Finished spinning!

I finished my spinning stars quilt last weekend and finally got around to taking some pictures. Katy at I'm a ginger monkey started a spinning stars QAL. I decided on a whim that this would be the perfect quilt to give to my 8 year old sister for Christmas.

 

Do you ever listen to the NPR radio program "Says You"? It's a word game show and recently one of the questions was: What is the difference between easy and simple. Well this pattern is simple but NOT easy. There are a lot of bias cuts to deal with and seams meeting up all over the place. I also decided to make it even more complicated by making my stars all different colors. This meant that I had to make the quilt block by block. It is not chain piecing compatible.

 

Quilt deets:

Name- Spinning Stars {and Geese}

Pattern - Spinning stars from Anna Maria Horner

Size - 60" x 60"

fabrics -  various prints from The center triangles are made with some Tula, a habitat print, domestic bliss and an art gallery print. Probably something else in there too. The solid octagons are either Oakshott cottons (blue, purple, olive) and connecting threads solids and mirages. The stars are  domestic bliss, flea market fancy and two connecting thread prints (the honeycomb and blue dot fabs).
Piecing - paper pieced each block using a foundation paper piecing template I designed. (final block size is 15" instead of 18")

quilting - free motion with Aurifil Vareigated thread from the eat your fruits and veggies pack
Binding - Parisville eyedrops machine bound. 

Here's a close up of the quilting. I love the way the vareigated thread blends in or stands out depending on the color of the ring. I left the centers bare so they would pop out.

The back was pieced with mostly Kona Gray to show off the quilting. I added in some leftover prints because I ran out of gray didn't want the back to be boring. But seriously, I like pieced backs best.


Quilted loops

And quilted stars. You can really appreciate the quilting on the back.

I echo quilted the geese and made a spiral in the center. It looks like the geese are circling the sun (aka a star). This is, like, sooooo meta.



 

This quilt took a long time (for me) to finish. Look back at the progress here:

Introduction, template test, fabrics selection
First block
Top finished
Quilting

In the end it was all worth it. It is one of my favorite finishes and I believe the worthy recipient will enjoy it for years to come. I tried not to make it too childish so she could grow into it. Now comes the hardest part - mustering up the energy to get it to the post office.

The scraps from this quilt (over 13 ozs of scraps people) were given away as my Sew Mama Sew giveaway. Linking up with Plum and June.

WIP Wednesday - late night photos

Modest progress this week accompanied by poorly lit photos and semi-lyrical captions. Enjoy!

On the 16th day of November (ok I know it is the 14th) my true love gave to meeeeee 16 figure 8 scarves in various states of completion. From left to right. Completed scarves. Pinned and pressed and waiting for the final hand stitching step. Not pinned not pressed, tired from the rest.

Spinning stars {and geese} quilt is mid-quilting. You can kinda see it here. Loops in the solid rings...

And filling in the stars with a back-and-forth squiggle (There has to be a legit name for that which I don't know). 

Quilting this guy has been a bit of a nightmare but I will discuss that in a later post because I firmly believe that the nightmare will have a happy ending.

 In other non-picture worthy news. I made three more scrappy blocks (red ones) for my scrappy placemats.

And that's it for this weeks WIPnesday. Check out the other projects at Freshly Pieced.

100 day hustle - on the 50 yard line

Progress update for the halfway point of...

Anyone ever watch Dead Like Me? I feel like I am part of "getting things done with Dolores." Won't you see what kind of things I have been getting done?

Finished

1. Tales from Earth and Sea (a roller rink quilt Elizabeth Hartman design)

2. October NuBees

3. Lunch bags for the frog festival (made but didn't go to the festival (sad face))

4. Last couch pillow. All the pillows (and Scrappysaurus Rex) on the new couch...

5. Sakura quilt for my Bubby (this one was a recent addition to my list as well as a recent finish)

Ongoing

1. Commissioned messenger bag for coworker - made the body of the bag, stalled at making the strap.

Heavyweight canvas for the main fabic to give it support. Lined with Habitat and some Hope Valley. Pattern is the messenger bag from From the Zakka Style book (my favorite pattern of the book).

2. 16 figure 8 scarves (the number used to be 24 but I miscalculated earlier) - fabric cut. Test scarf made. Halfway through sewing.

Little folks voile. 1 down, 15 to go. I confess I've worn this one around town a bit. You know, just to test drive it.

3. Three more Christmas pillow covers. Each pillow will be made uising a different technique. I have already made the tops for two of them. I have the fabric and design picked out for the third.

 

Spinning stars block. Hand quilted

 Improv piecing. Quilt as you go (QAYG). Astute readers may notice I used red thread for green blocks and green thread for red blocks. see...

4. Spinning starts quilt - quilt top and back done. Need to baste (ugh)

No progress
1. Christmas gift for K - no preview, it's a surprise!

2. Nubees block quilt - once I get my blocks for Oct/Nov I can put this together

3. Scrap buster placemats

Not started

1. Quilt for my sister A - she wants a honeycomb pattern with bees - using this pattern and these fabrics.

2. Advent calendar
3.Tree skirt
4. Recover 2nd pillow for guest bedroom

Can you believe it. Only 50 more days until 2013. My completed list is growing but I am already thinking of the things I want to add to the list for the start of 2013. I really need to stay focused!!

By the 75% mark I expect that all the ongoing projects will be complete and that I will have made some headway into the semi-abandoned projects at the end of my list. Head on over to Kelsey's to see everyone do the hustle.

Happy Friday!

A Tale of two Quilt Tops

If you are looking for my Bloggers Quilt Festival post- it is here.

The last few weeks I haven't felt like I was making a big dent in my to-sew list. But, this weekend was VERY productive. I finished two quilt tops, one quilt back and am halfway done with a messenger bag. Kim and I crafted all day Saturday and Sunday. We may have annoyed my hubs a tad but he is a great sport. Plus we made him pumpkin scones.

Look at this plate. There's so much Fall in this picture its ridiculous. Be jealous.

Okay onto the quilt tops. Spinning stars {and geese} and a new quilt Sakura are both done. I will talk about each individually and then have a side by side comparison.

Sakura

This quilt is called Sakura, which means cherry blossom in Japanese. I used a Matsuri fat quarter bundle and some coordinating solids from connecting threads. The Matsuri is a cotton lawn so it is super soft and silky like voile. I had the perfect solids in my stash for this quilt, how often does that happen! The pattern is cherry pie from Tula Pink. This pattern was showcased on Sew Sweetness's Tula Pink SAL. I wasn't going to do the SAL until I saw this post. Damn you/thank you for the distraction! I think I can get this finished before the SAL is over.

Here's a close up of one of the blocks. Probably need to iron this a bit :)

Spinning Stars {and Geese}

This top is made from lots of different fabrics from my stash. The center triangles are made with some Tula, a habitat print, domestic bliss and an art gallery print. Probably something else in there too. The solid octagons are either Oakshott cottons (blue, purple, olive) and connecting threads solids and mirages. The stars are  domestic bliss, flea market fancy and two connecting thread prints (the honeycomb and blue dot fabs).

This is what I had to deal with when piecing the top. Yeah I need a design wall like woah.

This is a representative block. I love the way the olive Oakshott adds some sophistication to this quilt top.  The quilt is for my youngest sister (she is 7). I wanted it to not be too "kiddy" something she can use for years to come.

I love all the spinning star quilts in the flickr group but from the get go I wanted to do something a little different. I chose to switch out one of the blocks with a circle of geese block. I am really happy the way it turned out. It looks like it is floating on the background stars.

So in summary...

Sakura - Finished the entire thing in one day

Spinning stars - I averaged about one block a day and it took over a month

Sakura- No seams needed to match up!

Spinning stars- EVERY seam needed to meet up

Sakura- not much thought required

Spinning stars- every brain cell was used

I love them both and it was so satisfying to piece the Sakura after the spinning stars. Linking up with A quilt story Fabric Tuesdays and WIP Wednesdays with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

WIP - just keep spinning

The spinning stars blocks are almost done! 4 more years to go!

Here's a close up of the stars.

I'm sure you are pretty tired of just seeing spinning stars on my blog. I know I am! It's not that I don't like them or the pattern I am just itching to do other things. I pulled these fabrics to make another Zakka messenger bag.

 Blue/gray canvas fabric, some Habitat and Hope Valley.

Lately I've been more in the baking/cooking mood than sewing (If you couldn't tell based on my last three posts). Last night I made baked salmon, spinach and potatoes au gratin from the pioneer woman.

Oh my god, so glad I have leftover potatoes.

Linking up with fabric Tuesdays today and WIP Wednesday tomorrow. 

WIP Wednesday - Spin, stars, spin

Happy Wednesday Bloggeroos. If you want to see my finished roller rink quilt - it is here. This past week I made progress on my spinning stars blocks. Katy over at I'm a ginger monkey hosts the quilt along for Anna Marie Horner's Spinning Stars quilt pattern (flickr group here).

These blocks take all my concentration because I chose to make it complicated using directional prints and building different colored stars with the 'C' blocks. Here is my Spinning stars paper piecing template. Each of these blocks will be 15" square when finished.

Spin stars, spin!

I got the urge to organize my scrap box at about 10:30 last night. Yeah....

Then I did some impromptu improv:

I whiped up these orange blocks from my measly pile of orange scraps. You can see them hiding behind the whites in the scrap photo above. The blocks were improve pieced and trimmed down to the size of my 6 x 12 inch ruler. I don't usually cut the scraps before I sew. That is why there is a gray block in there. It was found sewn to the solid orange in my scrap box so in it goes.

For those of you who know me, you would know that I am usually fast asleep by 10:30. This late night crafting is quite uncharacteristic but liberating. My spinning stars design is so constrained and requires so much thought that this was a true pleasure.

As I was writing this post I stumbled upon a scrappy blog hop going on at Ellison Lane Quilts first post here. My love of scraps compels me to join another QAL.

This weekend I am going home and I am very excited because

1) I haven't been back for over a year (I am a bad daughter, I know) and more importantly,
2) I will finally get to give my mom her Bargello quilt. She hasn't seen it since I started cutting the fabric so it will be a total surprise.

WIP Wednesday- rollin' and spinnin'

Another week, another Wednesday. It seems like 2012 is just flying by. I've got my list for 2012 finishes and making good progress. I'm finishing up a roller rink quilt for a wedding quilt. Just need to sew down the binding and wash it!

from this.... 

...to this

Leuko helped. 

I finally made the zakka zig-zag tote albeit a little late. It was project 1 of 24 in the SAL which is now over. I modified it with a reinforced canvas bottom. I also made the bag a bit shorter. I took this guy all the way to the other side of the city for a sewing expo. Not as cool as if I could go to the sewing summit but oh well!

 local edition!

Washi zig-zag

Some snowball blocks for a donation quilt for a little boy who likes red, green, black, footballs and cheetah. Not my usual color scheme to say the least.

And even thought the title of my post would suggest I would have lots of spinning stars to show you, alas, no. Stars are up next.

This little block says "make me some friends. I'm lonely"

Oh FYI, Hawthorne Threads is having a tent sale. I know I caved and bought some much needed stash builders. Join me in the fray, won't you?