Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Quite Possibly, I've Lost My Mind

After four days of dithering about what to work on in the sewing room, I decided to make a little quilt that has been on my to-do list for several years.

This is a 2010 pattern by Country Threads called Pincushion Stars. I've seen a couple of these made up and they are wonderful, but oh-my-gosh! The entire quilt is less than 12 or 14 inches. (As I finish this, I will look up the precise size and provide it - promise!)

So here we go . . .

The parts in the photo above are the necessary pieces to make one star. They look normal enough, and wouldn't intimidate the average quilter at all. Until . . .

 . . . you see the size of these parts. With the penny as a reference, the dimensions of the pieces become evident. The small squares are 1 inch. Yeah, I know. Ridiculously small.

My first successful star is shown above (after throwing out a really horrible first effort). I learned a few things:
1. before cutting, starch the fabric stiff
2. take one backstitch to lock thread at the beginning and end of each unit
3. be precise; there is absolutely no room for 'fudging" when working with such a small star
4. press after each sub-unit is made and starch again when finished.

 Now I have two and need a total of 32; I've got a bit more of this madness ahead of me.

The only way to cross an item off a to-do list is to actually begin working on said item. Now, to get it finished. Stay tuned!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

4 comments:

  1. LOVE the little quilt pictured. Its colors really call to me. And your two stars are adorable...HOWEVER,that may be just a tad TOO SMALL for my clumsy attempts at piecing. :( I've never been very good at precision piecing...think I will just enjoy following along as you make yours. :)

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  2. pretty little quilt but as Angie said too small for me to piece as well. very very cute little stars.

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  3. I'm not sure if you lost your mind or not. I sure know you're a courageous lady! You certainly like a good challenge. I can see how useful is a back stitch at the beginning and the ending of each row. Without it, everything would easily fall apart. Your first star is beautiful and looks pretty well done. But 32 blocks? Yes, you're courageous.
    Thank you for participating to my Fabric, Thread and Yarn link party!

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  4. Miniature quilting just steals my heart and Jayne yours is a winner through and through. They are a lot more difficult to make than most people realize because teeny tiny errors look huge on a quilt so small. Beautiful work! Hope you found your mind again, LOL.

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