Something Old Becomes Something New

One of my recent goals in the sewing room has been to sort through the boxes and bags of leftovers from previous projects. I never know what to do with the bits and pieces, partial strip sets and extra blocks when I finish a quilt. Most of the time, they languish in a box while I jump on to a new project. The accumulation has become rather ridiculous.

While sorting through a box of parts and pieces from several old projects, I ran across some partial units from a challenge quilt that I made in 1999! Here is a scan of a 1999 photo of the original quilt. I couldn't do much in editing to improve the quality of the photo, but you can get an idea of the quilt design. Finished size of the quilt is probably between 36" and 40".

Here are some of the leftover pieces that were in that box. There were enough parts to make 5 or 6 star blocks, but not enough of the background fabric. The pattern is "Santa Monica Stars" from the book Even More Well Connected by Mary Ellen Hopkins, published in 1995.

I decided to switch the fabric at the center of the stars and auditioned a couple of other options.

I decided to go with the last choice, and also had just enough of that fabric to use it for the sashing and border on my new little wallhanging. 

Santa Monica Stars
22.75" square

I must be ready for the hot weather to be done, because I keep wanting to dig into the fall colors in my fabric collection. Unfortunately, our forecast still shows highs over 90 for another week!

I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Moving it Forward at Em's Scrapbag and Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt. Check them out for lots of great inspiration.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA