Loony Bonus Project

Two patterns in one!

When you make the Loony Quilt pattern, you can use your trimmings to make usable projects. Here are some ideas.

Buy Loony Here

In the Loony pattern, you use a technique called "stitch and flip" or "snowball corners" to create the triangles within the block. When you trim these off, a triangle piece approximately 4" on each side remains from both the feature fabric and the background. These triangles can be used to create half-square-triangle blocks and can be used in a number of other projects. Here are some ideas.

Making the bonus HST

In the pattern, you sew the B square to the corner of the block. To create the bonus HST, sew a second seam, 1/2" away from the first seam, as shown in the photo.

If you didn't plan ahead (no worries!), just sew together those trimmed off triangle corners afterwards.

When you trim the corner, the cut will be 1/4" from the seam on the block - which will also be 1/4" from the second seam. When you make this cut, the corner will be cut and already be an HST! Now you just need to press and trim.

You can press however you wish, although I find that if I don't know how the pieces will lay in the block, it will work best to press open.

The pieces cut from the block trim nicely to 3 1/2" squares. To trim, place a ruler with a 45 deg line on the corner of the block, so that the 45 deg line is aligned with the diagonal seam on the block. Use your rotary cutter and trim the excess.

Flip the block around 180 deg, place that 45 deg line over your seam again and the opposite corner at the 3 1/2" point (circled in the photo at left). Use your rotary cutter to trim the excess and you should be left with a 3 1/2" square with a diagonal seam between opposite corners.

Now what?

Now that you have a bunch of HSTs, what to do with them? Here are some ideas.

There are numerous quilt blocks that you can make with only HSTs or HSTs and some squares. Play around with them and see how many you can come up with! These blocks are all 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" unfinished (12"x12" finished) and use 12-16 HSTs. You can group your colors like the color block version, use just two in each block like the two-color quilt, or make them scrappy! If you need, cut some 3 1/2" squares from your scraps to complete your design.

Download a block idea sheet by clicking the button below.

Download HST block ideas

From the baby quilt: you can get 72 HST's. This will yield (4) 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" blocks that use only HSTs. Or make up to (6) blocks that use (12) HST's and (4) 3 1/2" squares each. Make a mini quilt or a large pillow or some totes, or read on for some more ideas!

From the Throw size quilt: you can get 144 HSTs. This will yield (9) 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" blocks that use only HSTs. Add some sashing between blocks and make a coordinating lap quilt that will finish around 40" square. Or make up to (12) blocks that use (12) HST's and (4) 3 1/2" squares each.

From the Bed size quilt: you can get 300 HST's. This will yield (18) 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" blocks that use only HST's. Or make up to (25) blocks that use (12) HST's and (4) 3 1/2" squares each for a good size throw quilt!

Other Ideas

  • Hemingway Pouch!

    This pattern by Center Street Quilts is super easy. Sew together multiple of your HSTs to the size you want. Shown here is the Medium size pouch.

    This is an amazing beginner friendly pouch and comes together faster than a Loon taking flight (ha! see what I did there?)

    Get the Hemingway pattern 

  • Add a border

    One of my testers, Rachel, used her HST cut offs to make another border on her Bed Size quilt to increase the size to a King size quilt. It turned out amazing!

    See Rachel on Instagram 

  • Coming Soon

    Another project idea!