Wednesday, October 06, 2010

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!

7 comments:

Lindah said...

Congratulations on the new job!

The quilt will be beautiful. Work at it a little bit at a time. You'll be surprised how quickly it will go, even with the new job.

Have fun!

antique quilter said...

what an amazing quilt. OH a perfect project for your in between stage of jobs.... wouldn't it be amazing to make this quilt while you are home, a block a day?
I am routing for you!
Its beautiful , wish I had the nerve to make it with you!
for some reason this block intimidates me...
Kathie

Anneke said...

it turnes out beautiful! I'm between jobs now too, but I'm always amazed how fast the days go by.

congratulations on your new job and good luck

Lena Möre said...

Thankyou for your lesson :-)

Rose Marie said...

This is an awesome project .... bravo to you for making those blocks. Good luck with your new job!

Brenda said...

See what can happpen when you just jump right in and try something new!!! Congrats on the new job!!! And congrats on the start of a beautiful project!! What are you going to call it - My Good Luck Stars"?!! Excellant news!! And I like what you have done!

Feeling Simply Quilty said...

I've made a scrap quilt like that, from Judy Martin's stars book.

You can see it on my blog under the quilts I have made slide video and under the label, quilts I have made.

Definitely a challenge!