Tutorial Tuesday - a product review

This is not so much a "how to do..." post but a "wow oh wow can this tool really make your life easier" post.

I confess that I am not a triangle quilter. The quilts I have done that do use triangles are few and far between, and I have usually struggled with them, or avoided them all together.

Some months ago I was gifted with a Lazy Angle Ruler and the accompanying book Lazy and Lovin' It by a very dear friend, and I set them aside - still finding the idea of triangles intimidating and frustrating.

Then this week my Prolific Online Quilt Guild members decided to make a friendship quilt for one of our members. The colors are red, white and blue -and right away a whole bunch of star blocks were proposed and produced. Stars were not a requirement - but that seemed to be the direction many members were headed.

Thinking I had to make a star block with it's requisite triangles (ever seen a square star???) I looked at some paper piecing options, and then turned to the Lazy and Lovin' It book for more ideas.

This tool and book just blew me away! What complicated looking designs - and yet once I started cutting and assembling, I had a block together in NO TIME AT ALL!!! And with the super efficient cutting, I was able to cut an incredible amount of pieces from a 44 inch strip, leaving only selvage bits for the trash bin.

The best part- once I squared up my strip, each triangle was cut with ONE cut!! Not 3, no twisting and turning to work around a triangle, no spinning and rearranging fabric, no fuss, no muss, no bother!!! LOVELY!

I cut out 3 blocks lickety split, and had 2 together before bedtime.

Forget "Lazy Angle" - Joan is my "Lazy Angel" -
Now pass me some more triangles, please!!!

...the wheels are turning - I am already plotting a quilt using some of the ideas in the book... Stay tuned!!!