The Goddess Tool

The Goddess Tool – A Little History

It is the oddest looking tool in the sewing room. The Goddess Tool is actually many tools in one.

It is used to create Half Square Triangle, Tall Triangles, Half Tall Triangles and Corner Cut-Aways.

I will explain more about each of these later. First, let me explain how and why I came up with this unique tool. Quite a while ago, I designed a very large and intricate looking quilt. It took me a while to name this quilt, I eventually settled on Asteria - Greek Goddess of the Stars (pay close attention to the Goddess reference here).

Asteria is composed of eight different blocks.

I know, only eight?

Well, you do make multiples of each of the blocks, but yes, only eight different blocks. Asteria is a large quilt, 108” x 108”, and that requires a whole lot of fabric.

I do not like to waste fabric. I tend to use cutting and piecing methods that minimize the amount of fabric that I consider waste.

To do that I have a supply of rulers that I love. When I decided to teach my Asteria quilt, I was requiring my students to have the same set of tools. Well, with the cost of the pattern and fabric, the collection of tools was just too much for many quilters.

I came up with a solution. Early one morning I had an epiphany. What if I could just take the sizes and shapes I needed from each of my favorite tools and shove them into one specialty tool? I did just that.

That tool combined just what I needed to make the shapes that used to create Asteria. I took the steps to get a vector drawing of the tool (I needed help from my math and computer whiz, also known as my son). T

he tool was just ready to go into production when a tool name was requested. I really had no idea what this crazy thing should be called. A friend of mine suggested “The Goddess Tool” since it was designed to make a Goddess quilt.

That is how the name came to be. Not much thought, just a quick response. So there it is, The Goddess Tool!

The Goddess Tool – What can it do?

 

The Goddess Tool has three components. One end of the Tool is for Half Square Triangles. The other end is for Tall Triangles and Half Tall Triangles. The middle is for Corner Cut-Aways. What does all that mean? Well, let me explain.

To make Half Square Triangles, I prefer to use a method where the “Dog Ears” (those tiny triangles) are removed before stitching the pieces together.

Some of the rulers out there that you use for this method are the Creative Grids 45° Half Square Triangle, the EZ Quilting Half Square Triangle and the Good Measure Half Square Quilt Ruler. See how that tip on the upper left of the tool is blunt? That is what I like.

I also love to use Tall Triangles in many of my designs. These “Tall Triangles” key components to quilt blocks such as the 54-40 or Fight and the Tennessee Waltz. Both blocks are a variation of the one shown below.

My favorite method of cutting for this Tall Triangle is using more specialty rulers. There are a couple of tools that do the trick. The Tri-Recs Tools, the Creative Grids - 2 Peaks in 1 Triangle ruler or The Good Measure Bias Triangle and Half Rectangle.

Now for those Corner Cut-Aways, the tool of choice for me here is the Cutting corners Ruler. The Corner Cut-Aways allow a Half Square Triangle to be place in the corner of a square or rectangle. Using this method limits the waste from two triangles to just one. That is a big deal in my book.

Here is a visual of The Goddess Tool and the shapes that are made with it:

Do you need to actually see The Goddess Tool in action? Check out this video.

The Goddess Tool – Block of the Month Quilts

 

I wanted to make sure to create plenty of blocks and quilts using the shapes from The Goddess Tool. I have a few Block of the Month style quilts that all named after Goddesses (trying to stick with the theme). Here are some of them.

Gaia – Greek Goddess of the Land

 

 

Aura – Greek Goddess of the Breeze

 

Hera – Greek Goddess of Women and Marriage

 

Kallisto – name literally means “most beautiful.”

 

Muse –the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne

 

The Goddess Tool – FREE BLOCKS

How about some free blocks? I am an over-thinker. I have tried to learn to simplify many aspects of my life. Back when I was on over-time doing over-thinking I dec

ided that there should be FREE blocks on my website. I made 12 free blocks all constructed using The

Goddess Tool. I never want a quilter who has purchased my Goddess Tool to think it is a specific tool that can only do the quilt it was purchased for. So, I created what I call “The Goddess Block Project”. Here is a sampling of the 12 blocks.

Back to the over-thinking. I did create a little book with the blocks, instructions and a sample of what each individual block would look like if repeated and assembled into a quilt. That book is available for purchase as a digital download.

The Goddess Tool – Quilt Patterns

Do you need more? I have individual patterns that are designed just for The Goddess Tool.

Boho Stars

 

Crystalline

 

Elxir

 

Gonzo

 

Hinterland Stars

 

Industrial Grind

 

Splendid

 

Wishing Wheel

 

That’s a wrap!

 

After all that, I do not claim, and never will, that I am a goddess of any kind. This was just a strange set of circumstances that led me to a path of fun and creative quilts. I love the fact that many of my designs look harder than they really are. The combination of the Half Square Triangle with the Tall Triangle can give an illusion of curves. Just for the record, all the quilts I have shared in this blog post are straight line pieced. No curves here, just illusions. I do not plan to slow down anytime soon. You can expect more tools and quilt patterns and even fabric lines (batiks) from me. In the meantime, I sure hope you are inspired to go create!

Remember, just keep sewing!