Design Wall Monday 2/26/18

The current set of blocks on my design wall began life back in the summer of 2013. I had made a pile of 6" nine-patch blocks using yellows and golds with blue centers. 20 of those original blocks were joined together into this cute little quilt top (which is still waiting to be quilted.)

Nine-patch quilt top, 38.5" x 45.5"

There were still several leftover blocks plus some already-cut squares, and they all moved around from place to place in the sewing room over the years. I ran across them again in January and decided it was time to do something with them. I turned the 9-patches into Sister's Choice blocks with blue star points around the outside of each block. Here are a few of my favorite blocks.

 

The next step was to audition sashing and cornerstone fabrics. I looked at several different options for the sashing and have it narrowed down to one of  these two blue prints. There are three choices for the cornerstones in this shot, and the darker blue along the left end and top will be the outer border. 

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check out all of them for tons of amazing quilting inspiration! 

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 7/1/13

The past weekend was filled with quilting fun for me. On Saturday I was able to attend a workshop with Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. It was a full-day class where we got to see many of Edyta's beautiful quilts featuring different star patterns. After her presentation, we got started making the Dresden Stars pattern, her variation on the traditional Dresden Plate with 3-D stars formed by inserting folded triangles into the seams between the segments. This is the pattern cover for our project which you can find here.

As part of the class, we each received a kit with the pattern, all the fabrics needed to make the eight blocks in this quilt, plus acrylic cutting templates. We provide our own fabrics for the centers of the blocks, plus setting fabric and borders. I managed to construct one block in class, plus two more on Sunday. I am currently planning to make a wallhanging with five blocks instead of the eight blocks in the pattern.

I got the idea that this pattern would make a good patriotic quilt, which led to the red & yellow version at the bottom of the photo. I made the pieces a bit larger, which took some testing to get things to fit together. I was thinking a combination of blue and red blocks would be very striking.

My other project for the weekend was finishing up the borders for my yellow & blue 9-patch quilt. The top measures 38-1/2" x 45-1/2". I love the way the outer border fabric pulls it all together.

It's time for me to link up to Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday. There is an incredible variety of ideas and inspiration there to enjoy, which is the reason why Monday has become one of my favorite days of the week!

Julie in GA

Sunshiny Stars

My collection of yellow and gold Dancing Stars blocks has increased by a few more this week. Why is it that my collection of yellow and gold scrap strips doesn't seem to have gotten any smaller? I knew that I had plenty of yellow scraps, but this is even more than I realized!

Here is my complete collection of blocks for this month. I didn't have enough time to put up blocks of all the different colors together, but I will try to get them up sometime in the next week and take a few photos.

I started to clear away that pile of 2-1/2" yellow strips the other day, but first I used several of them to make some quick and easy 9-patch blocks. Blue and yellow has always been one of my favorite color combinations. This just needs a border or two (one option is up on the right side) and I will have a baby quilt top done. Maybe it was the news that my niece and her husband had their first baby on Monday. Welcome to the family Matthew!

I am linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2013, where you can see all sorts of wonderful ways that other quilters have been using their yellow scraps this month. It's never too late to join the fun! The Dancing Stars pattern is available as a free download at Amy's Creative Side.


Julie in GA