Making Emma's Neutral Quilt

 Don't worry! I am still around! Just been busy doing other things besides sewing and blogging!

I had book club on Tuesday, which is not an overly lengthy meeting, yet when one hasn't read the book we are supposed to be discussing, then one must read-read-read! I spent a significant part of Sunday and Monday listening to Last Bus To Wisdom by Ivan Doig. It was a wonderful book! So very satisfying. Delightful. At 480 pages, though, it was a marathon session of listening.

I normally listen to books while I sew, but this particular week I listened while I cleaned and cooked for the other big event on my  calendar - Frienzies. I was scheduled Wednesday to serve the ladies brunch. I have an uncanny way of never being ready on time, but I really worked at it, and did mostly okay.

The menu consisted of quiche, muffins, fruit salad, and assorted appetizers. I think everything turned out okay.

Thursday, with the book read, meeting attended, and brunch served, I sewed. And gosh, did I get a lot done! 

I made the flimsy for Emma's neutral quilt! It looks pretty darn good, too!

Do you see the star in this quilt? You might have to click on the picture to enlarge it. In the upper left quadrant, a very neutral Ohio star is stitched in. The fabric used it Grunge, so that accounts for what looks like discoloration. It is not, I assure you!

 Here's the star. I tried really hard to get the points to match up. I think I did okay. It satisfies me, for sure!

I am such a visual learner, I just have to share a couple of examples of this visual learning in action.

First, I could not decide how to place the star. With the plan to make a quilt measuring roughly 80"x95", I drew up this diagram. Then, to transfer from paper to actual bed quilt, I went to the extreme of pulling out a quilt top which was close to the preferred size, laid it out on the bed, and played around with placing the quilt block.

Strange to look at, for sure. But I did get my visual!!

Emma is thrilled with it. She is now looking at quilt pictures to find a picture with the kind of quilting she wants on it. I hope she selects quilting that I feel comfortable doing! 

I did more sewing than this, but I will save the other stuff for a future post. I am off to stitch this morning with the Frankfort Girls!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Quilt For Emma

Way back at Christmas time, DD Emma asked if I'd make her a quilt. Uh, yeah. It's what I do! And when your kiddos ask, that's a no-brainer!

Emma had a very specific notion of what she wanted. This is going to require my inventing another quilt. Remember the one I did for the daughter of a friend - back in 2016? There was not one thing hard about Elisa's quilt other than its sheer size. All the stitching and design was about as straightforward as can be. 

Emma'a quilt will be equally easy in its construction. All she wants is one star. She wants it all to be very monochromatic and subtle. We have shared back and forth some fabric options, and we have finally decided to use two shades of Basic Grey Grunge fabric. Our choices are shown in the photo below.

So, I've now made the one block required for this quilt - an 18" Ohio Star. Well, technically, it isn't entirely made. I have the parts ready, and waiting on the design wall. I sent this photo off to Emma to get her seal of approval.

Since this is the only block in the whole quilt, I will take every precaution I possibly can to make all my points meet perfectly. Even if I have to hand-stitch the block, I will do it. One missed point will stand out like the proverbial sore thumb. 

All around this block, I will just add all the background fabric. I will need to determine how long and how wide I want the quilt to be, and work out the math (?)  -- What!? Math?? Yes, I think I can manage it. The star will be off-center, so that will help. I can "eyeball" its placement and work out the rest.

This picture of the star on the design wall provides a bit of perspective. Emma's block will be an 18" block. The little star up above is an 8" block. It helps to have that frame of reference.

This will be fun, right?

Happy Quilting, Friends!