Over the last 2 months, you have seen bits and pieces of my latest quilt called “Star Explosion”. When I last posted explicitly about the quilt, it was at this stage……
.
….and I had run out of cream-colored fabric!! I figured I needed 3 more yards and was starting to panic when I couldn’t find more. Finally, I found one store with 1-3/4 yards and another with 1-1/4 yards. THAT was a relief!!!!
Once I had the fabric in hand, it was time to decide where the quilt was headed next!!!
I felt that I needed to pull some of the “duller” colors in the center star to the outside of the quilt so I started playing with possibilities……
Maybe cubes…..
……or stripes……
Definitely NOT!!!
What about some smaller stars…..
YEP….that is where I am heading!!
My first thought was exactly HOW I was going to do all of the inset seams where the star meets the background, but I finally realized that I could piece the star first…..
and then add the background to the COMPLETED star…..
SO MUCH EASIER!!!
It was important for me to match the star points when I began adding these long strips and I used a four-part sewing process….
I would first match the points……
….and pin them into place…..
….carefully laying out the rest of the strip and pinning it well.
Next, I used a basting stitch to sew those points together…..
When they looked ok……
…..I went back and sewed the full seam using a normal stitch length…..
Yes, it was a bit time-consuming, but it meant that I didn’t need a lot of quality time with my seam ripper!!!
Now, the majority of the piecing is finished……
Come back tomorrow as I turn this fun design into a square-ish top!!
Over the last months, I have been sharing the quilts that I made as part of the British Quilt List challenge in 2009…..
The challenge for August was to make thirty-six, 2.5-inch half-square triangles and then play with them until you found a design that you liked!!
Since it was August and the beginning of college football season, I went with the University of Georgia RED & BLACK….
I remember having so much fun playing with the squares until I found a pattern that was pleasing…..
So, even if you may not be a Georgia fan, I hope that you enjoy the quilt and I would highly encourage you to sew up some half-square triangles and make one for yourself!!!!
Earlier in the year I had been talking about the British Quilt List challenge that I participated in back in 2009..
I had posted thru May and my plan had been to post one a month for the rest of the year.
BUT…..I FORGOT!!!
So, here is the 12-inch quilt for June…..
Sadly, I don’t remember exactly how we made this block. but I am thinking that we sewed the “flap” strips together first and then inserted them into the seams of the backing fabric.
I do remember sewing the top flaps down heading one direction and the bottom flaps the other, and then picking a point somewhere in the middle to turn the flaps the othere direction.
It has wonderful dimension and, for me, the fabrics are perfect!!
It would be interesting to explore this technique further as I am SURE that lots of amazing quilts could come out of it…..
This was a fun quilt to make and I love hanging it in my bathroom in the Spring and Summer.
My guild issued a challenge earlier this year that was due at our meeting this past week. I never got around to making a quilt but was so impressed with the quilts that were shown.
The challenge was to use a Bears Paw Block, a realistic image of a bear and some form of embellishment!!
The Viewer’s Choice award went to Linda for her collaged bear….
If you are looking for the bears paw block, check out the bottom, right edge of the tree!!
Best use of an embellishment went to Rosie….
For embellishments, she did a big-stitch patch and used fmq for the bear image…
Best use of the Bear’s Paw block went to Jan for this quilt made for her grandson…..
Sue used collage for her Grizzly Bear…..
Pat went with crazy patchwork “teddy” bears…..
Mai had a photo of her mother feeding a bear at Yellowstone and she made three quilts featuring the photo….
Betsy made a sweet wallhanging with not only a Bears Paw block but an actual bears paw….
Finally, Laura used MINK for her bear……
Now I know that you are asking why she used Mink….. the daughter of one of her friends accidentally ran the coat thru the washer and dryer!! Needless to say, it was ruined but Laura found a way to resurrect a small part of it!!
I loved how varied all of these quilts were and the amazing creativity that went into each one.
As I viewed these bear paws, I was reminded of a quilt that I made for my daughter Jenny…..a LONG TIME AGO!!!
