A Fall Jaunt

Running Man and I

have packed our suitcases once again.

Heading East and North this time

for a fall jaunt.

You never know who you

might see while on

Prince Edward Island.

We'll catch up soon.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

Summer Finishes

My unstructured days 

of summer have finally allowed

me to finish two quilts.

that had been lingering.

"Scrappy Rings"

55" x 60"

and 

"A Dutch Garden"

65" x 65"

The Scrappy Rings pattern

had been a weekly challenge

from Temecula Quilt Co

No borders and then with simple diagonal quilting

all those hundreds of different fabrics

could remain the stars.

I approached it mostly as a 

leaders and enders project, but

then as always with a L and E project,

I finally just sewed to get it done.

After having breakfast with girl friends this summer

they very willing agreed to help

me with a Fort Collins Old Town photo shoot.

Thanks Liz and Debbie.

A Dutch Garden was a kit 

I purchased at the Houston International Quilt Festival

from Petra Prins Patchwork 

of the Netherlands.

The kit came with that beautiful

outer border fabric, the center medallion,

and a few other key pieces.

The rest I filled in with my

treasured pieces of Dutch fabrics.

The design included all

kinds of fun piecing, broderie perse applique

and of course, hexagons.

I felt it needed to be heavily quilted 

and that challenged me to be creative with

my limited machine quilting skills.

 The real challenge came when

trying to decide what to do in that

very wide outer border.

I figured it had to be more feathers.

That's what I did in a very organic way!

A little harder to see, but there they are

weaving their way over all those flowers.

No binding was attached to finish the edge,

but rather I used a facing to give it a clean look.

During my photo shoot at the 

Colorado State Perennial Gardens,

something thought it was a real garden

I guess that was the real test

that I had created a "A Dutch Garden".

 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