Sunday, January 19, 2020

Swapping Stars

Another great swap in in the works.  Barb, from Fun with Barb hosts swaps every so often and I always try to join in.  This time was no exception, even though I knew I would be under some pressure to hit the deadline.  I signed up for making 40 blocks using 1800's reproductions prints.  Here is a sampling of my stars. 

This piece has been in my stash since 2004.  I bought yards of this when I came to the US.  I didn't know anything about 1800s reproduction fabrics, but I was drawn to them immediately. I used this for curtains in my first place here.

Barb sends out very clear instructions and parameters for her swap and that is why I love doing them.  I trust the workmanship of the participants and know that I will be getting back good blocks.
In the process of making my stars, I dug through a bag of these.  Over 100 - 6 1/2" churn dash blocks from a previous swap. 
They have been patiently waiting to become a quilt top.  I've started adding sashing on one side of each block and I have the fabric for the corner posts.

thank goodness I've started adding notes to my boxes, and bags of projects.  That is a game changer when you get back into something from over a year ago.  Counts are there, color notes, cutting measurements, etc
I only had to make 29 more blocks, per my notes.  Since I had out scraps of muslin and a variety of reproduction prints were stacked up on the cutting table, I got busy moving this project forward a little bit.
Now that I have all the blocks made, a pile of muslin scraps folded up in the bag, a few sketches of ideas, this will be a perfect project to take to retreat at the end of the month.  Lets hope I don't take this long to put the star swap blocks into a top.
Keep stitching,
Sharon



3 comments:

Sharon said...

Wow, your stars look wonderful! I didn't do this swap this time. I still haven't assembled my last 2 or 3 sets of swap blocks. I'm feeling behind so I feel I need some time to catch up. I hate to miss this swap though, as I love stars!

I'm glad you took the time to organize - that will really help! Especially if you take your project to retreat!

Janet O. said...

Lovely star blocks. Barb's swaps are fun to watch, but the timing is never such that I can participate. I can't wait to see your churn dash blocks come together. That is a favorite block and I was sorely tempted to join that swap!
So smart to add notes to project boxes. Even with the best of intentions, projects can get buried and forgotten for a time--and then who knew what we were thinking when we put it away??

Lori said...

Lovely blocks! This is my first time swapping with Barb's. Love your stars!