great deal of space.  So, I decided to make something with my collection and pass along the residual scraps and unused fabrics.

While looking for a quilt pattern to use for my solids, I recalled a quilt made of solids featured in the YouTube videos presented by Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts.  I really love that quilt.  It is made of bright solid half square triangles (HSTs).  The pattern is called “Postcards from Toronto” (also known as “Postcards from Sweden”).  Coincidentally, Karen Brown recently made a YouTube video featuring this quilt in her Stashbuster Series.  She used the accordion method for creating HSTs.  I had never seen this method before and was so intrigued with the accordion method, I just had to try it and write a tidbit on it.  

Karen used a 4-inch finished block in her quilt, so she started with a 5-inch square.  However, I want my HSTs to finish at 5 inches, and I was not too sure about my abilities.  I have to admit I am very challenged by angles and tend to make lots of mistakes when sewing angles.  So, I cut all my fabrics into 6 ½ inch squares and then trimmed the HSTs down to 5 ½ inches which should then finish to my 5 inch goal.  To begin sewing, I laid out ten 6-½-inch squares for each future accordion.  Karen recommended 10 to 15 per accordion.

To begin creating an accordion, lay the square 1 down with right side up and place the square 2 on top, right sides together.   Mark a sewing line ¼-inch away from the diagonal center of the square.  (If you prefer, you can mark the diagonal center with a drawn line before you mark the sewing line).
   
Line up the corners of the two pieces and pin in place.  Sew along the drawn line, removing the pins as you sew, and peel back square 2 so that the right side is facing up.
Place number 3 square on top of number 2, right sides together.  Line up the corners, keep the already sewn pieces to the left.  Pin number 3 in place and sew on the drawn line.  Remove the pins as you sew, and peel back number 3.
 
Once you peel back number 3, you can see the beginning of the accordion.  
Repeat with number 4.  
Again, the result:  
This is what the back side of the accordion looks like after number 4 is sewn in place.  You sew number 5 on top of number 4 with all these out of the way on the left side.  
Line up number 5 and sew on top of number 4.  
Continue this process until all 10 squares are sewn in place.

Number 6  
Number 7  
Number 8
Number 9
   
Number 10  
Complete the accordion by joining number 1 to number 10.
This is a view of the inside of the completed accordion:  
Now carefully cut apart the HSTs along the diagonal marks.  I began this process with scissors and then finished with a rotary cutter.  
This is my accordion.  
This picture shows the use of a rotary cutter to separate the HSTs from the accordion.  
Ten HSTs from one accordion.
Next I trimmed each HST to 5 ½ inches and pressed them.
This picture shows the result of the 10 piece accordion: 10 HSTs.   
This picture shows a cropped example of the layout for the Postcards from Toronto:  
This tidbit documents the beginning of my journey to create the Postcards from Toronto quilt.  It looks like I will be sewing several accordions before I am done. Perhaps I will be sewing more than one quilt when I am finished making all these accordions.

Have a great October.  I plan to have something for November, but as to what that may be, I am still awaiting inspiration.  If you happen to think of an idea for a future tidbit, please let me know.  Blessings to you and your family.  Happy sewing!