Happy Labor Day to all the hard-working people of the U.S. today. My former co-workers returned to work last Monday after nearly three months on furlough. It was strange not to be there with them, but I've been enjoying the slower pace of retirement. It's such a treat to set my own pace each day instead of following the workday schedule.
We've been especially lucky with beautiful weather this weekend. I know the heat and humidity are likely to return soon, but the past few days have been a huge treat! We have started walking twice a day, once in the morning and a shorter walk after dinner. I hope the pleasant weather continues long enough for this to become a regular habit.
After finishing up my Dresden Stars quilt late last week (photos coming soon, I promise!), I had a hard time deciding what to work on next. I'm sure many others have similar trouble after completing a project. None of my UFOs interested me, so I decided to try something new. I've been starting to think about new projects for next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I was quite intrigued by the Sew Colorful Stars pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop.
Downloadable PDF patterns are so great! I love being able to buy a pattern and have it available within minutes. I bought this one and decided to do a sample block and see how I liked making it. I already had a stack of orange and light HSTs leftover from some previous project, and that made construction much quicker. The only cutting I had to do was the corner squares.
It took some time to figure out a good way to press my seams and get them to nest together. Unfortunately, the pattern did not include that information. Once that question was answered, it went together smoothly. I had triangles in sets of four and arranged them so that each quarter of the quilt had them in the same place. My finished block size is 20". The pattern is for a 16" block, but my HSTs were a larger size and I just used them as is and adjusted the size of the corner squares.
Will I make this pattern as one of my RSC projects next year--it's a very strong contender. I like to have one project that uses many fabrics in a single, complex block, and this one certainly fits that requirement. There's still plenty of time before I need to decide, and there are many other possible designs floating through my head.
Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
Happy quilting everyone!
Julie in GA
That is a really neat block! It would be great for an RSC quilt. Glad you are enjoying retirement! I have been retired 5 years, and never missed work at all, even though I loved my teaching career.
ReplyDeleteGreat pattern! And you're 1/12 of the way for RSC 2021!
ReplyDeleteIt gets my vote!
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of HSTs, but what a great extra HST project. It is really hard to pick just one RSC project. I want to play along next year, but am waiting to see how far the UFO list comes down this year.
ReplyDeleteOh, love your test block!! What a great idea to place them in the same position for each block.
ReplyDeleteThat’s a great pattern, what a nice big block it makes! I need to get back on the ball to continue with my scrap blocks for this year before I can think about next year!
ReplyDelete