June's Lone Star Quilt Along

Good morning, Quilters! Jayne here with the June installment of the Lone Star Quilt Along.

If you have been with us all along, then skip on to the next paragraph. I'll use the remainder of this paragraph to bring our new friends up to date. We meet the first Saturday of every month throughout 2012 to encourage each other on the Lone Star journey, and to admire the work we have done in the past month. We don't have a formal "club" - just a casual, monthly get-together in cyberspace to keep us aimed in the right direction: finishing our quilts! The "we" is myself and Sue who resides over at Quilt Times. I am located in southern Ohio, USA, and Sue hails from Leeds, England. We met by accident here in quilting bloggy-land. If you desire to know even more history, do a search of 'Lone Star Quilt Along' over there in the search gadget.

Okay, enough brief history (though from the looks of that paragraph, I'm thinking it wasn't quite brief enough!) *grin* Let's get on with our Quilt Along festivities!

First, you really should sign in to our Mr. Linky. It lets everyone share so much more easily. After signing in, please leave a comment so I know that I've had some company drop by. Also be sure to visit Sue. Even though June is my month for playing hostess, we both are keeping tabs on everything, so we mustn't leave her out.

Second, grab your cup of coffee and enjoy the cookies. We don't usually serve goodies, but I'm feeling very good about how close to a finish I am with my Lone Star that I thought some celebratory munchies were in order.

I have been enjoying putting all the parts of my Bursting Star (the actual name of this version of Lone Star) together this past week.  Each time I worked on it, my goal was to be able show you a finished quilt top! I will be stitching on it here in a bit, and hopefully before the day is out I will "show off" a completed Lone Star top!

Last month, I had the center star and the white setting squares all sewn together. To handle the outer starbursts, I decided to divide the burst panels into fourths - 1/4th of the outer ring of the quilt would be a unit, and then attach that unit to the center star and setting squares. (Got that??) I'd begun this process last month, as well. Then we had company and the guest bed was needed, so all my carefully laid out quilt parts were rolled up and put aside.

Above is a photo of what I was talking about. And below, is what the finished quilt will look like. It helps to be able to visualize, doesn't it?

I have been steadily working this past week. On Wednesday, I did a bit of work on it here in my sewing room.  I needed to finish adding the setting triangles and outer squares to the outer starburst units.

On Thursday,  I toted it all to Sharon's house for sewing. I began the exciting process of attaching outer bursts to inner star!! Whoo-hoo!!!

This photo better illustrates the joining of the parts that I was trying to explain. (Who was it who said a picture is worth a thousand words? It's true!) I've laid the quilt out on the grass in Sharon's side yard, so it's quite lumpy looking. At this point, however, I can't be certain that spread neatly on a bed it will be any more smooth. I fear that I am going to have quite a wonky mess when it finally comes together.

Well, quilters, you have your marching orders! Sign in, comment, share your pictures and your stories. I hope to be back later with a completed top to show you!