Hello Sewing Friends! This is Rachel again, popping in to show you a quilt I've been working on. I made half square triangles..... now what!? If you are anything like me, you have come across a charm pack full of a new fabric line that you love and you snatch it up, thinking of all the possibilities. Can you relate?

That’s what I did when I saw Lella Boutique’s "Garden Variety" a couple of years ago. I just loved the mix of florals and geometrics and the surprise of the bees. I thought it was charming and perfect for a half square triangle quilt of some sort.

Image source: Lella Boutique Blog

I found a tone on tone white print that I liked and before I knew it I had sewn up 250 squares.

That was fun! I just picked up two pieces and sewed them together to make 2 Half square Triangle blocks. But I had gone into this with no real plan other than to enjoy the mindless sewing....so, now what!?

3Tips for Making a Half Square triangle quilt.

I spent some time on Pinterest and google images looking for all the half square triangle pattern possibilities and finally settled on the Ribbon Dance pattern. It’s interesting and looks a little like DNA which is fun. It is a pretty pattern, but I had no idea how to methodically put 240 squares on the floor and turn them into this beautiful quilt in a way that was pleasing to the eye.

So, I called my sister. Sarah always has good suggestions. Here are 3 tips that will help take the headache out of sewing up your squares and figuring out color placement.

Tip #1: Pair blocks by color value.

Pair blocks and sew them together, without laying it out first. It reduces the amount of placement decisions to make by half. Brilliant! So, I sorted my blocks into colors. Aren’t they pretty? And then I combined half of the blocks together, pairing light with medium and dark, geometric with floral.

Tip #2: Sew them together in a chain

Sew them together one right after another by butting edges right against each other. This saves thread and time!

That was easy enough! Then I clipped them all apart, ironed them, and then arranged them on the floor, making sure I didn’t have too much of one color in any area. Since I already had half of the blocks combined, laying this quilt out was so fast and easy.

Next I sewed up rows, numbered them, and stacked them up to sew in order.

Tip #3: Ironing each section before sewing them all together

I sewed a few rows together at a time, ironing as I went. Ironing each section before sewing them all together was much more manageable than trying to iron the whole quilt at the end.