Snake in the wood pile?

....or spider on the design wall?

Where's my dust buster???




Of course, I wouldn't object so much if was Spiderman instead...

....hey!  I may be old but I'm not dead!

Final Layout?

Work has been very hectic this past month but I think I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel as we head into the last 6 weeks of the school year.  It's been a long haul...

I've not been sewing but I have spent quite a bit of time studying the flower star blocks on the design wall (easier to do on the design wall than the design floor)...  and moving those puppies around.  I don't think any block has stayed in the same place as when I first placed it on the design wall...

...and now, looking at the photo, I see a block or two that probably will get moved again.   Anyhoo... some progress has been made...   who knew it would be this hard?

Finished Blocks

Not sure why chain-piecing is so calming for me...

...I just get into my zone and sew!

Same way with the chain-ironing...

...have a pile o' blocks in my lap...

...and press, press, press!

The hardest part was sorting the last strips....

...so that no one block had duplicate fabrics.

I tried not to have two dotted fabrics in a block... but it didn't work out.  

These are half of the 16 small star blocks.  Next up... arranging all 20 blocks on the design floor...  that should be fun!

Small Stars to Blocks

I wasn't exactly looking forward to cutting all the strips to turn the 8.5" star blocks into 16.5" blocks to match the size of the large star blocks.   Sixteen star blocks times four strips of two different widths and three different lengths = sixty four strips.   It took me two hours...

I even pieced two sections to "make" fabric large enough for a strip....  because these prints are too pretty to waste in my humble opinion!  I am not going to throw out any useable scrap...

And because I tried using a much smaller ruler to cut the 2.5" strips...

...I needed that Nexcare tape to make a pressure bandage for my left index finger.   (See, Deborah?  You're not the only one to nick your finger when rotary cutting!)

Then it was time for some chain-piecing...

...which went pretty fast for the first two strips.

If it weren't for housework and work-work, I think this part would have gone faster.

Stars # 17 - 20

It definitely got to be more exciting with each of this set of stars....

 

...because the next part of the project... making the small stars into 16.5" blocks.... will go faster!

 

Ta-da!  All the star blocks together!

Stars # 13 - 16

More of the small stars...

...pairing fabrics has definitely been an interesting task!

Just four more of the small stars to go!

A Ruler Tip

I'm sure I'm not the only one who likes to pick up cool tips to make quilting easier while reading blogs... and I recently came across one that I thought was particularly cool on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville blog.  I tried it out on the Quilt-in-a-Day flying geese ruler when making the smaller of the two star blocks.   

On the larger flying geese, you didn't have to move the ruler... just trim around all four sides. 

However, on the smaller flying geese...  you need to turn the ruler to get the fourth side... the base of the triangle.

It wasn't a big deal but I started having some problems keeping the ruler from slipping while cutting.

So, using the tip from Bonnie Hunter's post, I got out my Nexcare tape...

...and applied a square of tape to the back of the ruler.

The slight roughness of the tape helped keep the ruler from slipping while trimming the flying geese block.   You can just barely see the tape... so it doesn't interfere with any of the ruler markings.

I still needed to turn the ruler to get the fourth side... and I ended up moving the center-positioned tape toward one edge and applying a second square of tape to the other side of the ruler.... but there was far less tendency for said ruler to slip.  Next I'm going to try the tape on my big ruler!

Just wanted to share...

Stars # 5 - 12

While sewing the large star blocks together, I pondered over fabric combos for the 16 small stars...  and decided to make two small blocks to match each of the larger star blocks...  one being the reverse of the large star combo.

It was actually easier to make two blocks at a time since I could chain piece...

 

  
...and I did a little fussy cutting to get a flower in the center of some of the smaller stars.

 

  
I'm thinking of making two each of the last eight stars like these...   one being the reverse combo.

 

  

After the second set of eight star blocks are complete....

  

 

...all sixteen small stars will get a variety of fabric strips added to make them 16.5" (or 16" finished) to match the large star blocks.

I'm getting there...

Star #4

This star presented its own challenges when it came to selecting the two fabrics... since nothing I had really "went" with the colors in the flowers... but I chose the lavender polka dot and like the way it turned out.

The four large stars aren't matchy-matchy but I like the differences.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I've had a couple of questions about the size of the blocks and the number of stars in this quilt pattern so... here is the information for all my curious followers....

• 4 large star blocks, each 16.5", finishing at 16"
• 16 small stars, each 8.5", finishing at 8"
• each small star has a wonky "frame" of fabric strips bringing those 16 stars up to blocks measuring 16.5", finishing at 16"

The quilt is 64" x 80" when completed.    

Star #3

This was a much harder combo to figure out and, while the two fabrics are very close in intensity, I like how the star block turned out.

I am tempted to run over to my LQS for more fabric choices but am sticking with my "shop my stash" stance for now. 

Star #2

Star #2 went more smoothly than the first star and I was able to position the Flying Geese blocks so that the foxglove stems & flowers are going in the same direction!

Cool, huh?

Star #1

The first of the four large stars...  

....prettier colors in real life!   I'm the world's worst photographer!