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.