Morningstar

Today was a sew day at Koleen's, and I worked on my Morningstar quilt. I've been working on this quilt on and off since February, and I am delighted to have the top finished finally. The deadline for completion is next Wednesday, so I must try to get it quilted over the weekend.

The Morningstar quilt was this year's challenge quilt for the Tacoma Lake Quilters. We found the pattern on the P&B Textiles website here.

I think there must be 15 or more of us that made the quilt, and all of the quilts will become part of an exhibit at the Maine State quilt show in July.

I have only a few photos of some of the other quilts, all of which were taken by my good friend Margo and posted on her blog. It's fun to see them all together and to see how different the same pattern looks with different fabrics and color placements.

Credit where credit is due: Morningstar quilt design by Linda Hohag.

Rotary Cutter Mishap

No graphic photographs, just a friendly reminder not to get complacent about rotary cutter safety.

I have watched people cut fabric upside down and backwards with a rotary cutter, and it gives me the willies. I've done it once or twice and realized I don't have the same level of control that I have when I'm cutting the usual way, so I stopped doing it. However I've gotten into a habit of cutting from right to left with the ruler parallel to my body so I can see the cutting line a little better. Last night the cutter veered up on top of the ruler, and I sliced my finger wide open. It bled and bled, and it bled some more this morning. I am on my way to the doctor's office in a short while to see if stitches are warranted.

Use your tools in the way they are intended!

Update: I am back from the doctor's office, and apparently the decision about stitches must be made within the first several hours after an injury occurs; so no stitches, thankfully. The doctor said he didn't think they would have been necessary anyway. As it is now, I have to keep my finger bandaged for two weeks, can't get it wet, watch for signs of infection, you know the drill. Could have been worse, but this was bad enough!

Hexie #21

Figuring that I need about 82 full sized hexagon blocks for a queen-sized quilt, now I'm about a quarter of the way done. Slow but steady will get me there!

My good friend Koleen came up with a 6-Quilt Stashbuster Challenge. The idea is to choose six quilts and make a block a month for each quilt, or however many blocks you need to finish a particular quilt in a year's time. That would mean making multiple blocks each month for each quilt if I'm making bed-sized quilts. It's an interesting idea I'm considering, particularly since the block-a-week hexagons are working out well.

Hexie #20

Just for a change, I thought I'd get one finished on time! This block is for the current week, and I have the pieces cut out for the next one which I'll be starting tomorrow.

It is grey and cold in Maine today. Down in the basement I am working a walker bag, my Morningstar quilt, cutting for a breast cancer block, and a couple of embroidered quilt labels. I need to make a trip to ACMoore too for some supplies for a project for quilt group on Wednesday. A busy day ahead!

Hexie #19

I finished this hexagon block a couple of days ago. It's actually the one from last week. The pink inner ring is brighter than I intended, but I like it.

JudyS wanted to know what they would look like all together, so I took the ones I finished and placed them up on the design wall. It's the first time I've seen all of them laid out myself, and I realized the brighter pink will add a little sparkle. Good idea, Judy

The Last Downy Quilt

This is what we got up to this morning. The daffodils are blooming, the tender young leaves on the hostas are unfurling, and it was about 38 degrees and snowing. Is that depressing or what? I thought about going back to bed, but instead I went down to the basement and finished binding my Downy quilt, reorganized the fabrics in a couple sewing cabinets, rearranged all the stuff on top of the cabinets, cleaned up all the workspaces, and just puttered around. I love puttering around in the sewing room.

This is what it looked like outside at noon time. Big wet snowflakes coming down pretty hard, but most of the snow on the ground was melted. By about 4:00 the sky was still dark but the sun was out, and the temperature shot up 5 degrees. Big deal. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be more of the same. Where is spring?

Sometime this afternoon I got the Downy quilt washed and dried for mailing on Monday. Cute fabrics, huh? This is the last of the Downy quilt kits, and I'm glad to have them behind me.

Hexie #18

This is my hexagon block for last week. I like this one so much I could make a whole quilt out of these. I've started on the one for this week already, and I'm liking it a whole lot too.

The Downy Quilt Kits

Several weeks ago, one of my quilt groups decided to get onboard with the Quilts for Kids campaign, sponsored in part by Downy. I first saw mention of these on Pat's blog, but they seem to be popping up all over the place lately. The Quilts for Kids folks will ship a quilt kit to you that includes precut fabrics for the top plus the backing fabric. You supply the batting and the labor and ship it back to them. Most of our group wanted to participate; but since getting them quilted was an obstacle for most of the ladies, I offered to do it.

All my other quilting has been on hold for the last couple weeks, as I've tried to get these little quilts done. I've quilted nine so far, including three more that got finished yesterday. I have only my own left to do, then I'll be done. I haven't even finished my Star Crazy blocks for March yet nor my hexagon block from last week, and I'm not sure when I'll get them done now. We're shop hopping Friday and doing another charity project Saturday. Busy week!

Quilting ten little quilts all right in a row was a great opportunity to get some practice in and try out some new pantographs. My favorite was this one called Plaza from Willow Leaf Studio. It was fun to do, and I wasn't sure if I'd like the red thread on this quilt, but I actually liked it a lot when I was done.

This one was a pantograph called Crazy Puzzle from patternman.com. Meandering is just about the only free motion skill I possess at the moment, so I forget now why I got this panto, but I sure do like it.

Margo took some pictures of the rest of the Downy quilts today at the Tacoma Lakes chapter meeting, but she hasn't gotten them posted yet. I'll link to them when she does. They're all so cute.

EQ7

Did you notice this advertisement in the latest quilt magazines to hit the newstand? It's coming!

Happy Easter!

A Finish!

At long last my September Sun quilt is finished. I thought the day would never come. After I finished piecing it I asked my good friend Koleen to quilt it for me, not only because I was overwhelmed with the size (89" x 89"), but also because I was just sick of looking at it. She quilted it with the Plumage pantograph from Willow Leaf Studio, and I love it.

Four of us worked on this quilt as a challenge, and three of us have now finished. Our fourth challenger is vacationing in Arizona, and hopefully hers will come together when she gets back. Amazing how different they all look, isn't it? I lifted these two pictures from Margo's blog, who is our official photographer for the Tacoma Lakes group. (Thanks, Margo!)