Lone Stars

Like a lot of quilters I collect magazine patterns and instructions into a binder. I have several. Some of the patterns are 'someday' quilts. You know the ones, Mariner's Compass, Russian Sunflower, Broken Star. Will I ever make those? I knew it would take time, effort and energy, just the opposite of my 'no thinkum' sewing. So I decided recently, while I'm between jobs maybe I have the time and energy, maybe today was someday. Here's the first one I came to, I didn't stop to consider whether I 'should' or not. Just DO it!

I went to Electric Quilt 'to begin to start to commence' as we say.

Queen, 94" x 116"

I worked a lot on the color scheme. The colors in the quilt are so soft and beautiful, but I knew I'd never be able to reproduce that, so I chose turn of the last century; indigo and cadet blue, chrome yellow, shirtings, no black or purple, poison green, vintage brown, you get the idea. Drafting blocks in EQ helps.

But EQ drafts can only take you so far, at some point you have to start cutting.

First group

The stars are 22 inches, made from strips cut 1 and 3/8". I decided it would be helpful to stablize the fabric to minimize stretching, so I starched the strips after they were cut.

The first unit is pieced from fabrics 1-5, the second, 2-6, the third, 3-7 and so on. This way you don't have to cut and sew diamonds and worry about the bias edges stretching as you sew.

Trim the strip set at a 45 degree angle.

Then cut eight strips from each strip set.

For each arm of the star you take one strip from each strip set and sew them together. *phew* what a lot of effort!

Once I finished the first arm, I felt like I'd accomplished a whole bunch. But I have to do this how many more times?? I scanned the first arm and 'pieced' the star in Photoshop. I was too impatient to see what it's going to look like.

This is a photo composite, that's why the center is off. Not too bad for two days worth of sewing. Oddly enough, I received a job offer the next day. I begin my new position October 18!