Appliqueing Star Dance

The first applique corner of Star Dance is  finished. All four corners will have the same design but I'll use different fabrics for the stars and circle centers.

I am making a lot of extra circles. When the applique is finished, the extra circles will be added randomly to the border. I think the applique design is rather sparse and needs some extra zing. I might change my mind when the borders are finished. 

The pieced 4" finished stars were made in 2017 as a  RSC project. I decided to finish this quilt first before I start another RSC project.

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday, Oh Scrap, Show & Tell with Bambi, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Whatever Wednesday

Star Dance, the Applique Border

In 2017, I participated in the RSC color of the month by piecing Star Dance blocks. In November 2017, I sewed the blocks together to make the center of the quilt.

Two weeks ago I sewed the borders onto the center body, a good project to do on a very snowy day. I had originally planned to machine applique the borders at my guild retreat the first weekend in March. Well, I looked at the pattern and decided I really would like the borders better if I hand applique instead of machine applique. So, no applique to show today.

Once I'm finished with the Pastor's Attic borders, then Star Dance will be the next applique project. My list of unfinished projects to be sewn into flimsies is going very slowly.

Glenda mentioned that I hadn't published pictures of snow this winter so I took some before the 10" we received in two days melted.

The snowed piled on the steps up to our porch so that's where I took the picture of Star Dance.

We live on top of a hill. I walked to the curve in our drive and took some pictures of fields.

This first picture is look northeast, across the pasture. The line of trees shows the edge of the creek that separates our farm from our neighbors.

The faint brown line going through the field is fencing which divides the pasture from cropland.

Now we are looking southeast, across the pasture, crossing the road and into a different neighbor's field. Again the line of trees is the edge of the creek. 

If you enlarge this picture really large, you can see their beef cattle in the background. The snowpile by the edge of the driveway is 4" high where my husband has pushed it with the skid loader.

All our cattle have names. 

This is Emily wondering when they'll be able to graze again in the pasture.

And Missie is enjoying the warmth from the sunshine.

The day after I took the above pictures, the temperature rose above freezing, then we had fog. 

I'm standing on the porch looking southeast into the cow pasture.

Now I'm looking straight south at our son's home. You can see it faintly behind the one evergreen tree.

That evening it rained and the fog dissipated but since the ground is still frozen we have water standing.

Just this week the temperature rose to 60 degrees and we had several days of rain. The snow melted but the ground was still frozen so . . . flooding. This first picture is looking northeast across the pasture into the cropland, same as the very top picture. The creek has overflowed 

Looking southeast toward the road.

I'm looking forward to green grass, warm temperatures, going barefoot and of course, fresh tomatoes!

Linking to  A Quilting Reader's Garden,  Show Off Saturday, Scrap Happy Saturday, Oh Scrap, Love Laugh Quilt, Show & Tell With Bambi, BOM's Away, Em's Scrapbag

Last Finish of 2017!

2017 was my first year to participate in the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge and my first RSC quilt is finished! I sewed the binding on the 4-patch summer quilt yesterday. She's finished except for the label which I forgot to add. I'll get around to it sometime.

She is a big king sized but I like them to completely cover the mattress and reach down the sides. I had planned to curve the corners, but I forgot and didn't remember until after the binding was sewn on.

A summer quilt doesn't have batting, just the top and backing. Tammy Payette of Three Sisters Fabric, New Paris, Ind, was the long arm quilter. She did an overall simple medium stippling. I asked her if she had any problems and she said she had to watch the tension closely but it wasn't too bad. This is a picture of the back. The quilting shows on the front of the quilt but didn't show in a picture.

I needed to piece the backing. I was trying to make the back have an off side plus but it didn't turn out quite right. This backing caused me more frustration than the quilt front did!

It feels good to have this quilt finished even if I won't be able to use it for six months. I hope you enjoyed the pictures, it is cold and windy outside!

Linking to - Scrap Happy Saturday, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Love Laugh Quilt, BOM's Away, Quilter's Monday, Let's Bee Social, My Quilt Infatuation, Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Finish It Up Friday

Star Dance Blocks

Another project that made progress at the Jane Stickle Retreat, were the Star Dance blocks. The center is now sewn and ready for applique.

I didn't set the blocks the way the pattern said with a straight set. I personally like blocks set on point. At this stage, she measures 43 1/2" by 53 1/2".

I'm planning on doing the applique with machine stitching, a new learning experience for me! Hopefully I will have the applique pieces prepped and ready to go for my guild's retreat the first weekend in March, 2018.

A fun fact about this quilt is that all the stars have been made from fabrics in my stash, the striped border too!

While at the retreat, I also sewed the border on my mammoth 4-patch quilt (no picture). He measures 124" by 125". I need to finish piecing the backing and then off to the long arm quilter he will go. I'll take a picture after the binding is attached.

Linking to Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Finish It Up Friday, Scrap Happy Saturday, Oh Scrap!, LoveLaughQuilt, Show & Tell Monday with Bambi, Em's Scrapbag, BOM'S Away, Quilts My Way, UFO Challenge

Pink RSC Blocks

I've made my pink Star Dance blocks. These sweet little guys finish at 4".

The display wall full of stars.

They're off the wall now. I've made detailed notes on how I want to set them. The white squares are cut and so are the side triangles. They're bagged and ready to go to the retreat in November. 

I've been cleaning and organizing my sewing room since I've finished the center of Nearly Insane. The larger pieces of blue fabrics have been folded and returned to the blue box. Then I tackled the smaller pieces. The larger pieces of the small pieces have been cut into usable squares. They're the larger tray. Anything smaller than 1 1/2" is on the small tray. Those pieces have been bagged and will be given to a friend who does beautiful small applique pieces. 

When I finish a project, I always get the larger pieces of fabrics folded and returned to their box but I'm not so good at taking care of the smaller pieces. I have a basket on a small table close to the cutting table. I normally place toss them in the basket and think I'll cut them up later.

'Later' came after I finished cutting the blue pieces. Actually it took me several days to get those pieces taken care of, the basket was full and running over! I've repurposed the basket, from now on, I am going to clean up after each project. 

The small table has been reorganized, the carpet has been vacuumed, it is such a good feeling.

I'm going to get out the fabric for the Pastor's Attic Quilt and start prepping the borders. I don't know how far I'll get with prepping, I'm leaving this week to visit the  Pennsylvania grands.

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday, Show Off Saturday, Oh Scrap, BOM's Away, Quilting Room With Mel

Purple Star Dance Blocks

The RSC color in January was purple. I made the 4 patch blocks and was finished with purple. Then the last week of January, I pulled a pattern I've been wanting to make for years, Star Dance, and decided to make Star Dance blocks also. I quickly made 4 purple stars. 

In February, I decided I would make 8 stars each month. I needed to make more purple stars, I've finally got them sewn.

These stars finish at 4". 

You probably can't see it in the picture, but these fabrics all have some gold sparkle on them. They're going to add zing to my quilt.

Here are all the blocks so far, just need to get the pink stars made.

People keep asking me how I going to set these. 

The original pattern has them on a straight set with a white square in between. As of right now, I'm planning to turn them on point (like they are in the picture) which a white square in between. After the pink stars are made, I'll have 64 stars so the set will be 8 by 8 except I don't really like square quilts so I might make more stars? I'll decide about that later.

 I do plan to add the applique border. 

These blocks are 4" so this is not going to be a large quilt. That's OK, I don't have to make everything queen or king sized. I'm actually looking forward to making a small quilt for once.

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday, Show Off Saturday.

Orange Star Dance Blocks

I've sewn the 8 orange Star Dance blocks for September. These little stars will finish at 4".

There are many shades of orange in this group.

And a picture of all the Star Dance blocks so far.

See what other people have sewn for Scrap Happy Saturday. Also linking to Show Off Saturday.

Circle of Squares Quilted

The big baler wasn't available to bale earlier this week and now we are having several days of rain and drizzle. Definitely not haymaking weather so plenty of time for sewing.

I had been undecided about how to quilt the Circle of Squares quilt that I pieced in June for the RSC. I tentatively thought I would do spiral quilting but that just didn't seem right. After I read the post by Roseanne about quilting of Irish Chain (9-Patch), I knew how I was going to quilt her.

I did a little preliminary work before starting the quilting. 

First I marked a X on the quilt then a +. The + was so I would know where the pivot point was supposed to be. 

I think it helped. I quilted the quilt in 4 sections, trying to do a section a day. She turned out very nicely. She measures 44" x 45" and will make a lovely baby quilt.

I didn't have enough of either of the larger pieces of yellow or flowered yellow fabric to use entirely for the backing but I had a lot of the checkerboard blocks leftover from the front of the quilt. It worked!

Linking to - Free Motion Mavericks, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished Or Not Friday, TGIFF,  Finish It Up Friday, Let's Make Baby Quilts, Scrap Happy Saturday, BOM'S Away, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Show & Tell Monday, LoveLaughQuilt, Em's Scrapbag, Fiber Tuesday, Sew, Stitch, Snap SHOW, Sew Some Love

RSC Blocks

The end of July through the middle of October is the busiest time on the farm for me. Besides the challenge of hay making, the garden's bounty is ripening and ready to be preserved. There isn't much time in the day for sewing. When I do have time to sew, I need to work on something that can be put down and picked up easily, nothing challenging. Nearly Insane has been put on the back burner and I have worked on the RSC blocks.

The August color for the RSC is neutrals. Well, that won't work for me, I'm making the actual rainbow colors for my quilt. I only have 2 more colors to make, pink and orange so I pulled out the appropriate 4-patches and made the blocks.

I'm making 28 blocks of each color. I sew the blocks in groups of 3 so I can vary the fabrics. The first group makes 10 blocks, the next two groups make 9 blocks each.

First I organize the squares.

Then I web sew the first two vertical rows together. I sew all the first vertical rows.

Then I add the third vertical row.

Finally the 4th vertical row is added.

After all the blocks have been webbed together, I press them and then start sewing the rows together.

After all the rows are sewn together they get a final press.

Here are a few of the pink blocks for display. 

I also sewed the orange blocks. Now orange is a challenge for me because it is NOT a color I especially like. 

In fact, when I joined the RSC, I didn't have very many orange fabrics at all. The fabrics with the dots are left over fabric from making the pinwheel crib quilts along with a few other fabrics. I actually ordered a fat quarter bundle of orange fabrics from Connecting Threads so I would have a variety of orange to use. They turned out ok. I'm still not excited about orange but I can live with these blocks.

When I started making the RSC blocks, I was using leftover white on white fabrics. I've use them up! I needed to expand the selection fabrics to be used for the solid squares. 

The little squares finish at 1" and the solid squares are 2".

I'll be putting these blocks away until later in autumn when I have time to sew the blocks into a top. 

Linking to -  Scrap Happy Saturday, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Love Laugh Quilt, BOM's Away, Quilter's Monday,  Fiber Tuesday, My Quilt Infatuation, Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!

Star Dance Blocks

The 4" finished blue Star Dance blocks are finished.

Only 1 block is all the same fabric, the center top block. The blue fabric with the pink center has pink flowers in it and the fabric with the yellow center has some gold. This just adds more variety to the stars in the quilt.

And all the blocks so far. Each month I've made 8 or 9 blocks, except for purples. I showed restraint that month and only made 4. I'll get 4 more made sometime.

Linking to - Fiber Tuesday, Sew, Stitch, Snap SHOW, Let's Bee Social, My Quilt Infatuation, Finished Or Not Friday, TGIFF!, Crazy Mom Quilts, Show Off Saturday, Scrap Happy Saturday

Blue 4-Patch Blocks

I've finally completed 28 blue 4-patch blocks for the RSC for July. Here are 9 of the blocks on display.

Some of these fabrics would have worked for the mixed color month but I just threw them in anyway. They just add a little zing to the overall effect.

Now I need to piece the Star Dance blocks.

Linking to - Let's Bee Social, My Quilt Infatuation, Finished Or Not Friday, TGIFF!, Crazy Mom Quilts, Show Off Saturday, Scrap Happy Saturday

Circle of Squares Flimsy

I should have started another row of Nearly Insane this week but I just wasn't in the right frame of mind. I have to really concentrate on those blocks. I guess I just wasn't ready to concentrate because I just didn't have the necessary enthusiasm needed.

I decided to sew the Circle of Square blocks together into a flimsy. The blocks finish at 12". I decided on a checkerboard border before the outside border. She measure 47" across the center. 

There are different yellows in the blocks but they all look the same in the picture. Oh well.

She'll get quilted sometime. I think she looks bright and cheery. You can find the pattern on toefeather's blog. The pattern is just for the blocks. I don't know how she finished her quilt.

Someone had commented that Circle of Squares would make nice scrappy blocks. Here is a link to the scrappy Circle of Squares quilt Lisa made. 

I had made these blocks as part of the Scrappy Rainbow Challenge, just to see how they pieced and looked. This was a fun block to make and very simple too. I can see myself making more of these, but not this year.

While I was outside taking pictures, I snapped a photo of the volunteer violas in a flowerbed. I always think they look so happy.

I don't plant them, they just reseed themselves every year.

Linking to - My Quilt Infatuation, Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, A Quiltering Reader's Garden, Crazy Mom Quilts, Show Off Saturday

Circle of Squares

I've been admiring the Circle of Squares block on several blogs ever since I saw it the first time. I don't know who's blog that was but Kathy has been making this block for her one of her RSC projects. I would like to make these blocks but I'm already making two separate projects for the RSC, I don't want to add another one to the mix.

However, something came over me when I was prepping the Star Dance blocks. I decided to prep one or two blocks for Circle of Squares! The pattern is found on Toefeather's blog.

Here they are, 8 (yes 8) Circle of Square blocks.

I don't know if I'll make Circle of Square blocks every month. I did think of a way to use 8 blocks in a crib quilt. Time will tell.

For your information - I learn so many thing from reading other blogs. We shouldn't call ourselves sewers (which can be confused with pipes in the ground that have human waste running through them) anymore. We should call ourselves sewists! I'm sorry I don't remember who's blog I read that on but it sounds so much nicer.

Linking to - Quilter's Monday,  Fiber Tuesday,  Sew Fresh Quilts, My Quilt Infatuation, Scrap Happy Saturday

Star Dance Blocks

I put a lot of miles on my sewing machine last week working on many projects. This week we're putting all our efforts into making hay so I'm out in the fields driving tractor. This week's posts were written last Saturday and are highlighting what I worked on.

I took Nearly Insane down from the display wall because she became too large for it. My wall looked so empty so I pinned all the Star Dance blocks that I had pieced so far to the display wall. Don't they look cute?

Several weeks ago, a friend called while I was sewing and we chatted for a long time. As we talked away, I kept noticing the stars and thinking the cutest star was the green star (bottom center) that had 2 different fabrics in it. I decided to change things up for the June stars.

I added red to three of the blocks.

These blocks are all yellow but I mixed the fabrics. In the top right block, I made the center with yellow fabric and the corners with white. These changes don't show very much.

The final 3 have the same fabric in each block.

The yellow stars brightens up the rest of the stars. I see I need to make more purple stars.

This pattern is called Star Dance. The stars finish at 4". My quilt will be larger than the pattern.

Linking to - My Quilt Infatuation, Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Crazy Mom Quilts, Show Off Saturday, Scrap Happy Saturday

More Yellow 4-Patch Blocks

The original plan for this week had been to spend it making hay. However, the weather has not cooperated, so I've been stitching as fast as I can before I need to head out to the hayfield.

After I finished the last row of Nearly Insane, I prepped the pieces for the additional 13 yellow blocks I need for my RSC blocks. I added other yellows than the original 15 blocks so they would look somewhat different. Sorry the picture is dark.

I laid part of the blocks out on the display floor to give you an idea of the tentative plan for the quilt. This is a small version of what will eventually be a king sized quilt.

Obviously it will look nicer when all the colors are in the quilt.

Linking to - Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Crazy Mom Quilts, Scrap Happy Saturday, Show Off Saturday, Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework!