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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Thinking is overrated.

Today I took some time, to just sit with the chickie girls. That's what I call them.
13 little lovelies.
I find that I like them better all the time.

They are growing fast, even the little pecked one seems to be doing well.

Then I spent some time at the loom, weaving more container rugs.

I love when the fringe is tied, and they are all stacked up, ready for inventory.

I found a really neat feature on Amazon the other day.
It's called Subscribe and Save.  There are lots of products to choose from, and they will be delivered on a regular basis, on whatever schedule you want.  The more things you order, the more discount you get, and the shipping is free!
So I ordered greenies to be delivered monthly, since Roy is addicted to them.  I got a great price, much cheaper than I pay at the pet store, and now I don't have to think about it.  I also found coffee pods, that I hope I love, because they are environmentally friendly.
Regular Keurig pods are a huge problem for the environment, and there is also alot of conversation about the inadvisability of running the hot water through "plastic" and then ingesting it.
So I am trying pods from San Francisco coffee.  They have a plastic ring to hold them in the Keurig, but the water runs through paper, not plastic.
I will report back whether I like the cofffee or not.
Fingers crossed.  And it's reasonably priced, delivered monthy, one more thing not to have to think about.

Sometimes not thinking is just perfect.

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Sunday Sunday

328 posts in 2011
260 posts in 2012
156 posts in 2013

Guess that tells the tale, doesn't it?   2013 was a tough year.
So far, 2014 has been much better.  Different, but better.

I am learning to take time off, to do totally what I want to do.
Like sitting on a lawn chair in the chicken run, just to see what's what.

 

"Clicking with the chickies," as Karen pointed out.

Look at my little girl with the naked neck.  It is starting to fuzz over.....but look at how small she is  next to "Tank".

I didnt weave today.  I took the day OFF.  What a concept.

I went to visit my dear friend, and we had a lovely time.

Then I came home and made pies.

Blueberry

 

Rhubarb

And then I made some Pesto Spinach quesadillas that I found on Pinterest.
They were SO good.  And easy.  A winning combination in my book.

Tomorrow is baby day.
:)

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Summing it up

Early morning walks are the best.  Sometimes it's hard to get started, but once out there, I am always so glad I made the effort.

I'm not sure when it happened, but I changed my mind about the chicks.   I only have 13 now, as my friend came for her half.  We had 28 to start, two died, one after just a couple of days, and the other from being pecked.  There is still one little one who was pecked, but she is holding her own.

So maybe it is just because 13 are a lot more manageable, or maybe it was how they peered out the window to see if someone was coming to feed them.

But anyway, for whatever reason, they are staying put.  I even bought them some mealy worms.  Thanks, Karen.

I spent lovely quiet time at the studio this week.  Weaving.  Just being there.   Breathing.

Loving my old house.

 Next year, we will live here, and I can't wait.

In the meantime, I am busy weaving container rugs, restocking the shelves.

 

Of all the things I do here at the studio, this is one of my favorite things to do.

 

 It's like painting with fabric.
And it's just too much fun.

 

I don't do much preplanning.  

Oh, seriously, I don't do any.

I pick colors as I go.

 

I am usually happy with the results.

 

I will get back to my AVL and my second baby wrap, but right now, it's bright, colorful, container rugs.

 I make a huge mess, with fabric everywhere.   

 

But I think it's worth it.

This week has been therapeutic, spending time doing what I love.  Not worrying about the rest of it.

So I guess I won't take the bridge any time soon.

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X and + quilt

I'm sure you've seen the x and + block - it's a very trendy pattern at the moment. I knew I would make one at some point, but couldn't come up with a fabric/color mix that suited me. Then I saw this one in American Patchwork and Quilting magazine {Feb '14} designed by Pat Bravo of Art Gallery Fabrics.

The plus signs are done in solids which really makes them pop and the colors create diagonal lines across the quilt top. It's not as readily noticeable, but the solid aqua/teal/mint backgrounds create diagonal lines in the opposite direction.

A little shot of the back of the quilt - a great black and white print from Ikea...

I started with a line called Rapture by Art Gallery and added some coordinating prints from my stash - many of them turned out to be older Art Gallery pieces.

The awesome wave quilting was done by Abby Latimer and turned out to be the absolute perfect design for this quilt...

So now it's one of my favorites!!!

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Gathering Flowers Quilt finish

I've been working on the Gathering Flowers Quilt off and on for a couple of months. The cutting is slow and the piecing is curved, but all and all it was a pretty simple quilt to put together. Even considering that I changed my mind on the background fabric after completing 8 blocks!

It's a really cute block and I used a different fabric for each wedge - a lot of scraps and pieces that have been sitting in my stash waiting for their perfect debut.

So here's a tip I found helpful in piecing the block:
I find that when I'm piecing curves, often the fabrics tend to distort a bit simply because you're pulling on them to piece the curve. For my background {template 4}, I added 1/2 to 1" to the long edge of the template which creates the outside edge of the block. Once the block is assembled to the point of quarters {4 squares}, I trimmed each square to 9 1/2" {for the 18 1/2" block}. The top of the "wedge" piece should fall 2 1/4" from the trimmed edge. This is the point you want to match carefully to create the circle in the block.

I switched my background to a subtle gray tone-on-tone with white...

I had fun pulling fabrics in shades of green, blue  and a bright pink. Ten of my twelve blocks...

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