Another Feathered Star Update

After posting my design wall yesterday, I couldn’t stand it and worked some more on the feathered star.  Here it is this morning.

The only thing left is the center.  Unfortunately it is a 6 1/2 inch finished block.  I am tempted to just put a plain color in the center.  I wanted to do a star but am having trouble deciding on one that finishes at 6 1/2 inches.  I can’t find any online patterns since it is such an unusual size.  I have been playing on graph paper and think I might try a churn dash variation that finishes at 6 1/2 inches.

More later.

Melinda

Piecemakers Meeting Today

Since it is the second Monday of the month it was the day for the Piecemakers to meet.  We made a quilt for a soldier or sailor last year and finally got the binding done on it today.  It is true that many hands make quick work.  Five of us worked on the binding and we got in done in plenty of time.

We started this quilt quite a while ago and used all sorts of left over blocks from different stashes.  Michele had the center lighthouse blocks from an old guild exchange and I had some string blocks.  We put it out on the floor and everyone make additional blocks to fill it in and then we put it together.  Pam quilted it and then Danielle sewed the binding on it.  She brought it today and we stitched the binding to the back by hand.

Here is the front of the quilt.

  and a close up

I also took a photo of JoAnn’s first blocks for our yearly exchange.  We are doing string pieced blocks.  Not as many people signed up this year so I think we only need to make about 12 blocks.  Each person was able to list colors that ”hey like and one color that they prefer not be used.  I chose black and white with brown as my “no way” color.  I can’t wait to see what I get.

Lastly, Michele brought in a quilt that she made as a charity quilt.  She used some fabric samples that we got at the shop and cut them into 10 inch squares.  She then used a Moda Bake Shop pattern to make this quilt.

She also pieced the back – it is almost as much fun as the front.

Melinda

Design Wall Monday

Well, the feathered star is still on my design wall.  I have made a little progress on it and am over half way finished!  I finished the section on the lower left this morning and hope to get at least one more section done later today.

Slow but steady – I guess I am the turtle in this race, not the hare.  Don’t forget to go to Judy’s blog to see the other design walls.

Melinda

Super Bolt Sale Success!

We had a great time at the quilt shop today.  Tiny Stitches has an annual sale on the day of the Super Bowl each year so today was the day.  I got to the shop about 45 minutes before we opened and there were already customers in the parking lot.  People really look forward to the sale and plan their purchases for weeks in advance.

It is fun to work on this day because you get to see so many familiar faces.  We do have quite a crowd but everyone is good natured and don’t seem to mind the inevitable lines.

I didn’t get any photos today but here is one from yesterday.  Dawn brought me these selvages from her sister Barb.  I was so excited – what wonderful fabrics she must have to give me these selvages.

It is a big bag – I can’t wait to start making something from this fantastic gift.  Thank you Barb!

Melinda

Tissue Holders

Mindy came in the shop today with something special she made for her son’s wedding.  She has been doing a lot of sewing and decided to make favors for the women who will be attending the rehearsal dinner.

Mindy attended the retreat last week and made a whole basket of tissue covers.  If you look close you can see that she embroidered the names of the bride and groom, along with their wedding date.

Isn’t that a great idea.  If you want to make one or a bunch of them, you can click on the link under tutorials on the left side of my blog.

Big sale tomorrow so I am having an early night.  Tomorrow is our biggest day of the year – Super Bolt Sunday!

Melinda

Feathered Star

I have been making progress on the feathered star for my January UFO, the Allatoona BOM from last year.

Starting to look pretty good, isn’t it.  The paper piecing pattern is easy to use and easy to do in the scrappy manner I want.  Now the next decision is what to put in the center of the star.  The original pattern calls for a plain green center but I think I want to do something slightly different.  I have thought about putting another star in the center or perhaps a sting block of some kind.  Still have a few more outer points to work on but then the whole center of the quilt will be finished.  I can hardly wait to see what it looks like put together.

Then the next step will be do decide what to do about borders.  Pieced? or Plain?

Melinda

Possibilities

My Monday Morning friends and I took a little road trip on Monday and this is what I found.

 

This is a wonderful collection of Kona Cottons – all shades of green.  Just imagine the possibilities of working with these.  I have several ideas but haven’t decided yet.  I keep thinking of using selvages with these somehow.  Not sure but I am sure it will be great when I figure it out.

Any suggestions?

Melinda

Beginners Friendship Star Blocks

Yesterday we moved on to learning half square triangles and making Friendship Star blocks.  Alex Anderson has you cutting 2 7/8 inch squares, cutting them on the diagonal and sewing the triangles together.  We cut 3 inch squares, drew a line on the diagonal and sewed 1/4” on each side of the line.  They then cut them apart, pressed them and trimmed to 2 1/2”.  Much easier, especially for beginners.  The blocks that resulted from this were wonderful.

Next week we will learn to make flying geese blocks, then take a week off and the last class is putting the quilt top together.  I can hardly wait.

I just noticed that one star is spinning the other direction.  Hopefully she will make all of hers the same way and it won’t matter at all.

Melinda

Beginners Square Dance Blocks

In the latest edition of Alex Anderson’s Beginning Quilting book she added one new block she calls Square Dance.  It is a simple block but makes a nice quick quilt, especially from batiks.  This is the first block we worked on yesterday at both classes.

Melinda

Fiber Art Fusion Round Robin

The meeting of Fiber Art Fusion is next Tuesday night but Paula will not be able to attend so we arranged to exchange round robin pieces early.  I pass to her so I took my piece to the shop today so she can pick it up.  She will leave the one she worked on and I will take it to the meeting for Rebecca.  Confusing? 

Here is the one I worked on this month.  I forgot to take a photo of it before I worked on it.

I couched the yarn on it.  I left the yarn loose on the left side.  The colors of all the different yarns/fibers were perfect for this piece. 

Melinda

Beginners – Log Cabin Blocks

For the homework this week, everyone worked on log cabin blocks.  It seems like people either love them or hate them.  Most of the new quilters enjoyed making the blocks and they did a great job.

Nice blocks aren’t they.

Melinda

Allatoona Guild Meeting Today

Today was the general meeting and as usual had a great time.  We have a potluck for the general meeting and today everyone must have had a sweet tooth because more than half the contributions were desserts.  I made a peach cobbler/cake that I found on line.  I had thought about macaroni and cheese but decided on the peaches.  I guess I should have made the mac and cheese.  Oh well, we all ate a lot of desserts.  Next time we probably won’t have many desserts at all.  That is the way it usually works.

Here are a few photos from show and tell.  We had lots of show and tell – we always do but I didn’t get photos of everything.  The first thing shown was from my favorite Moda line – Authentic.  Look at the great bag.  I need to break down and use my charm packs that I have been hoarding.

There were lots of small/baby quilts shown.  The first one is Kim’s first sewing ever.  The last one is embroidered and is lovely also.

This next quilt was made from one jelly roll.  Obviously there was a lot of background fabric also but what a great use of a jelly roll.

This next one is also made from small squares.  Both of these would be good leader/ender projects.

Somewhere in my sewing room is a batik quilt that is still blocks.  It is wrapped up in a flannel backed tablecloth somewhere.  Seeing this quilt below, I need to find mine and get it finished.

We have a birthday club and there was only one birthday today.  Here is her collection of fat quarters from the other birthday club members.  Her fabric choice was Oriental/Asian.

The program for the meeting was heart/valentine quilts or other projects.  I will post some of them soon.

Melinda

February UFO #7

Nancy chose #7 for the UFO to work on in February.  Since I am still working on the January UFO, I was happy to see that my #7 is one that only needs to be quilted and bound.  Here is a photo of it before I stuck it in the “to be quilted” stack.

I have the backing made so just have to find time to quilt it.  It was made from Kaffe Fassett fabrics and doesn’t have a lot of contrast but I like it.  I think how I quilt it will make a big difference.

Melinda

Design Wall Monday

Here is what is on my design wall today.  I am still slowly working on the feathered star and have one corner done.  This is my UFO for January and obviously I didn’t get it finished in time but I want to get it done early this month.

For a look at other design walls, go to Judy’s Blog.

I am off for an adventure with my Monday morning group – I will report back later.

Melinda

A Few More Quilts from Show and Tell

I thought I would show a few more quilts from Show and Tell at guild on Friday.  I didn’t get photos of all of them, but the ones I did get were great.

This first one is a beautiful Baltimore Album.  She says it is her one and only Baltimore Album.  It is BEAUTIFUL.

This next one is by Olwyne.  She has 7 or 8 sisters and at Christmas took kits for all of them to make this banner.  We spent quite a lot of time one Sunday picking out the fabric for each one of them.  This is the one she ended up with.

Next is a beautiful batik quilt.

Then one with about a million half square triangles.

This one is make simply from squares – looks like it would work out well with charm packs.

Lastly, this is a quilt by Robin.  It was in a magazine a couple of years ago and I have the pattern and some fabric put away somewhere to make one of these.  I really like the fabrics that Robin used but that is usually the case.

Mine is going to be much brighter colors but I really like this one with the colors she used.  I need to find mine and get it started.

We had a busy day at the shop today and apparently the word is out that we have Gone With the Wind fabric.  We had some diehard GWTW fans at the shop buying fabric.  They don’t quilt or sew but just had to have some fabric for their collections.  They apparently live for GWTW and know everything about the movie, the book and talk about the characters as though they are dear friends – I guess they probably are.  It was fun talking to them.

Melinda