Blogger's Quilt Festival

Again this year I am participating in Amy Ellis' Blogger's Quilt Festival. I entered one quilt last year just to get my feet wet, and see how it worked. It didn't require too much effort on my part, so I upped the ante this year by entering three quilts. Amy Ellis is a fellow blogger who has branched out into designing and publishing - she is much more driven than I, that's for sure. Her blog alone makes me tired! *Not that hard to do, actually.*

Regular readers here will surely recognize all three quilts for I have written about them often. First, you can look for my little Pincushion Stars in the mini quilts category. It earned a big ol' ribbon at the Ross County Fair, so we will see what a wider audience thinks of it.

In the hand quilted category, I have entered Six-Point Stars. It has gotten lots of positive remarks from you kind folks who leave comments. I sure feel the love!

Finally, I am entering Elisa's quilt in the original design category. Now I have a confession: I mistakenly entered it in the modern quilt category; it was total brain-fart on my part, but it's there, and I don't know how to remove it. This means, then, that I will get to see how it stacks up in this category, as well.

So what I ask of you is to go visit the festival site and vote for all the quilts you like. Of course, if you are so inclined, a vote for yours truly would definitely be appreciated. I think you will find lots of quilting inspiration and ideas. The world of quilting varies widely; seeing all the quilts in this festival will definitely make that readily apparent.

Enjoy and be inspired!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Groundhog Day Finish

Sunny and warm here for Groundhog's Day, so I suppose the varmint saw his shadow. What that means, according to legend, I have no idea. What I do know is that I used part of my Tuesday to finish off the little Pincushion Stars Quilt. It is so small that I hardly spent any time at all finishing, which I was supremely happy about!

Some stars are prettier than others; some stars are pointier than other, too. By and large, though, one does not see the imperfections just to look at it. It measures right at what the pattern says - 12 x 14.5 inches. The backing is the same fabric as the setting triangles.

My quilt and the pattern picture. Not a bad job of imitating, I would say.

Now I need to think on what I will focus on next. I really don't have a plan, and I work better with a plan. Several UFOs await my attention, but the pull of doing something brand new is also niggling at me. I have a rather full day today, errands this morning and classes this afternoon/evening. I have time to come up with something.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Baker's Dozen

The final 13 stars are finished, and to me, that is quite an accomplishment. It did become somewhat tedious working with such small bits and pieces. Plus, each star needed to be cut out separately. There's a lot to be said for consistency in fabrics and colors. Faster finishes result. On the other hand, there's a lot to be said for scrappy. Scrappy takes longer, but the results are worth it.

Oh what am I saying?!! ALL quilts are wonderful to create, regardless of the speed in making them or the tediousness of the process!   Maybe I just like to complain a little bit??

 Above, all 32 little beauties are lined up in rows. The ones at the bottom of the picture are the first that I made. The ones at the top are the latest. I tried to make darker backgrounds in those later stars. It will be fun to arrange them in a pleasing yet haphazard way for the quilt.

I pulled the fabrics for the setting triangles and the backing and the binding last evening. I might just get this little quilt finished sooner than I think.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Fire Up the Assembly Line

Welcome to February! January just flew by, and I ought to have more to show for myself, but I am afraid I was not as productive as I ought to have been.

Yesterday afternoon and evening, however, I was productive. I fired up my tiny stars assembly line. It has been awhile since I last made any, and I was still sitting at 19 finished of 32 needed. I forced myself to cut out all the remaining stars and set them up beside the sewing machine. It was quite an efficient system.

The part that takes the longest, after cutting each star out, that is, is constructing those flying geese units. Every star has 8 1-inch squares that will become the star points. And each of those little squares needs to have a diagonal line drawn on the back. Once that step is completed, though, the pace picks up rather nicely.

Each star gets laid out the way it will look, and I stitch this together like I would any 9-patch block.

It was Downton Abbey night, so I did not get them all completed. Each of the remaining 13 stars is to this point pictured below. I will need to press each segment and stitch the remaining two seams. Then I get crazy with the spray starch and stiffen those itty-bitty stars into submission.

I will have all 32 stars to show you in tomorrow's post, I hope.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

More Pincushion Stars

In between football games yesterday, I did manage to complete 6 more stars for the little quilt I am making called Pincushion Stars. A picture of the pattern is shown in this post.

Even after completing 19 of these stars, I am still coming up with some really wonky little blocks. That first one, for example, has some seriously unmatched intersections. You also have probably noticed that I am "making do" with the fabrics. When I am out of one background, I just substitute in another one. It is my hope that the end result when they are all sewn together is one that looks just right. None of these have been trimmed, so they will get a nice clean-up before they are stitched to one another.

This star and one or two others as well has a point that is way smaller than the rest - or is it that one point is way bigger?? Regardless, I sure am trying to be consistent and accurate, but these oddities continue to occur.

This is a stack of all 19 completed stars. I like this one with the mustard yellow center and blue points. And do you see the starch residue? These stars are as stiff as cardboard - I've really been dousing them with starch.

And I suppose you also see the little 4-patch doll quilt in the background?? *smile*

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Leisurely Stitching

I have no deadlines to meet with the two little projects I am currently working on, therefore I am taking a leisurely approach to finishing them. I now have a baker's dozen itty-bitty stars made for the Pincushion Quilt I showed you earlier (click here to see it).

A dozen makes a nice picture, so have a look at my little wonders. I have begun adding in some variety in the background fabrics, and I think I am going to like that haphazard look, so I will continue. I took a close up picture of the 13th star, since it was odd-man out.

With each star that I complete, I am surprised by the result that the combinations offer. I want the quilt to have an old-fashioned, primitive feel; I hope I am achieving that.

While watching wildcard football games last evening (omg - those Bengals!) , I did quite a lot of hand quilting on the little navy and beige Churn Dash quilt. It will very soon be ready for binding. With 2 more wildcard games today and some freakishly cold weather (our first real bout with winter!), I think time with needle and thread is just what I need today.

Since I don't really have any new stuff to share, allow me to mention another blog that I enjoy following called Sew'n Wild Oaks. I have her blog listed over on the sidebar along with lots of others; I click on hers regularly. I am totally infatuated with a quilt that she has designed called Lil' Orphan Scrappy; I have have had it on my to-do list for over a year. Well, I am finally going to break down and buy the pattern (even though I have sworn off new patterns!). She just keeps tempting me with these gorgeous stars and I simply must make this scrappy quilt. Fun, right?

In the blog-o-sphere, one click leads to another and another and another, and before you know you have made your way to heaven-only-knows how many more blogs. That is what I've done this morning, and I eventually happened upon a blog that celebrates hand quilting. As I, too, enjoy hand quilting, I checked it out and thought I'd share it here. Kathy's Quilts has a link-up party on Sundays, so I have linked to her today. Linking to other blogs exposes you up to even more quilting blogs - it's a massive place, this quilt blog universe.

Well, enjoy your travels through the world of quilting blogs and as always,
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Just Plugging Away

I have been working somewhat steadily on making more itty-bitty stars for the little quilt.

I like the pops of red that are going to be in this quilt, and I want to be sure to have pops of yellow and blue, too. I have a rather sizable tub of pure scraps from which I've managed to make a lot of these stars - further proof that no piece is too small to throw away.

When I'm not making these stars, I have been hand quilting the wall-hanging I made back in November or December. I work on this while we watch the Cavaliers or Buckeyes on television. I also took it yesterday to quilting at Jan's - the Frankfort girls' regular day of stitching together.

Classes begin at OU-C on Monday, so I need to be putting the finishing touches on my syllabi. I also have all my Christmas to take down and put away. Looks like I have a full weekend ahead of me.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Production Line

I never have been recognized for setting the world on fire with blazing speed, and that applies, among many things, to constructing 32 tiny stars. But slow and steady wins the race, as the saying goes, so let's see the progress I have made.

These flying geese units measure 1" by 1.5". I have not been cutting away the neutral behind the points. Initially, I was also leaving the back side of the points, but with this batch, I did cut that part out, and I think the stars pressed out much more nicely.

The first 7 stars of 32 that I must make. You can tell which two were made first, as they have been trimmed.  I have begun to cut out parts for each star and sew them together in assembly-line fashion. It is much faster, as one would expect. I will do groups of 5 through the remaining 25 blocks that I need. I could try to do them all, but the parts are so darned tiny, I worry about losing those itty-bitty pieces.

A rainbow of stars. I am still euphoric with these pretty little things; I hope I don't lose my focus before they are all completed.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

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!