Saturday Star Sewing

Although the finished project is small, this was a big job for me. I like every point to be a point, every V of a star to match up to the center of the block, and each star to be a reflection of the saying "if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right" I am amazed at how cute and addictive these wonky, free form stars are. I've admired them on other sites, and Belinda at Brown Dirt Cottagehas a good tutorial. I did mine in a similar fashion and liked how they turned out. I found it amazing how "perfect" one of the green stars points ended up. If I had tried to achieve this while doing this "free form" technique, I would never have been able to get this results. I even tried to make them "more" wonky.Bonnie Hunter also has a tutorial called Maverick Stars that is even scrappier than mine. Plus she trims down her blocks. Which ever way you choose to make them, just beware...they are addictive! The block finished out at 4 1/2" and although there are only 5 stars in this little piece, I did a lot of other quilting related tasks on Saturday.
Three loads of fabric got prewashed. I was given a box of fabric and I finally got into it. There are 10 yd and 12 yard pieces in this box. Now it has all been washed, pressed and folded in my particular manner and is all put away again. I also worked on my scrappy blues and scrappy log cabin. I just keep at them. But I love the stars. This little project will be hand quilted and I know there will be more stars in my future. Hmmm, one printed fabric for the stars and then use the same fabric for the border.....sounds fun!
Sew many ideas, sew litte time.
Sharon

A few new things.

Since I haven't been sewing anything new, I thought I'd share a few new purchases that I have made. I love books, I have too many. People say you can never have too many books, but really. If I lived to be 193, I wouldn't make a project from each book that I own. My "excuse" is that the photos motivate me and I do read quilt books. You never know what little gem of advise will come out of the first 5 pages of books. Every quilter approaches their craft from a different angle, so I believe there is always room to learn something new. But seriously, do I really need another book? This is my bedside.
Since I am on a hexagon frenzy right now, I thought this was a very "needed" purchase. This is made by Superior Threads, it's called a Frosted Donut and it's full of Masterpiece 100% cotton thread and if you have never tried it, well, you don't know what you are missing. Love the name and NO calories! It is wonderful for piecing, bobbin thread, hand applique and I've even used it on my longarm for dense background fills on a table runner. This is so handy as I will have every color I need for my hexi's right at my fingertips. No more wondering if I have the right spool of thread in my take along tupperware box.And as if I don't have enough fabric and projects rolling around in my mind and lurking in boxes and drawers, I had to purchase just a little bit more work for myself. But who can resist this wonderful collection of fabric by Robyn Pandolph? Certainly not me! I know that I'll be purchasing more on this in my quilt shop travels, it's just too yummy to leave on the store shelves!
At the beginning of this post I said I wasn't working on anything new, that's true. I'm still forging ahead on my blue scrappy pineapple blocks, (I need 100 of them) and I alternate with my scrappy log cabin blocks. (144 blocks for this silly project). And if that isn't enough, I've taken Bonnie Hunter's advise about scraps and I'm now keeping the corners from my trimmings instead of scraping them into the trash. So, a big pile of this........
....equals a small pile of these. Every completed block rewards me with 4 - 1/2 square triangles that trim down to 3 1/2 inches. Now that's going to equal 400 blocks when I finish my 100 big blocks. That's a whole quilt top that would have gone into the trash, piece by piece.....Now that's something to think about!
I'm sew happy the sun is shining again...
Sharon

And now for some quilting updates

I have not given away my machine and I haven't lost all my needles! Here is what I've been up to lately. Since the 4th of July is coming up, I thought my front door could use some color. I saw this pattern on All People Quilt and knew this could be mine without having to take a trip to the local quilt store. Here is the first one, and since I cut extras to get the scrappiness I wanted, there is a second one.....Here is a close up of the block and this project only takes 3 blocks.Making sure I have my stripes all going in the same direction.Hanging my table runner on my front door. More people will enjoy it here!Since I had left overs, I thought I'd make a second one. The flag fabric that is in the center is from the second thing I ever made. It has now been completely used up! It only took 8 years!I'm still working away on my blue mock pineapple blocks, I think the quilt will require 100 blocks so I still have my work cut out. This is a class quilt, I've got all the blocks done one section at a time for my work board. The other good thing about working at this over time is that I keep adding new blues to my strip bins. This will keep the project fresh and give the quilt some fun splashes of different prints. I'll end this post with my other little quilting secret.I am part of the Great Hexagon Quilt Along 2 and I'm staying motivated. This is a second class I'm teaching in September.
Find time to quilt this weekend.
Sharon

Some birthday news!

It was my birthday and my dear friend Sandra L. hosted the bbq. The pictures tell the story.Glen and Cheryl brought the hostess a gift, lovely!Shelley G. made a shrimp ceasar salad.Pauline did the skewers of veggies for the BBQ,Debbie S. worked the pan of potatoes to perfection! Greg L. hit the mark with medium rare steaks!There were good friends, you all know who you are and what you are drinking!And some funny friends, it's allergy season!And you can't have a party without cake!
Thank you, everyone, for a terrific night!

coming soon.....

Now don't fall off your chairs, but I'm going to be posting pictures of some blocks I've made. I think this is the longest I have gone without quilting since I started in 2001. Wow. I'm feeling better every day and my arm is less sore all the time. Funny, I never gave any thought to asking about the recovery prior to surgery. Everything happened so fast, I just went with the flow and trusted things would be ok.
Right now my arm lets me know if I am reaching too far or doing too much. I saw a very cute pattern for a July 4th tablerunner or banner. I just couldn't resist digging in my drawers of fabric and finding just the right pieces to put together. I stayed up way past my bedtime last night, I had to drag myself away from the sewing machine. I hope to have the top pieced before I go out for dinner tonight. At least the 3 blocks will be done.
Stay tuned for some red, white and blue.
Hope you have been finding time to quilt,
Sharon

The Ultimate Recycle...with quilt pics below

Right next door to me lives a vacant lot, I like it, it's green, clean and provides a wonderful open space in my neighbourhood. But like all good things, it must come to an end, and this is what happened in the last 3 days. First big trucks and equipment arrived and took all the nice green grass and left a brown patch of dirt

.......and then this happened this morning around 6:30 am. Talk about recycling, apparently this is the second time this tri-plex has been moved.

Hmm, wonder if they will leave the wheels under it this time! :-)
And now I will leave you with a few more pictures from the Fraser Valley Quilt Guild

I LOVE these cows, click on the photo for more details.







Did you notice that the hexigons are layered? Click on the photo for a close up, Val Smith is doing some amazing work with these.
I did some piecing today, repotted my house plants and washed all Annie's blankets and bedding!
Sharon

15 books in 15 minutes

I read Sister's Choice Quilts blog and always enjoy my little peek into her life. She has picked up a tag going around where people are challenging others to list their 15 fav books. Since my surgery, I have not been able to quilt and my blog is just sort of hanging here, so since I've been reading a bit more these days, and summer is here, I am posting my 15 favs.

1 - Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
2 - Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
3 - I Know This Much is True - Wally Lamb
4 - Shibumi - Trevanian
5 - Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood - Rebecca Wells
6 - Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
7 - Valley of the Dolls Jacqueline Susann
8 - The Poppy Chronicles - Claire Rayner
9 - The Winner - David Baldacci
10 - East of Eden - John Steinbeck
11 - All Together in One Place #1 - Jane Kirkpatrick
12 - No Eye Can See #2 - Jane Kirkpatrick
13 - What Once we Loved #3 - Jane Kirkpatrick
and when I was a kid
14 - Charlotte's Web - EB White
15 - Trixie Beldon Series - Kathryn KennyAn interesting story about this "author" and the series that was.

So there you have it, some of my fav reads, in no particular order with the exception of #1 GWTW. I must have read these 1000+ pages 7 or 8 times so far, and I'm sure they will be read a few more times.

Hope your day has some time for reading
Sharon