Oh My Lucky Stars!

In January of 2013, I decided to join in on the Lucky Stars BOM hosted by Elizabeth at Don't Call Me Betsy. My experience with paper piecing had not been good. I'd tried it many years ago, pretty much trying to figure it out on my own {which was probably my first mistake}. My first paper pieced project was a very complicated Poinsettia wall quilt and although I finished it, I vowed to never paper piece again.

A couple of years ago, one of our talented local quilters, Marsha Bray, taught a paper piecing class for my guild. It's not your typical method, but one that uses freezer paper with no sewing through the paper and no tearing off the paper. I loved the method and dabbled a little bit.

The Lucky Stars quilt was the perfect opportunity for me to jump in with both feet! A monthly block was just enough to keep me going and I can now say that I can paper piece without reading Marsha's instructions! If any of you are local to St Louis, she teaches it at the Quilted Fox.

This week I put the last binding stitch on my quilt. Pretty proud of this one!

Love all the variations on the star...

Can I have a favorite? It's this one...

Twelve in all...

One of my favorite AMH prints on the back!

A year long quilt is a tough one for me. My color scheme changed as the year progressed. It turned out nothing like I had originally planned! But I think it came together well!

What can I paper piece next???

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Looking Ahead to 2014...

Within you is a limitless, unborn potential of creativity and substance, and the present experience can be your great opportunity to give birth to it.      --- Eric Butterworth

I love a new year. Not one to make lofty resolutions, I do like a blank slate and the opportunity to dream about a new year and what it may hold.

2013 ended in a nice spot for me. I wrapped up some WIPs and with few demands or looming deadlines ahead, I'm ready to jump in and play with some new fabric and projects I've been contemplating.

I actually finished up these blocks before Christmas and set them together a few days ago. The pattern is Nutmeg Stars from Fig Tree and much of the fabric is V and Co's upcoming line "Color Me Happy". You won't find the pattern listed on the Fig Tree website, but I think she's going to get it posted again. I'll let you know!

Gypsy Kisses from Material Obsession 2.  After seeing Jessica's quilt on Instagram, I knew I wanted to make this one. I'm using my FQ bundle of April Showers by Bonnie and Camille. I have enough fabric to piece all the arcs, but the finish will have to wait until the yardage comes out in March.

This will be an ongoing project this year. Reminiscent of the Farmer's Wife quilt-along, I'm making 60 - 6.0" blocks. It's going to be a special quilt for me, that I hope to finish for a special birthday in December of 2014.

And my AMH Dowry is calling my name. I have a plan and can't wait to give it a whirl!

In other new fabric lines - I've always been a huge fan of Heather Bailey's work. It's been a while since she released a fabric line so I jumped on Lottie Da. I've been working on a Kaleidoscope block that's going surprisingly quick. Hope to provide some details on how to piece this block soon!

What else can you expect to see here in 2014? Some embroidery and maybe even a bit of simple crochet.

One of the things I'm most excited about is a little sewing room makeover. We're putting in new floors in the next couple of months and you know one thing always leads to another. I'll be painting, reorganizing and maybe even a bit of destashing. I've never had a sale before, but hope to offer some good deals on Instagram.

In terms of non-sewing things for 2014, I'm starting an online photography course next week. I'm super excited about it - you'll have to let me know if you see any improvement in my pics here.

And on a personal note - I hope to continue to improve my diet by "eating clean" {and feeling better for it} and embracing my naturally curly hair {a change I made a few months ago}.

Yes! I think it's going to be a good year! Hope you'll join me!

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Block Making...

It's been a week of making blocks for me. Well, actually this one was made a week or so ago. I could't show it until the recipient had it in her little hands. I made this mug rug using scraps from my Marcelle Medallion quilt for a very generous and ridiculously funny quilter. Just a little thank you for Carrie who blogs here: La Vie En Rosie. The block is one of the Lucky Stars paper-pieced blocks.

And speaking of Lucky Stars, I'm caught up and August is complete...

I'm up to nine blocks and it's not looking like I originally envisioned it, but I'm totally lovin' how the blocks look together. So typical of me with long-term projects; they evolve!

I also made a couple of bee blocks this week...

House blocks in Kaffe Fassett fabric for my Girls Group...

And a solids block called Lucky Pieces by Faith from Fresh Lemons Quilts for Carolyn in the Redbird Bee...

And finally, I finished up by blocks for "Fresh" from Simply Retro...

For the first time in a while we have a free weekend, with no plans except for a dinner date. Maybe I'll get these set together.

Have a great weekend!!

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Lone Starburst finish...

Seems I've been making my Lone Starburst blocks for quilt a while! In fact, I think I made the first one last Summer when Anna Maria Horner's Field Study line was released.

After that first one, I decided to go a bit simpler and use 2 prints for the inner star and a coordinating solid for the outline of the star.

The blocks are paper pieced and as paper piecing tends to be - some slow sewing.
And on the very last block and last few pieces, I found myself short by about an inch with no solid fabric left. That required and online order and more waiting for fabric to arrive...

When the time came to put the blocks together, I tried several scenarios, unhappy with anything I came up with. An internet search of the block found only a couple of finished quilts - lots of pillows, but few quilts.

It took a few weeks of mulling before this setting came to mind. And the slow process paid off - I couldn't be happier with the quilt!

There was no way I was going to get rid of that original block, so it's pieced into the backing.

My final dilemma was how to bind it. I wanted to use a Field Study print, but didn't have enough of any one of them to work. More mulling and a scrappy Field Study binding was the answer.

Thanks so much to Anna from Six White Horses for the fantastic block pattern. You can find it for free here: Lone Starburst.

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#kinderhook2013

Tell a non-quilter that you're going on a quilt retreat and they give you quite a puzzled look. Most think of praying when they hear the word retreat. And although there are plenty of prayers uttered {my grandmother always taught me to say a prayer before cutting}, if you've ever been on a quilt retreat you know just how amazing and restorative they can be.

We sew drinking our coffee in the morning until sipping our wine at night. In between there's yummy food, tears of laughter {often over the same old jokes} and tears of sadness as we experience the safe place to share our struggles. I've been retreating with the same group of friends for many years now and though not biologically, they are truly my sisters. My heart is filled with gratitude for each and every one of them.

And yes, I got some fun sewing done!

A fat quarter pack of Nordika transformed into a Garden Lattice quilt from my new book...

The July Lucky Stars block...

A new pincushion using this tutorial... 

home for my awesome, new "Little House" pins available here and here...

Four more "Fresh" blocks, giving me a total of 5... {pattern from Simply Retro}

Nine blocks to add to my Flying Geese Redbird Bee quilt...

And a final Good-bye to Kinderhook Lodge. You were fun!!

More pics from this year's retreat on Instagram... #kinderhook2013

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WIP Wednesday! Another Sunburst!

I can't believe it's been a week since I blogged. I'll blame it on the lazy summer-time!

But I have been up to some sewing and finally it was nice enough today to take some pictures.

This is my third Sunburst quilt. I made it a little bigger by adding a few more rows of diamonds.

I also added a border on this one that the original didn't have...

The beautiful quilting was done by one of our talented local long-arm quilters - Terri Kanyuk.

I have loved every one of these quilts... it lends itself so well to almost any fabric collection. The pattern is currently available in this book (affiliate link to amazon.com)

I'm also excited because I finally finished my Lone Starburst paper pieced blocks at our St Louis MQG sew-in last Saturday. After lots of trial and error I came up with this setting and couldn't be more thrilled! More to come on this one!

Linking up today to Lee at Freshly Pieced!

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Lucky Stars BOM progress...

Yeah me! I've kept on top of my Lucky Stars BOM patterns and the June block is done!

One of my problems with these year long projects is that I'm so flighty when it comes to color and fabric choices. I can't even remember the palette I started with ~ I've been foolishly adding and subtracting as I go.

So I thought it might be a good idea to look at my first six blocks together and see how things are developing. Goodness, the purply-pink was supposed to be an accent color and the green has almost disappeared. I've been pretty consistent with the navy ~ that's good. Looks like we need a bit more of that yellowy-green.

Stay tuned to see what happens next month!



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Lucky Stars and a winner!

First up, the winner of the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine is Suzanne! I've sent you an email!

I did some catching up this weekend on my paper-pieced Lucky Stars blocks...

April...

And May...

I did change up the pattern a bit by piecing the center star in one fabric instead of two. I've been hoping to use this Field Study print and wanted it to make a bigger impact. This may be my favorite block so far!

. . . Cindy

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