Left Overs Make Eight Point Stars!

Happy June!  The heat is here and I have been busy in the AC.  I have alot of green, brown, and blue fabric left over from making the Crayon Quilt Challenge quilt, so I used some of it to experiment with eight point stars.  I happen to have the Bloc Loc set of flying geese rulers.  I have never used the largest one, so I decided to give that a go.  I made nine blocks using the large flying geese ruler and this is how the quilt turned out.

If you wish to give this a try, I figured out how to 'add a page' to my blog.  Look to the right and you will see the heading "Tutorials".  Click on the Eight Point Star tutorial and see what it is all about.  Not so very hard.  Give it a try and let me know how you do.  See the tips portion, as the half-square triangles border was made using the part you cut off from the flying geese.  Amazing!  

One Year Anniversary of Our Global Pandemic or What's On The Design Wall in March

My Husqvarna is in the shop for a tune-up, so I am working with my Necchi sewing machine.  It has taken about a week to get re-acquainted with it, and I think I am turning out some pretty good eight point stars.  I could be sewing buttons on horses eyes, while my machine is in the shop, but why would I want to put the final touch on a quilt and then have it done?  

Today, I received my first injection of the Moderna immunization for Covid-19.  Then I got an e-mail stating that today, March 11, 2021, is the one-year anniversary of when the World Health Organization proclaimed the pandemic.  I feel I have something to remember it by, by getting my shot on this day.  Actually, my arm is the reminder, at this point.  It is a little sore, but that is just fine.  In four more weeks I get number 2 and that is the one I am worried about.  I am going to try not to think about it and just keep sewing, just keep sewing.

I hope to get my machine back by Saturday, so I can finish working on the military uniform quilt that is on my design wall.  I did make a ton of the half-square triangles on the Necchi.  I did not sew them together yet, as I do not know how long the border will need to be, once the center part of the quilt is pieced.

One of the quilt groups I belong to sent the BoM, for April, pattern to us, so I studied it and got it all cut out and the half-square triangles and flying geese parts completed, but don't want to sew them all together until I get my Husqvarna back.  I was, naturally, looking at one of the quilts I photographed at Sisters in 2018, and decided I could make the block, with my half-square triangle and flying geese skills.  So, I gave it a try and they look amazing.  I had to make more and try different color combinations. 

Jane let me use her design wall.  I actually made 15 blocks, but I did not want to remove the cone fish, thermometer, and random "cool" scraps from the wall.  I have pulled a lot of my scraps out and have made a mess of my quilt room while waiting for my sewing machine.  I originally thought having my machine in the shop would give me an opportunity to tidy up the quilt room.  But not!  And those horses still need their button eyes sewed on.

More Traditional

Greetings,  My friend, Elverta, and I attended a beginning quilt class in February of 2001.  She got her quilt done pretty much by the end of class, which was three weekends in a row or something.  It turns out I get the newsletter from this quilt shop and they still teach the same quilt today as they did back then.  It is an Ohio Star quilt.  I had some trouble figuring out how the sashing and cornerstones were supposed to fit on this quilt, so I gave up and put it away for 19 years.  It has been on my To Do List for about nine years.  In May, I finally dragged it out of the cabinet and managed to use up all the fabric that I had with it.  I got it finished today. Binding on and done.  D said she doesn't feel so bad about having old unfinished projects now, since it took me nineteen years to get this one finished.  I'm glad to be an inspiration to others.

One thing that spurred me on is Donna, a beginning quilter, who said she had signed up for that class for this Feb of 2020.  In January, when she told me, I knew I had to get the lead out and get my quilt finished or she would beat me!  A little competition goes along way with me!  Here is my finished quilt . . . it is not as big as Elverta's, (and likely not as big as Donna's).  However, it has an amazing flying geese boarder that it would not have had, had I finished more than a year sooner.  Phyllis taught me about flying geese and I love how it added additional traditional features to this quilt.

quilted by Sid Mooney