It's Never Too Late!

Today I finished the Star Light Star Bright quilt top! WooHoo! 

Melissa at Happy Quilting designed the pattern. You can find the pattern and her clear and excellent instructions here.
















She designed the quilt/quilt block to make various sizes varying the sizes of the blocks and the number of blocks per row and columns. I chose the 24" block - 3 x 3.

She also charted the fabric needed for each layout as well as several color combinations.

While following the weekly quilt - a long, a total of ten weeks I was motivated each week to keep up with her. Some of the weekly assignments took longer than others.  But then life happened about the 8th week and here it is approximately 3 months later the quilt top is now getting finished.

I am really pleased with how the square points meet block to block. I had to pencil in lines on the sashing so the seams would line up. As always I had to learn the hard way. I had sewn two blocks together and the points didn't even come close to being aligned.

Bloom Project Link Up for July and August - go here.

 

We have a Star Quilter Among Us!!! - Kevin the Quilter

Check out his video presentation! He led a huge and successful Quilt of Valor campaign with the help of many of the blogosphere quilters! He was interviewed by Fox News! Click on the logo or the name above to see the videos showing the Quilt of Valor presentation! Please join me in applauding his great efforts!







Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict is raffling 3 of her quilts as a fundraiser to help her daughter and son-in-law raise funds to adopt a deaf Chinese little boy. Want to know more the quilts and raffle go here. Read about Chris's and Nancy's story here. Here is a blurb from their story: "A few months ago we realized we were ready to think about having another child. We decided that now was the time to adopt. And because of our experience with Emmalyn, our hearts were open to a child with special needs. I began checking listings of children in China that were considered to be “special focus.” This means that they are considered to be difficult to place because of their special need or their age. One night I stumbled across a photo of a gorgeous little boy who was listed as deaf. I requested to review his file and within a couple of days (full of prayer!) we knew he was our son!"

I am linking up with:  

Freemotion by the River  
Quilt Story
Let's Sew Fresh Quilts
My Quilt Infatuation

Thank  you for visiting and wishing you a great sewing or quilting day!

Star Light Star Bright Progress and Quilts at Historic Brattonsville

In this photo are 9 - 24 inch blocks completed! The blocks are so large that I had to stand on a stool to arrange them on my makeshift design board, flannel tacked on the wall. Finally, I called my husband for assistance since he is a rather tall guy to help me shift the blocks around so that the brighter fabrics were evenly distributed.

I thought I had this accomplished by focusing on the center star. Once the outer square was added that shape took the focal point causing a need for redistribution of the blocks. 


I will be adding sashing around the blocks. Some who participated in the quilt-a-long chose not to. As you can see in my photo many other designs can be seen when putting the blocks together.  Since I chose Scrumptious the fabric prints are different in size and color intensity varies. I believe accentuating each block will work better with my quilt. I have the first row sashed. I will wait to finish the quilt top to reveal. I am getting excited about it!

Last weekend Mike and I decided to visit historic Brattonsville to take in the activities of the day. They were celebrating Huck's Defeat by reenacting the 1780 Revolutionary War battle that occurred close to Colonel William Bratton's homestead. If you are a history buff you can read more about the plantation home, the Bratton family and the historical facts here.


I will share a couple of antique quilts that I saw while touring the plantation homestead.



The Double Irish Chain quilt is on the master bedroom bed. Don't you love how the chain changes from green to melon color?

Isn't this applique quilt sweet? The spiral like design is delicate and perfect for a little girl's room.

There was one other quilt that I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of it. The Bratton family were several generations of physicians. In the room that displayed the medical tools, bags and etc. was a log cabin quilt displayed on a worn and rickety wicker wheel chair. The logs were rather thin with the typical red centers. I kept thinking that the women of the home were being quite conservative and frugal not to waste any available fabric. Yet at the same time the window treatments in the parlors and master bedroom were made of chintz, elaborate in design with swags, trims and floor to ceiling drapery that must have been purchased overseas.

Overall it was a good day for Mike and I. It was so nice to do something different.


Thank you for visiting and wishing you a great sewing or quilting day!

Getting in the Swing

I can't believe it has been so long since my last post! I really didn't have anything to write about since I haven't done much in the line of sewing or quilting for several months now. Last evening I completed a second large block out of 9 of Star Light Star Bright, a quilt-a-long with Happy Quilting. Now if I can only stay on task with at least finishing up this quilt I will be happy.

It appears as though we will have another year of me assisting with administration of a governmental grant that benefits pregnancy centers in North Carolina. Hopefully, now that the groundwork has been laid it will not be as time consuming and will allow me time to have a more balanced life this upcoming year - which means more time to quilt, sew and blog.

Also, I am in recovery having injured my right rotator cuff having stubbed my toe and running into a door frame. The thing that aggravates it most is moving a mouse around and being on the computer - of course the thing that impacts my livelihood. I can feel some ache while sewing but not as much as pushing that mouse around. I am still waiting for the cortisone injection to kick in and alleviate all of the pain. It has reduced but still needs ice packs, muscle strengthening exercises and taking anti-inflammatory medication.

Other than that life is good and I am looking forward to reconnecting with all my online quilting friends.

We have a cardinal's nest in our Crape Myrtle tree that is up against the house where the nest is visible in our second story window where we can daily watch. So much fun! The momma cardinal notices us and just looks at us with interest. We must not be too scary to look at. She has 2 in the nest.  The dad helps with feeding and works very hard at distracting to defend the nest. So cute to watch. There was a moment when the proud father was standing on the edge of the nest checking out his brood. Lately, I have noticed a parallel having read and personally experience men sharing their food with their wives and children. Now I see it in nature with the male cardinal who naturally participates in the feeding of the female cardinal and peeps. Did you know that the female cardinal chooses her mate by allowing the male to feed her. Once she determines that he is going to assist with feeding she then knows she can rely on the male to assist her in feeding their babies?

So how are you doing with your UFOs and NewFos. 

Hopefully, much better than I am doing?

Thank you for visiting and wishing you a great sewing or quilting day!

Star Light Star Bright Update

One more section of the quilt block completed.

 Whoop Whoop!

In this post I am going to let the images do the story telling!

Center Stars

Lots of Half Square Triangles

On the design board

 Next assignment: sew up the corners.

Want to know about this Quilt - A - Long at Happy Quilting 
Click on the  the Star Light Star Bright button on the sidebar.

Thank you for visiting and wishing you a great sewing or quilting day!

Quilting Along Updates, Bloom Project and How to Match Seams Tutorial

 Feb 19th Star Light Star Bright Assignment - Building Block Centers

Yes, I am one week behind but working hard to get caught up. They are looking more Scrumptious at ever new stage. So that makes it all the worthwhile.

The greatest difficulty making these stars was matching the seams. So I came up with a way that reduced the amount of ripping out and resewing. I have created a picture tutorial that will show you how I did this.

The last picture with 4 images should read:

 "Reverse the block begin sewing at center and sew to the end."

Though it is a couple extra steps I believe it reduced the length of time to finish all 9 blocks.

Assignment for February 26th is building the block sides. 

Sets for 2 blocks are completed and looking good on the design board. 

It's getting exciting!!

Below is a collection of fabric for the Triangle Quilt Along being led by Paula at The Sassy Quilter! I am still shopping for more fabric to complete the collection. Some info about the QAL:

Official Sign-up and Share Fabric Selection- Week 1, March 21

Cutting- Week 2, March 28

Piecing Rows- Week 3, April 4

Joining Rows- Week 4, April 11

Break week! Giving you some quilting time here:) April 18

Triangle Extravaganza! Week 5, April 25

There are sponsors and giveaways that will be given along the way!! 

Looking forward to participating and hoping to see you there. Click on the Triangle Quilt Along button to get all the details.

 
To all participants participating in the Bloom Project click on the Bloom Project button on the left to link up your partial or completed UFOs and NewFos.




Meet a couple of Bloom Project Participants:

Isn't this strippy scrappy wonderful?

Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework 

added a bit of color here and there to make the quilt more interesting. 

See the reds and pinks that pop out?

 This is a must read to understand what each of the blocks represent. 

Deana at Daughter's of Dorinda created this quilt that tells of

Utah history as well as some family history.

 Linking up with: Guest Host Val's Quilting Studio for Anything Goes Monday, Freemotion by the River Linky Tuesday, Fresh Squeezed Fabrics Show and Tell Tuesday, Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts. Freshly Pieced Modern Quilts - WIP Wednesday.



Thank you for visiting and wishing you a great sewing or quilting day!

Star Light Star Bright

A friend, a quilting blogger, wrote it took her a whole day to make 288 half square triangles as we were sharing our experiences with the Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long being led by Melissa at Happy Quilting. It took me a few hours a day for five days to complete mine.

Center Squares inside of Geese

The first and a quite important step was deciding which fabric mixes were to be used per block. Thank goodness for my design board where I could organize and visualize how the fabric choices and colors worked together. Finally being satisfied I labeled my blocks as:
(Fabric Match defined is the fabric used for the geese per block)

 Fabric 1 + Fabric Match (f1+fm) - 2 squares of each to make 4 HSTs per block

Fabric 2 + Fabric Match (f2+fm) - 2 squares of each to make 4 HSTs per block

Fabric 1 + Background (f1+bg) - 2 squares of each to make 4 HSTs per block

Fabric 2 + Background (f2+bg) 2 squares of each to make 4 HSTs per block

Fabric Match + Background (fm+bg) 8 squares each to make 16 HSTs per block

Tada!

288 HSTs sewn and trimmed!!

Aren't they scrumptious?

Linking up with:

 Happy Quilting

WIP Wednesday freshly pieced

 Lets Be Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

 WIP Esther's Blog
My Quilt Infatuation

Thank you for visiting and wishing you a great sewing or quilting day!

Geesing Along with Happy Quilting

Snow days are days meant to be in my quilting studio and after two days of it much was accomplished. One project was catching up with the Quilt-A-Long Star Light Star Bright being led by Melissa over at Happy Quilting. Following along with QAL the second step was to make Geese.  Looking good? What you see on my design board are the geese laid out per 9 what will be 24 inch blocks. Each block has 8 geese, 4 of which the goose is the main fabric and the remaining 4 where the goose is the background fabric.

I am getting excited how this QAL is coming along. I took a peek at other participant's in the QAL to see how their geese were coming along. There are some gorgeous quilts in the making. What a fun QAL!  If you want to know more about the QAL there is a button on my side bar for the Star Light Star Bright QAL that will take you directly to the page to learn more about it.

The snow storm brought many visitors.

Thank you for visiting and wishing you a great sewing or quilting day!

Happy Quilting QAL; Scrap-A-Palooza; Bloom Project; Sandwiching, Happy Valentines Day

Happy Quilting - QAL
Yesterday morning beginning at 4:30 a.m. - Yep for real! It has become the normal wake-up time in our household, and until 8:30 p.m. last evening I cut fabric. My neck keeps cracking today having used those muscles for rotary cutting pressing down for such a long period of time. I am happy as can be though having a good leaping start on a couple QALs I have wanted to participate in. Better late than never - right?

The first is Happy Quilting's Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long. I am so excited about this project. If this is the first you have heard of this QAL I suggest you go take a peek at her place. Melissa has done such a fantastic job of designing, planning and writing the instructions that have been revealed as of date. Cutting the fabric per her instructions was a breeze! This is an image of the Star Light Star Bright quilt! Can you hear my heart going pitter patter? Click on the button on the left to learn more about the Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long.

Scrumptious cut and ready to be sewn!

Scrumptious by Moda - Spring time happiness!

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I Scrap-A-Palooza


I am equally excited about participating in Quilting is More Fun Than Housework/Cynthia Brunz's I Scrap-A-Palooza Challenge. In my humble opinion she is equal to being called Queen of Scrap Quilting as Bonnie Hunter. Cynthia's take is more on the modern slant vs. Bonnie's being more traditional. Cynthia has assisted me (via her blog messages) in reducing my scraps and old stash into some nice quilts. Her quilts are creative, some sophisticated, some cheerful, colorful and fun. She has a great organizational system, something that is needed when scrap quilting.

As I was reviewing the stages of Scrap-A-Palooza she suggested giving your project a title, something I rarely do. So since we are coming upon Valentine's Day I have titled my quilt Modern Celebration of Valentine's Day. I knew I had some fabric with hearts, and red and pink fabric. Now with my creative brain being motivated and spurred you can see the results. It looks great on my design wall! I will let it sit a couple of days to make sure I shouldn't move around a block or find an alternative fabric from one that might look like it is sticking out like sore thumb. I am leaning towards using white strip sashing. I have a couple of other fabrics with hearts that might work as well.

Electric Quilt did the work for me. :) Cynthia has a good method for planning, sizing your quilt and the math to go along with it if you don't have a quilt design software program.

This was a first to cut out 2 quilts in one day for me! Can you believe me when I say I was tired by days end? It was a good day!

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Bloom Project

Both Star Light and Star Bright are quilts on my Bloom Project lists. So I am forging ahead.

Other participants have said:  Paula is set to finish 2 of her quilty projects In February. Yeah for Paula! Marsha states she is working away already! Bea says, I am looking forward to finishing some of my UFOs :)."  Marge says, "I think that will definitely help me to stay focused, and as you say, save on the budget by sticking to projects already in mind."

Anyone interested in learning more about the Bloom Project can click on the button located on the right side top of my blog and read all about it. February 28th is the new deadline date.

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Sandwiching a Quilt Sharon Schambers Method

Weather conditions interrupted the spray basting of the final section of the baseball quilt. It is being quilted in 3 sections. In order to continue I chose to sandwich the quilt using Sharon Schamber's method. See the pictures below of the process:

Baseball t-shirt/jersey quilt is now completely quilted. Left to do is sewing the last section together and binding. This will be a February finish. Looking forward to giving it to my grandson and the reveal of the finished quilt.

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Happy Valentine's Day

For about a month I have been scavenging around to find a small tote that I made with a paper pieced heart and bow. I happened to come across it this morning when sorting and organizing scraps for the I Scrap-A-Palooza challenge. Yippee! just in time to share with everyone with the holiday coming on us! The other blocks below were made several years ago for a block swap. Thought I would send some Valentines Day love since it is this coming Friday.

Linking up with:

Sew Many Ways . . . Sew Darn Crafty
Anything Goes Monday 
Free Motion by the River
Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story
Sew Cute at Blossom Heart Quilts 
WIP Wednesday at freshly pieced
WIP Wednesday at Esther's Blog
Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Thank you for visiting and wishing you a great sewing or quilting day! I love hearing from each one of you!