Star mystery

Friday was the final class for our advanced mystery at the LQS. Remember the Tucker Trimmer? We'd made a total of 48 stars (I think) along the way and then made 12 more in this class. The twelve small accented (my black) background stars become the center of an even bigger star, then the medium and other small stars surround it to make a 17" finished block. Here is one of mine. In hindsight, I would not have tried to use all those different yellows, but I think it will look fine when it's done and quilted. Crossing fingers.

Something's wrong with my sewing machine; it won't turn on (which doesn't bode well for my wallet). So procrastinator me wasn't able to finish up the homework, but I decided to go to the class anyhow to see how it was put together. As it turned out I was able to borrow a machine there, but in addition to being behind because the homework wasn't done, I had issues with 1/4" on that machine. So, I still have eleven more of these babies to make.

Anyhow, this is how the instructor's quilt turned out. She was jumping out of her shoes to be to a point to show us this. My picture doesn't do it justice; her gold accents just sparkled. This whopper turned out at 93x110 I think she said. None of us had intended to make the larger version, but after seeing it put together we all decided we just might have to. I've since decided to split my blocks into two lap-size quilts with six blocks each and then a similar border.

The pattern is Rangeley Stars by Deb Tucker/Studio 180. Here's her gallery of other versions of this quilt.

All in all, a fun time with good people!

My challenge quilt

James Stitching Sisters has a challenge once or twice a year. The one that ended Sunday involved taking a bolt of fabric to use in a backing, then make a quilt top to go with. The bolt fabric had to appear in any amount on the front. Part of what I also remembered was, do not bring the bolt back to the Center; if there's some left, cut it up to use in other JSS quilts, make more backings, etc... you get the picture. Just don't bring it back.

Of course, I took the prettiest bolt of those I could choose from. It just happened to be a nearly-full bolt, and I now have about 10 yards left. With a couple of more backings and bindings and a scrappy quilt or two added in, I should be able to finish this up sometime in the next decade. ha!

So, here is the challenge quilt I delivered Sunday, the deadline. (I love deadlines!) I hadn't planned to use that much of the challenge fabric on the front, but I sort of peter'd out on the design end here and just slapped on the borders after weeks of staring at it and trying to decide what I wanted to do. Part of my problem was in using those particular pinks & reds, which were in limited supply in the stash. I wasn't about to tear apart the blocks I had made in order to make it more scrappy.

another crappy pic from my LR floor

The quilt pattern is Winner's Bouquet by Terry Atkinson. It really was quite easy to put together--gentle curves and a couple of remembered tips from other bloggers helped me immensely along the way. In my 10 years of quilting, this is the first time I've used templates, but Carrie's tape idea worked so well on the templates I put it on all my rulers too! And Wanda's tip about stitching the end of the curve first was a lifesaver. I did stitch mine the opposite/ crosswise direction from the stitching line because at the time I remembered the process but not the specifics. It worked great. Thanks ladies!

We'll have a little banquet next week where all the challenge quilts are revealed, so I hope to have pics from that.

Have you heard...

of Karen's Tool Time Tuesday? I've been following her blog/these posts for several months and I'm always amazed at what she comes up with. Very creative! One of my favorites is recycling the TimBits box.

I haven't been to a quilt show in years, so I made a list of those coming up this Fall in Ohio or nearby and hope to make it to several. Yesterday afternoon I decided to get my lazy butt out the door before the weekend traffic kicked in and drove to a little town south of Columbus for the Circleville Quilt Show. The show was nice, if small, with quite a few hand-quilted quilts. Some of my favorites are shown here, but it was hard to get good pictures in such small spaces and less-than-optimal lighting.

This navy and dark red kaleidoscope quilt was by their featured Master Quilter, Katie Schneider, and one of my favorites. It would have been my viewer's choice if it had been eligible.

Because I don't have enough UFOs or ideas, I picked up this Amazing Nickel Quilts book while I saw it and was offered a 'show special' of 20% off. I wasn't even aware there was a third book until recently. And since *someone* signed up to participate in A Year of Schnibbles, those patterns made it home too. Of course, neither are what I need this month, but I hope they're in the queue.

Last but not least, I didn't know she was going to be there but had the good fortune of meeting Debra at the show. She was manning the booth for an LQS and is just as sweet in person as in email. She does beautiful redwork too and gave me a few good pointers.

When we're not at cookouts, I plan to spend the rest of the weekend quilting--a couple more blocks and then borders for the Winner's Bouquet; more blocks for the mystery quilt; and some diamond blocks for Heartstrings. I best get a move on.

Take care, and have a safe weekend~

Sheila