Crazy 8's or Tri-Square Triangle

 Next week, at Seaside Piecemakers Sew Day (Thursday), I'm doing a demo ... Crazy 8's.  In order to do a proper demo, I have to make a lot of parts for each step. I also needed to check some math and cutting and practice the steps.  Demo time is not the time to realize that I'm doing it wrong ... and yes, I have demoed doing it wrong!

Sew ... today was demo prep day.  In the midst of all the prep, it occurred to me that this should be my blog post.  Here goes ...

I call this block part The Tri-Square Triangle.  I think it probably has other names or maybe it's just part of a quilt block and by itself has no name.  Making 8 at time (of 1 part), my friend Cappy named: Crazy 8's.  Don't confuse this with Magic 8 ... you can goggle Magic 8 and see how to quickly and easily make eight 1/2-square triangles.  Craftsy has a free tutorial.  I'm doing a demo on this also but I didn't take pictures.

Anyway ... Crazy 8's ...

Start with 2 fabrics. I cut mine 5" x 5"

Make through the centers - top to bottom and side to side

Stitch 1/4" away from each marked line

For a better visual, I marked the cutting lines. In reality, I simple cut and don't mark these.  

Cut through the center between the stitching (top to bottom and side to side) AND cut both diagonals.

After you cut these apart, press to the dark.  You will have 4 with fabric #1 on the left side of the unit and 4 with fabric #1 on the right hand side ... KEEP THE LIKE UNITS TOGETHER.  You will have 2 piles.

Cut a 3rd fabric - this will be the larger of the 3 triangles. Cut two, 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" and then cut on the diagonal.  This will yield 8 triangles.

Stitch the larger triangle to the smaller units.  Remember to keep your 2 piles separate.

Trim the squares to measure 2 1/2" x 2 1/2"

Now you can play around with the 4 parts to make a block.

These are the same parts as above, just arranged differently.

The 2nd pile will make the same unit but the pinwheel (star) with spin in the opposite direction.

I hope this makes sense. Play around with this technique ... it looks a lot harder than it really is.  

These can also with combined with 5 "background" squares (4 1/2" x 4 1/2") into a 9-patch that measures 8 1/2" x 8 1/2".

Now I'm off to raid my box of 5" charms. I think I need to start yet another scrappy quilt. 

Will it ever end?