Warning: Dangerous Inspiration

The last thing I need to do is start a new quilt...but Gayle at Mangofeet provided a link to this fabulous quilt.  Gayle had already started on hers and was naming it Demented instead of Garden Mosaic.

However, I have a very strong allergy to HSTs (half-square triangles) and a first attempt at making the block for that quilt demonstrated many lopped off points. So that was the end of that...

Until this morning when I wondered if I could make the quilt from the mountain blocks like we used in Bonnie Hunter's Ringo Lake mystery. And yes, basic units can be made by sewing two mountain units together to form a block unit.  Here are the steps...

First you will need lots of two inch wide and three inch wide strips in both light and dark fabrics. Sew a light two inch wide strip to a dark three inch wide strip. And sew a dark two inch wide strip to a light three inch strip.

I suggest ironing all the seams toward the dark. 

From these strip sets, cut two inch strips. So some will have a dark square with a light rectangle and the others will have a light square with a dark rectangle.

Molly would like to intervene at this point and suggest that you do not start a new quilt. Your loved ones would prefer you play with them, snuggle with them, or meet their pointless demands to open the window.  In the lower right hand corner, you can see the demonstration pieces after Molly pulled the back drop down. She only has your best interests at heart.

Take similar blocks (dark squares with light rectangles or light squares with dark rectangles) and sew them together so the squares are at either end. There are no seams that meet together. So just sew together along the long end. Then iron them open.

You will now have blocks that look like this.

Slice the blocks to make the triangular mountain units. The key here is to make sure that you provide the quarter inch seam allowance that extends beyond the square unit. You can also use your special triangle rulers like the Easy Angle to cut these. One of the ends will already have the dog ear cut off.

There is wiggle room provided here so you will have a sliver of fabric left over after cutting the mountain units off of each side. You are getting two mountain units from each rectangular four patch.

And for the last step, you will be sewing a light topped mountain unit to a dark topped mountain unit...sewing them along the diagonal. If you have ironed toward the dark fabric, you can take advantage of the seams nestling somewhat to help you align the mountain units. You do have to be careful to make sure the points of the squares match and that you don't sew into the squares.

And these are the final units that you will arrange into the Demented Garden Mosaic quilt. I will have to make units for sashing to combine all of these units, but I'm not that far along. 

Also, there is another quilt I am eyeing over at Wonkyworld. I figured out that this quilt can also be made from mountain units.  In this case, they are sewn side by side to form vertical stripes. Then those stripes are sewn together to make the quilt. Yes, the internet is a dangerous place.