And That's a Wrap For 2015!

2015 Finishes

Looking back at my 2015 quilty accomplishments I feel a bit overwhelmed at all the quilts brought to the finish line, but also a nagging sense of 'is this it?' So puzzling as the time invested adds up to a whole lot of hours. What's with the 'is this it?' stuff? It must be the UFO's--the quilt tops that I would so love to see finished up and being used. Ah well. There's just never enough time in the day is there? Ten years ago I would have been bouncing up and down with joy at getting through twelve whole quilts, not to mention a little doll quilt and pillow {not pictured}! But don't worry, I'm still happy as can be. There's times I want to pinch myself just to see if it's real. Is this me? A true blue quilter?

Working on my Fire Quilt this past year, I actually gave myself tendinitis, which still plagues me occasionally. Who'd have thunk it? Quilting doesn't seem all that strenuous! But it happened, and luckily I caught it in time to not completely shut down my hand stitching/quilting efforts for the long term. I have learned to {ugh!} pace myself through the days and weeks and not go off on those extreme hand stitching/quilting marathons that are so tempting when a finish is right. around. the. corner.

So... the stats on the 2015 finishes. This is just something I like to take a look at--probably only interesting to me:

• 1 doll quilt
• 1 wall hanging
• 1 baby quilt
• 4 lap-size quilts
• 6 bed-size quilts

• 1 quilt {the doll quilt} was completely machine quilted
• 5 quilts finished with mixed machine and hand quilting {4 using Perle Cotton for hand quilting, 1 with regular hand quilting thread}
• 7 quilts completely hand quilted {3 totally using Perle Cotton, 1 using mix of regular and Perle Cotton threads, and 3 using only regular hand quilting thread}

• 6 quilts in all {old and new} were gifted

I'm obviously working on trying to loosen up and be satisfied with mixing machine quilting with a bit of hand quilting. That was one of my goals for 2015 and it helped me end up with one more quilt finish than last year. Don't know how it's really possible to compare, as every quilt is different in size and stitching application, but it sounds good in theory!

And here's a closer look at my Big Star quilt, one that was finished up earlier in December when my computer was being worked on. The wintry outdoors made the quilt look just a little less vibrant than it actually appears, but my oh my, did this quilt sneak up and melt my heart.

Big Stars finish

I've had an on-again, off-again love affair with this quilt from the very beginning, but am absolutely thrilled to have it finally finished up. It's a permanent reminder to me to try the hard stuff and not give up. I was quite terrified to be sewing these big stars in the first place but while working on the hand quilting found myself touched by all the imperfections and mistakes I kept finding. Do you see them? Good, neither do I {from a distance}. But I know where they are and I'm charmed by them all the same. Because I did it. I won out over the little voice in my head telling me I could never sew this sort of thing. The mistakes are proof that it was indeed, a difficult project for me at the time!

A closer look

I also wrestled with the idea that I was cheating this quilt by not quilting more densely. It wasn't until the quilt was bound, washed and dried that I could more clearly see that this quilt didn't need the heavy quilting after all.*sigh  That slightly looser pattern makes for a much more cuddly, snuggable quilt--something I for one, am always striving for. Why do I even bother to doubt my instincts about these sorts of things? I haven't listened to the quilting police for a very long time. Which means, essentially, that it's been a  royal waste of my time to fret.

Moving forward for 2016, I fully intend to keep hand quilting with both Perle Cotton and regular hand quilting thread, continue making an effort to mix machine quilting with hand quilting, finish new quilt tops up along with older quilt tops so as not to have any sort of disconnect, continue to explore and play with improv. {figure out how to incorporate it into my quilts and make it part of my 'personal style'}, continue on with my love for applique {of course!} including other quilter's patterns plus whatever I dream up. I also want to keep trying to learn and grow, and more importantly, as Sweet P said so very well, keep having fun! Lists and goals are all very well, but quilting is supposed to be my happy place. Have-to's have a way of sucking out all the joy. Here's to another great year of quilting! The journey is never quite what I expected, but it's almost always much, much better than what I originally envisioned.

I couldn't end the year without also saying 'Thank You' once again to Tim Latimer. I credit him with giving me the initial impetuous {years ago} to be more prolific with my hand quilting via his very inspiring blog.

Doing the Things We Love to Do....

Imagine my surprise when I noticed the leaves outside my quilting room door had the same colors as my latest circles! Hmm... I do love fall and all it's gorgeous colors. These circles represent days 27 and 28 for Quilty 365, for a total of four weeks! Yay me! So many people are joining in, being artistic, thoughtful, playful, frugal and/or just plain dedicated. Love it! Quilters really are amazing!

2 more circles for Quilty 365

I'm going back to the smaller needle and regular hand quilting thread for this quilt. At first it was hard to make the transition--that big stitch quilting requires a much larger needle! I started with the very light pink thread, ripped it out, tried every other color in the picture and then went back to the light pink.*sigh  Sometimes it's hard to know what to do. I switched to the soft gold thread for the little half square triangles and finally, finally it's starting to click for me. Some quilts just have to be cajoled and talked into a bit of stitching it seems....

Muddy River in the hoop

I also picked out a fabric for the binding on Big Stars. A bold blue was the obvious choice and I was so grateful to find enough lurking in my stash. It's a Peppered Cotton, so quite a different texture from my usual binding fabric. Now the batting needs cut off and then it's all ready for the hand stitching. If I don't get to it tonight then it will be something to work on later. Always nice to have mindless hand work to plug away with during family holidays.

Initial phase of binding on the Big Stars quilt

People keep saying that this quilt was hand quilted very quickly. Hmm.... Maybe, maybe not. I sandwiched and pinned this quilt on October 8th, put it immediately in the hoop and started stitching. The thing is, I hand quilt for an hour or two {sometimes more} almost every day of the week if time is available to me. Plus I had one day I was sitting with my cousin, helping her out and keeping her company. That was probably a five hour quilting day? The stitching pattern is merely an echo style quilting or something extremely simple and it's big stitching done with Perle cotton, something that really does move along at a faster pace compared to regular hand quilting.

Perhaps someone more dedicated to hand quilting would have doubled the stitching done on this particular quilt, but I'm feeling quite satisfied with the amount done. This is not an heirloom style quilt because I for one can see every flaw in the quilt made from my inexperience with sewing curved seams! Not that I don't appreciate the effort and skill building this quilt allowed me to undergo. I am definitely more accomplished and less frightened of this type of sewing now that I've tackled something this adventuresome! However, I am a huge advocate of putting my time into the things that will most appreciate my very intense and personal labors.

Hand quilting is my thing and yes, I do love the results. But not every quilt needs or will even look better with intensive stitching--not to my eyes or thinking. And really, what else would we base our decision making on? Some people make quilt tops just so they have something to hand stitch amazing patterns and designs on. That's not me. I hand quilt because something needs to anchor the quilt together for future use, I adore the look, appreciate the {mostly emotional} benefits, and well, honestly, it suits my lifestyle and pocketbook. Did I say that I adore the look? If I didn't, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

So glad I have time today to link up with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching!

Here, There and Everywhere

It's been a crazy couple days. Amazingly enough, there's been progress made, but it's usually in the evening, not exactly optimal time to be taking pictures. I hauled all my Vintage Red blocks downstairs and played with some layout ideas. Will have to let it simmer and see what I think because nothing is making me delirious with joy.

Vintage Red layout fun

But maybe that's just my mood this week? I have company coming, my husbands been sick and for some reason I decided that today is the day to do my pre-Thanksgiving shopping. Have you noticed the price of groceries these days? Sure, I got the olives for 99 cents a can and a free turkey, but wowsers! It takes a lot to feed a family through the holidays!

Hand quilting all done on Big Stars

Guess that's why I've been hand quilting in the evening. Got to lower my adrenaline levels and do some meditative exercises just to get through! lol

Lil' Red Riding Hood

This top may or may not be finished. I kind of like it sans contrasting border--the sort of floating look it has now almost seems to be enough. Almost.

Maybe it's done?

Something else I'll have to think about before I pack it away for good into the quilt top drawers. It's hard to believe this quilt was started with the remnants of two different quilts and five little fat Red Riding Hood fat eighths. I have a special fondness for quilts that allow me to think I'm being thrifty and creative all at the same time!

A different view

My eldest daughter really made my day when she asked about the 'vintage' quilt hanging over the railing upstairs. Oh yeah! That's exactly the word I was looking for with this quilt! But like I said, will have to think about the border a bit more before I know for sure. You know me and how I like the border treatments. Plus, it's not exactly bed size which I usually prefer. Guess that's where the decision needs to be made--to respect the quilt if it's done or try to force another border. These things can get kind of tricky.

More Quilty 365

And of course I'm still sticking with Quilty 365. These are days 22-26! It's not as Christmassy as you might think from this picture. I have a deep coral red along with a raspberry red here in the pic. Still haven't totally figured out why I pick certain colors the way I do and obviously things are not usually radically different from day to day around here. More of a gradual change I'd say!

A Handwork Round Up

I was trying to throw together a quick post and then I got sidetracked of course. Trying to catch up on the blog reading will do that to you! It's hard to believe I'm starting the stitching for the borders of the Big Star quilt. Just as I suspected, working on this quilt has reminded me of how much I truly do love it. So much effort and anxiety in putting these big stars together--I'd love it just for my courage in attempting it!

Hand quilting Big Stars

It's been a fairly relaxed weekend after the previous week of some troubles and trials. Things that make you want to hold your kids very close and cherish the family time. Guess I'm ready for some mellow, fairly calm looking fabrics. After today, I will have officially stuck with Quilty 365 for 21 days!

Another two days worth of circles....

There's been a lot of different applique in the stack around here and so I just had to get this border work cleared out of the way. Hopefully later this week I can find time to put it together with the other one and see what my Scrappy Lone Star will look like with borders!

Getting through the letter applique

And Folksy Flowers got a bit of attention as well. I'm trying to do the prep work for the flowers that will be appliqued into the center. Just a bit of free hand cutting with paper and then I have a template to draw onto the fabric. I spent almost an hour trying to find my inspiration photo (the little spark that lit me up for this project) and it's nowhere to be found. I remember seeing a piece of embroidery or something on an odd, random blog a very long time ago. I have it in mind that it was from Denmark? but who really knows and obviously I've been interpreting this as my brain dictates because I've never seen the pic since. Perhaps it was in one of my antique quilting books instead?

Prep work for the Folksy Flower

An interesting thing, the seeds of our quilting ideas. I'm always grateful for inspiration and the things that propel us into a new idea {and ta-da! eventually a new quilt}. I love the process, the what-if's, and of course the hand to heart connection of slow quilting. As I've said before, it calms me. It grounds me and makes me a better person. Time to link up once again to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching!

A Few Quilty Projects

Our Internet went down last week and so we've had to survive the entire weekend without. At first we were all rather frustrated, but then, oh well, there are always books to read and other things to do! I piddled a bit with my Scrappy Lone Star quilt. The borders were looking a little too simplistic and I wondered about my lame looking efforts.

More work on Scrappy Lone Star

Until I finally put them together with the rest of the quilt. Then I relaxed and went 'okay, this will work just fine'. My expectations are sometimes completely unrealistic and I'm not sure why that is. The letters still need to be stitched down on the bottom border and that will take a special mood. You've heard this before: although I do love words on my quilts, I quite dislike stitching them into place! And I'm still pondering whether or not to add leaves to my vine. Will work that out later I'm sure.

Looking at the border work....

I have really been itching to sew on the machine as well, but sadly, nothing catches my interest of late. So I cut into some random fabrics and just played for an evening. This will probably end up being a back to a quilt, so absolutely no pressure here!

Just playing with fabric....

Also, I started another quilt project last week. Just because. This one just seems to be intriguing me on a whole lot of levels. It will have background fabrics of these {primarily} grayed down cream prints. At first I thought to go buy a single piece of background fabric and then had to reconsider. There is nothing wrong with scrappy backgrounds, and in fact I generally far prefer them for the subtle interest it can add to a quilt.

I am going to be choosing fabric for a new {rough looking} circle every single day for 365 days. It can be one to four fabrics total but mostly I'm choosing fabrics from out of my scrap bin. It will not preclude adding fabrics directly out of the stash because I want to choose fabrics according to the mood of the day--that seems important for this particular project. Depending on my whims, the circle will be just a single fabric or possibly a patchwork style instead. If I don't have time to do the stitching on that day (I'm two circles behind with that already), that's okay. The main thing is to pick out the fabric for each day {or very closely after}, which means I have to be patient and will not be able to jump ahead. I am so very, very curious as to what colors this quilt will be after an entire year!

Project 365: A new quilty endeavor....

 And of course, I had to do some hand quilting late in the evenings. It relaxes me so very much.

And some hand quilting of course....

I'm trying not to get too crazy with the stitching on this quilt as I don't think it will be an extra special quilt to me. Yes I love it, but I don't LOVE it if you know what I mean. The loose echo quilting I'm doing on most of the quilt is coming along very well, slowly adding some wonderful texture. If I think it needs more when I get towards the finish, I can always go back and fill in areas that need help.

Making Time For Hand Work

Sometimes I feel like nothing is ever really getting done around here. All I do is piddle. First on one project and then, on another. Mostly that feeling persists because my life gets very chaotic, but really, trying to keep up with all the demands on my time {by husband, kids, other assorted family members and yes, tending to the maintenance of life} tends to kill my superwoman efficiency powers.

Big Stars

There was a window of opportunity to sandwich and pin a couple quilts the other day. {I'm doing it in pairs these days.} Of course I had to rush to piece together the backs because I don't plan ahead for these things. By the time the quilt backing was taped to the floor, I was a hot, sweaty mess and it was dark outside. Lovely lighting don't you think? It really doesn't do justice to these quilts that were lucky enough to make it to the top of the queue.

Muddy Creek

This Big Stars quilt has been nagging at me for a very long time. I have definitely shied away from this one. So proud of it when I finished, but now a little less than thrilled with the quilt top. Sometimes I experience a great deal of trepidation in my own ability to stitch something that could make a quilt shine--bring it to it's fullest potential. That can make me like my quilt top a little less than it probably deserves. Such defeating thoughts and I actually allow them to cause a bit of paralysis. Grrr....  I'm not making heirloom quilts, nor do I feel that we have to. Quilting is whatever we choose to make it and serves a very individual purpose in all our lives.

So in the hoop it goes so I can start stitching what makes sense to me. I don't need complicated. Right now I don't even have the brain power to worry about the 'best' stitching pattern. Mostly I just need something in the hoop to quiet my mind and relax my body. The end.

In the hoop

In the little bits and pieces of time I gather throughout the day, there is also applique. It never feels very important as I'm doing the actual stitching, but it definitely adds up to something huge to me. Having applique in my quilts gives a little more to love about what I make. Because I connect with it. It feels right and true for me. But if I stop and really think about it, there is never time in my life for that. Never. And that can be overwhelming. So I just get everything prepped and then I fit it into my life however and where-ever I can.

Completed Vintage Red blocks

Like with these latest projects. I have slowly, steadily, persistently, tenaciously stitched until I have all of the Vintage Red blocks completed and now all my basket handles are done too. This is the only way to ever move forward with these sorts of projects because when you're stitching a bit here and stitching a bit there, the time never 'counts'. In fact it feels rather pitiful if you look at it that way and your progress always seems quite pathetic. It's best to change our thinking. Think of this kind of stitching as filling lost time or even taking advantage of little moments.

All the Summers End basket handles are done!

Stitch when there is opportunity and then put it away when someone or something pulls you away once again. Be willing to stop mid-block. No resentment, no irritation at being pulled away because we're not counting the time. We're making use of opportunity until the day comes when 'ta da!' our blocks {or pieces} are ready for the next phase. And it always comes, no matter how difficult the project or how tedious the process. No matter how simple, repetitive and/or silly it seems. And who cares if it takes an entire week to finish one block? Every stitch counts, not the time because that kind of time can't be recovered anyway.*wink

Big Stars Completion

So here it is.  My Big Stars is now a completed quilt top!  (Pattern is from 'Simple Pleasures' by Jan Patek, Alma Allen and Sue Spargo.  The colors are a little surprising coming from me, but it all seems to work somehow.  I went ahead and used the original pattern for the pieced border work and just added an additional triangle of each fabric per side.

Big Star quilt top!

The border directions call for cutting the triangles out from a template, which to be perfectly honest, made me very, very grouchy.  I tried and tried to figure out how to do things different, but it all seemed to change the look of the border more than I cared for. My husband got a such a good laugh out of all of my grumbling.  He's always a very sympathetic man with my quilting woes.  'Well, it's funny.  Look who's following directions.' ha ha

The pieced border.

Before I added the sashing to the quilt top, I made a short pieced mock-up of the border to determine the necessary width for the sashing--3 7/8".   I really, really wanted to have the pieced border come together properly at the corners and not have to do a Gwen Marston sew and chop.  You know that not every quilt welcomes that kind of behavior.*wink

The directions stated that after sewing on the pieced border, the last background triangle would be cut to form a 1/2 square triangle unit.  Unfortunately for me, I cut after I had sewn the triangles together, which made for some problems at the corners.  This is why I re-write directions sometimes.  I don't always thoroughly think things through before plowing full steam ahead.*sigh

Much better match-up on the corners.....

It only took me an hour and a half or so of seam ripping and fiddling around with all four corners to finally get fairly acceptable corners.  Fudge, finesse, ease....*sigh  So crazy when the rest of the quilt isn't exactly perfect!  It's like this.  When I'm dealing with something new, I willingly accept that there is a steep learning curve for me.  However, when it's something I've definitely experienced and/or conquered (plus it's not improv. work), I expect better of myself.  I've almost trained myself not to point out mistakes.  Why make it harder on myself?

Big Stars quilt top completion.

I've learned a lot making this quilt:  1.  I need more experience in sewing curved pieces  2.  It IS possible to change a pattern slightly, yet still not lose the integrity of what drew me to the quilt initially (Mini Cake Stands shook my confidence a bit earlier this year) and 3.  It's extremely important for me to put my own stamp on every quilt I make.  I'm just not going to feel the love I make a direct copy!

Now I better get moving on with other more mundane matters.  So very much to get done around this house!  Busy weekend, and then next week our girls have three nights of high school basketball, our youngest son will play the alto sax in an elementary Christmas concert and then our oldest son flies into Seattle late Friday night.  Yay!  Maybe I can squeeze in a little hand work somewhere in between.  lol

The Next Step

It's December and so I find myself quilting at crazy hours and working real fast so I can get something, anything accomplished!  I went ahead and did the wide sashing thing with the Big Star quilt.  It looks like it will work out for me after I add on border.  Fingers crossed on getting the color combination right!

Big Stars with striped sashing

I've been slowing pecking away at the hand work for the appliqued trees on this scrap quilt.  The trees are small and funky, but very me I think.  I had a terrible time getting the little bird in the bottom red tree to actually look like a bird.  Everyone in the family agreed (even my visiting niece and nephew) that my first try looked like a little dog.....

Scrap Attack #2 with 1st borders attached.

This is a very busy little quilt and I was so afraid I would inadvertently ruin the sparkly, move-your-eye-around the quilt thing I have going on.  I tried to keep the borders scrappy, yet calming, plus move a little more of the quilt out into the border.  Not sure what the next step should be other than not busy!  

Crazy border detail.....

The colors are better than the picture shows.  Not quite so grayed down and muted.  I could almost call this quilt done and finished except that it's about 35" x 48" so then what would I do with it?  Not exactly your traditional baby quilt. lol

Big Stars Progress & Another QAL Block

Okay.  Here's the last of the Big Star blocks in all of their glorious imperfection.  I used my seam ripper more than I want to admit to on the star with the red center and then called it good.  Whew!  Now I know why people takes classes to learn this stuff!

The last of the big stars!

With these three stars finished up, I was also able to sew on the last of the background pieces too.  Feels good to get that part done and it seemed to go smoother and faster than the inside curves??  And yes, I deliberately mixed up the backgrounds per each block as they were all cut out of a stack of mixed cuts of fabric.  Fat quarters especially only allowed for three background pieces each, so some blocks were going to have to have a patchwork background.  You'd never guess, but it's actually a fave look of mine.*wink

Applique squares for where sashing will meet up.

The pattern calls for sewing the star blocks three across and three down without sashing, which looks great in the pattern book.  Somehow in translation though, my big star blocks look like they're lacking well, something special.  I think it's the pale background fabric--looks better in theory than in practice!  I decided to go with a sashing that's about 4" wide and started in on making these homely little applique stars to join the sashings in the center of the quilt.  In honor of all my curved piecing troubles, I have made them wobbly and imperfect on purpose.  Hardly worth linking up to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching with! lol

Greek Cross block for Random Sampler QAL.

The last block for the Random Sampler QAL over at Bloomin' Workshop is finally finished up as well.  I've been so busy working on other projects that I let this one slide for awhile.  This block really has potential and I may try to play with it a bit more.  Love it!

Lots of Little Steps

Getting a finished quilt together is often a series of many, many little steps for me.  If I'm restless and afflicted with the can't-stick-with-any-one-thing syndrome, I'll jump from project to project like a grasshopper trying to find the perfect leaf to munch on.  As you can see below, for once I actually remembered to take care of the excess fabric behind the applique!  With hand quilting, this can be a frustrating detail to overlook.

Cutting the excess out from behind the applique....

I am not good at sewing on curved pieces.  Have I mentioned that once or twice before?  Slowly, patiently and with much resoluteness, the background pieces are being added onto the Big Star blocks.  It's a big project for me--one that needs not be rushed through.

Sewing on the background fabric to some of the Big Stars.

And then there is the eye candy.  The potential.  The endless possibility of something wonderful and unique. Playing with fabric is (by and large) what it's all about with quilting, right?

One stack reminds me of the brilliant fall colors.  The other one
has some funky green fabrics that are really stretching my imagination....

I love to stack fabrics together and play with them off and on for a few months, adding and subtracting as the whims determine.  Since I don't have a lot of money, I can't just go out and buy everything I want necessary for the next new project. Besides, it can be unexpectedly charming to mix in old impulse buys with a fresh new fat quarter or two!

And another fabric stack with less coral and more pink,
less gold and more subtle yellows....

Fabrics absolutely need to marinate and simmer for awhile before I dare cut into them.  It helps to be very sure of the fabric/pattern combination I've dreamed up too. This stack of browns, creamy whites, tans, blues and reds below has been very interesting. Honestly, I've totally given up on this particular mixture of fabrics once before and then later had to go digging them out of the totes again! Something tells me this combination could be quite the satisfying quilt for me.*sigh  I said for me.  Probably not for you though. lol

And yet another.....

Hmmm...  Could it be my next forever project?  It's so fun to have these stacks sitting around my quilting room teasing me while I'm working on the tedious details of a UFQ.  The theory is, if it's right out in the open, eventually my mind will hit on what the missing element seems to be.  Oh well.  It seems we all have a method to our madness!

More Progress on the Big Stars

I've been plugging along the last couple of days.  Three more stars are sewn together.  These turned out a little bit better than the previous three.  Probably because I checked out a couple tutorials here and there!  Sewing curves is not something I'm very good at, but I am determined to learn.

A few more big stars.

Two of my panels for the 9-patch series #4 are finished up too.  They have been super easy to take with me and work on in the car etc. while I wait on my husband or whatever else is going on.  At first I worried that I had used too many medium and similar tones, but now I'm liking the bright, zingy vibe going on.  Hopefully they will do what I want them to for the quilt in question.  Fingers crossed!

9-patch series #4 panels

As I look forward to the holidays I'm wondering what I'll be doing for hand work during the times it's inconvenient to hand quilt on a large quilt.  I really need to get my next forever project figured out!  The thing is, I want it to be fascinating enough to hold my attention for years if that is what it takes.  Hmmm...  What to do, what to do...

Today is another half day of school for my kids and for some reason I can smell something burning.  It may be time to re-teach the kidlings how to properly cook mac and cheese again.  Always something going on around here to distract me from my quilting!

Getting Close to Another Finished Quilt!

The hand quilting is all finished up now on my Monkey Wrench quilt!  Hard to see the details because of the dark thread I used, but trust me, it's all there.  The binding color was a no-brainer for me this time around.  Plain old black seemed to be the only color that made sense, so why bother fighting it?

Monkey Wrench all ready to start binding.

I'm still not sure why I put the red sashing squares on the outside sashing strips like I did.  Probably because I still hadn't made any decisions about the borders at that point?  Someday I'm sure I'll get a better handle on my decision making skills.*wink

And now there are three!

Here are two more Big Stars that I have made (I previously posted a pic of the top left one).  This is a pattern out of 'Simple Pleasures' by Jan Patek, Alma Allen and Sue Spargo.  Karen over at Log Cabin Quilter recently made another sweet quilt out of this same book that I have considered making for myself.  After looking at the finished product up on my design wall, I'm thinking that I may need to sew a bit slower.  You know, for the smoother curved seam look.  Ahem.  Or maybe give it up completely?  hehe  Now if I can just dig up the courage to sew on the outside curved pieces for these big monsters.....

Something Different For Me

Um.... yeah.  I think maybe it's the smoke from all the wildfires.  Something is definitely out of whack if I voluntarily start cutting and sewing together 'complicated' blocks.  I'm a nervous wreck about this--1st, 2nd and third thoughts, you name it and still..... here's the first block just waiting on the background fabric.

Here's where I veer off in a new direction.

It's a large block.  Waaay bigger than I imagined, which means that now you know how much I read patterns before I got started.  My basket blocks are going to be 9" finished, so that gives you a pretty good frame of reference for the star.  I'm not planning on buying any fabric for this project (until maybe the border) and hopefully I'll find everything I need in my totes.  Please let me find what I need in my totes!

So you can see how big this star is....

The background will definitely need to be pieced because I buy mostly fat quarters.  (And the jury is still out if I will go ahead and sew the curved background pieces on or just applique this big monster to a pieced square.)  This is so not my normal comfort zone, but I'm extremely happy with what I'm doing anyway.  It feels really good to challenge the status quo once in awhile.  You didn't think I was going to sew all basket quilts for the rest of my life did you?*wink