Oh My Stars!

So I have to admit that I'm a bit of a fabric hoarder.  When I really like a line, I buy all of it and just stare at it.  I'd love to make pretty things out of it, but I either have too many good ideas and can't settle on just one, or I have some okay ideas, and can't bear to cut into the fabric unless it's for the perfect project.

Example: I have fat quarter stacks of both the Flea Market Fancy reprints and Comma.  They've found homes where I can look at them while I sew, but that's it.

And the same was true of my stack of DS Quilts fabric from Joann's.  It was girly and flowery, but not over the top.  And it had the perfect mix of flowers and geometric prints.  I managed to find them all in the clearance section.  I'd search through those giant shelves and do a happy dance when I'd find it marked down to $6/yd.

Swirls and pebbles!

Then, one day, I decided that I wanted to do something traditional with them, but not boring, and I found the Solstice Stars Quilt Series at Fresh Lemons.  Trying out a bunch of different star patterns would be fun, and using only these fabrics would keep it from looking too crazy!

One of my favorite stars is the first of the row of four.  So many little pieces though!  And the wave quilting on the far left is one of my favorite patterns to do.

I made a few of the Solstice Stars, but didn't have the courage to try the paper pieced ones.  Then I searched through the Gen X Quilters Block Library for a few more to get some diversity.

I was trying to figure out the layout, and was considering making the whole top out of stars, but my friend Jess suggested the big chunks of fabric.  Genius!  It looks modern, and you get to really see how awesome that fabric is.

The quilting was really fun too.  I did a bunch of different patterns within the stars, and then all the different fabrics have their own pattern.  The quilting doesn't really show up well on the chunks, but it adds a lot of great texture.  

I'm still deciding whether to sell this one in my Etsy shop.  I like it, but it's so different from anything in my house.  I'll probably just hang it on my wall for a while and see how I feel about it.

Linking up with Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday, I Have To Say for Show and Tell Tuesday, and Funky Polka Dot Giraffe for Too Cute Tuesday!

Blocks That I've Set Loose Upon the World!

 So here's a post all about blocks I've sewn and given away!  It's kind of the most nerve-wracking thing I've done.  I want to make everything perfect, because the person receiving them is going to see the backside.  They'll know if your scant 1/4 inch is really a true 1/4 inch. Oh, the scandal!

But you do never know if the person who gets it will like your color choices, the layout, or the style.  And once you've put that much work into a block, you don't want them to just cast it aside or have to rework the seams.  Really, the only thing to do is just make sure you like it.

 

This is the last block I made for our Guild's block lottery.  The theme was scrappy stars on a white background.  I thought I was done once I'd made the first two, but then I saw the Mercury star and had to give it a try.  

Surprisingly, I thought this one would be more complicated to paper piece, but I liked it much better than my first.  I think it helped that the block was symmetrical until you got to that last piece.  I think there's a whole quilt of these in my future.  Maybe in all solids!

Here's a shot of all the stars in the lottery.  I really can't wait to see it all finished.  It's going to be a pretty awesome quilt. 

And these are my blocks for the Sew Pieceful swap.  I initially started out wanting to make a Broken Herringbone, but just couldn't get myself excited enough to do all the little pieces of sashing.  Then I found this other block in Jeni Baker's HST Block of the Month quilt.  Once I had all the half square triangles pieced, I played around with them and decided I liked this layout the best.  

I'm not really sold on this block though.  The colors are true to what was requested, but it just doesn't look great.  I might switch out the dotted background with white.  Really not looking forward to that, but it might need to be done.  

And, yeah, couldn't think of a decent title.  When in doubt, go dramatic!

Linking up with Live a Colorful Life for Really Random Thursday and My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday!

Star Blocks!

This month's block lottery for the Seacoast Modern Quilt Guild is scrappy star blocks.  I swear I made these from my scrap bin, but I just happened to have enough of each fabric to have it look planned.  My background is scrappy, so I think it counts.

This was my first attempt at paper piecing.  I loved how the Caldonia Stars from 627 Handworks looked enough to give it a try.  And, I only had to make one, so if I hated it, I didn't have to make a bunch more.  

The ripping was probably the part I was looking forward to the most.  I figured it would be nice and relaxing, just tearing on all those perforated lines, but I ended up being so stressed out that I would accidentally pull out the stitches at the end of each seam.  I think next time I'll just take a few extra stitches at the start and end so I don't have to worry as much. 

I love how it turned out!  I may have to try the whole series of Block Rock'n stars, especially the Mercury.  

This is the Ribbon Star from Freshly Pieced.  I've had it pinned on my Star Pinterest board for a while, but the pin didn't have a good link, so I forgot about it.  I actually found it again after searching for star patterns on Pinterest, and had a deja vu moment.  I'm glad to finally know where this comes from, because it was really easy and looks awesome.    

Fingers crossed that I win this swap; I'm liking how the other stars I've seen have turned out.  I might make a couple more to increase my odds!

WIP Wednesday

This week I dabbled in some paper piecing for our Guild's block lottery.  It went really well, and I hope to make another one of these before the meeting.

I found this fabric at Walmart (I know! Crazy!) and I've got it cut to make another Ruby Dress.  The pattern revisions were perfect, so I can't wait to get this finished.

And I'm onto the arms of my Sweatshirt Sweater!  I'm a little concerned that it's going to turn out too big with all those increases, but the cuff fits well at least.  I switched to smaller needles, so I'm going to see if that slows the growth.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!