No Mini, but a Major!

 No mini quilt this month,

but I do have a major top finished!

I have continued to work on my 

Stars Upon Stars quilt for the past couple of weeks.

And, now,  I'm happy to say,

the top is done.

This pattern originated from an antique quilt

found in the collection at the museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Amazing, huh!

The top was pieced in the 1890's.

I used the rubber stamp pattern from

Jeanneke.com. 

 

By stamping the template pieces,

the hand sewing was perfect and 

the star blocks were precise.

I had also bought the pattern from Laundry Basket.  

It was done with strip piecing and I knew I would not be

able to sew accurately enough to handle this method.

I did recalculate her sashing method

and used her idea for my stashing.  

I guess each method is dependent on how you like to sew.

It was fun to eventually lay out the blocks

and see the quilt coming together.

My design floor

Sewing the parts together was a challenge.

A lot of bias edges.

I admit I don't usually pin much,

but realized I needed to use lots of pins 

and a stylist to help keep everything under control.  

The long seams took over an hour to pin, sew and then press.

We all know there's a difference between pressing and  ironing.

The back of this quilt is amazing with the

amount of seams.

Pressing was key to keeping the blocks squared 

and not stretching them out of shape.

The perfect pressing is also key

when it comes to the quilting. 

I admit I'm an ironer, so I had to continue

to remind myself to press, not iron! 

So now this beauty is one step closer to being done.

There are no borders on this quilt and

I have stay stitched around the outer edge.

The new challenge will be to keep the edges from stretching

and then adding a straight binding at the end.

We'll see.

It has been a 2 year journey to get to this point.

Maybe it's time to put some fabric away.

I've kept all the fabrics in baskets and bags

so I wouldn't repeat fabrics.

It will be like having a new stash,

but now it's time to to find a backing

and get quilting!

I'm planning on machine quilting this myself,

mostly quilting in the ditch.

That alone will be challenge,

but aren't good things worth it?

Until Next Time-

Kyle

Stars Upon Stars Blocks

Slowly, very slowly.

A few of my

 Stars Upon Stars blocks

are being finished.

Well, at least 4 of them.

Thought you might like to see

how they're coming along.

There is absolutely no way

these blocks would have come out

without stretching, tweeking, changing,

ripping, or tossing

if I hadn't used 

Jeanne's stamp set for this pattern.

The rubber stamps make every piece

exactly the same, 

no tracing errors or

inconsistency.

Each block requires 9 fabrics for the stars.

And then a background and

fabric for the corner stars.

These blocks definitely require

hand piecing. 

That center is about as close as I can get.

Lots of 8 pointed stars

Each block finishes at 16"

( So far, so good)

Thought You'd like to see

the back as well.

Just as much fabric on the back

as on the front.

Pressing is key!

Not sure if I've done it the best way,

but at least the blocks are consistent.

I've 3 more blocks cut out

and ready to put together.

This is and will be a project

where I'll find myself

enjoying the pleasure of slowing down

for quite awhile.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

The Hokey Pokey Approach To Quilt Making

I'm assuming most of us have

danced to the song "The Hokey Pokey."

You know.

"You put your right foot in, 

You take your right foot out"...

I usually hear that little ditty a couple times a week,

when my little grandson is here having lunch.

Music to eat by!

Anyway, it got me thinking about

how similar my approach to my newest

project has been to the song...

one step at a time.

1.  You put your right foot in....

When I was in Houston for Quilt Festival 

this past fall,

I saw Aline Joulin's 

remarkable quilt .

"Ogeechee"

which was inspired by an American quilt 

found at the Grand Rapids Public Museum

and dated 1846.

I fell in love.

2. You put your left foot in

and you shake it all about...

I discovered that Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts

had a pattern of this awesome quilt.

And then discovered that Quiltmania 

was going to publish the pattern in

issue #128. 

Her method is a strip piecing method

for the machine using 1" strips.

3. You put your left arm in

you take your left arm out...

Well, I know my sewing capabilities.

And I knew that would be a challenge

making those 1/2" diamonds to come out right.

But I discovered

that Jeanne at Jeanneke.com in the Netherlands

had a stamp set just for this quilt.

Stars Upon Stars.

It would be a great solution,

hand piecing,

stamping rather than tracing the shapes,

and the diamonds finished at 3/4".

I ordered the set.

There is one more diamond shape in the set.

I was using it today.

My left arm was back in!

4. You put your right arm in...

More thinking and deciding.

What style would I make,

what colors,

what fabrics....

And you shake it all about...

5. You put your backside in,

You take your backside out...

I had decided on trying to use

many of Di Ford's fabrics from Andover

leaning towards, teals, pinks, reds, golds, 

browns, beiges, and creams.

I pulled fabrics for the first star.

The first block of a sampler

 is always the hardest for me.

Too many options.

I laid out my choices,

But I needed to see them in the right proportions

Using the rubber stamps, which are terrific,

I cut out enough small diamonds

to make one diamond point

and used a hinged mirror to

see how these fabrics looked together. 

After a few changes,

I decided this would work.

6. You put your whole self in

You take your whole self out

You put your whole self in

and you shake it all about...

I have officially jumped in.

This is not a fast project.,

but one to savor.

Here's my progress over the week.

I'm super excited.

I'll let you know when  

the the first whole star is complete.

Until then...

Let's do the hokey pokey 

That's what it's all about!

Until Next Time-

Kyle