star quilt along, week 4

Welcome to week 4 of the quilt along.
If you are inclined to join in, but haven't yet, let me know. It's not too late. :)


cut one square 7 1/4" from the background fabric


cut in half on the diagonal twice, forming 4 quarter square triangles
cut 4 squares 3 1/2" from the background fabric

cut 4 squares 3 7/8" from a medium print
cut 4 squares 3 7/8" from a dark print

cut only 2 of each of these in half on the diagonal once
to make:
4 half square triangles from the medium print and
4 half square triangles from the dark print

mark a diagonal line on the back of the 2 remaining medium print squares (to prepare to make triangles)
take the 2 remaining dark and 2 remaining medium 3 7/8" squares and layer them together, right sides together.

sew a quarter inch seam on either side of the diagonal line, cut apart on the pencil line, press open

to make 4 squares

layout as shown






sew together and square up the block to measure 12.5".


I'll try to answer any questions in the comments.

a (pink) quilt in a day, part 3

I know I said that my next monochromatic quilt was going to be brown, but after all the disappointment in my quilting this week (see previous post), I took out my pink scraps and got busy.

This is for my monochromatic challenge and my quilt in a day series. What can I say? I like to be efficient. The quilt top measures 55" x 70". What amazes me is how many pink scraps I still have leftover. I think I may need to make a pink version of this quilt.

As far as time frame goes, I started piecing this on Monday night around 8:30 and I finished piecing it Tuesday night around 10:30. The making of this spanned about a 26 hour period, but I figure that's close enough to count for a day. And yes, I did eat, sleep, cook and clean. :)

This is version 3 of the house of girls quilts. You can see version one here and version two here. I think that the third time is a charm. I've definitely got to keep this one. 

Many of you have asked for a tutorial on this type of piecing. Since it is so random, that would be hard to do, but I'll try to explain my process. Basically, I take 2 pretty pieces of fabric, sew them together, press the seam open, and add another scrap of pretty fabric. Keep adding pieces randomly in an arrangement that is pleasing to the eye. Once you have a fairly large piece, set it aside and repeat. When you have several larger pieces, arrange them on the floor (or design wall) and fit them together like a puzzle. At this point, you may need to add in a fabric here and there to make it all fit. You can also chop off some ends that are too long. The more variety of fabrics, the better. But you also want to limit your color palette, so it's not chaotic. There is a fine line in achieving that balance, I think. This type of piecing is very fun and freeing, so if you haven't tried it, I would encourage you to do so.

One more thing: thanks for all your kind words and suggestions on what to do with my batting disaster. I will keep you posted on what I decide to do.

seeing stars

My seeing stars quilt is done. 

Here is the backing and binding...

and on my daughter's bed. 

I love the stars and the secondary design that the setting blocks make.

Unfortunately, after taking it out of the wash, I discovered something very, very bad. A few weeks ago I bought 16 yards of what I thought was Warm and Natural batting (at JoAnn's), but it ended up being Fairfield White Cotton Batting. The fibers in that particular batting are larger and more twiggy than in the Warm and Natural batting. At this point, I realized it wasn't Warm and Natural, but I thought it would be fine.  So I sandwiched and quilted it, bound it, washed and dried it. I was delighted when I took the quilt out of the dryer. It was all puckered up, just like it should be. But, after looking at it a bit, I noticed several of the dark spots from the batting showing through the white fabric. I am sooooo disappointed. I can't tell you just how much. Then, I discovered that one of the natural fibers must have gotten too hot in the dryer and it actually burned the fabric.

I'm just sick about it. 

I talked to a manager at JoAnn's and they agreed to exchange the rest of the batting that I haven't used yet used for Warm and Natural. But what do I do with my less than perfect quilt? 

I've been wracking my brain to think of what kind of applique I could do to cover it up. I have even considered ripping it all apart and fixing it. (A lifetime project.) Or else I could hang it on the wall so you can only see it at a distance and not see all the imperfections. I am afraid I am too much of a perfectionist to just use it as is. 

And, to add to that, I was hours into quilting this quilt, in which I used the same batting. So now my new project is to rip out 4 bobbins worth of quilting, just so I can change out the batting.

It's been a bad quilting week here.

star quilt along, week 3

Welcome to week 3 of the star quilt along. 

This week's block is called Ohio Star.

cut 2 squares 5  1/4" from a medium or dark fabric

cut 1 square 4  1/2" from a medium or dark fabric

cut the 2 squares that measure 5  1/4"  in half on the diagonal twice to make a total of 8 quarter square triangles

cut 4 squares 4  1/2" from the background fabric

cut 2 squares 5  1/4" from the background fabric

cut the 2 squares that measure 5  1/4" in half on the diagonal twice to make a total of 8 quarter square triangles

layout as shown

and once it is sewn together, square it up to measure 12.5".

Any questions, I'll try to answer them in the comments.

Happy Quilting!

a quilt in a day, day 2

Today's quilt was inspired by this apron, which was ulitmately inspired by Lera, and her love for red & aqua, polka dots, gingham and cherries. (I share the same love for all those things, too.)

This quilt went together super quick. I already had the fabrics picked out, which helped. I started cutting and sewing after dinner, and I finished it up before bed.

The backing will be that sweet aqua cherry print and I'm thinking about red gingham bias binding. To me, this quilt screams "picnic quilt", so I just may have to make a bag to put it in, too.

The top measures 72" x 81". (That's going to be a whole lot of stippling.)

I'm pretty excited to see it all come together.

doing laundry is dangerous...

...because it gives me too much time to think about what I could be making.

I was pairing and folding socks and thought, what if I made a quilt top a day? How much fun would that be? I must have gotten the idea from Martha, who is making a piece of clothing a day.

I don't think that I will be able to make all the quilts back to back, but I hope to make a few each week. I will be starting my own little series here on the blog. So far I have 12 quilts on my list to (try to) do in a day. Each will be a simple design that I have been wanting to make for awhile. The goal is that all of them will use fabric from my stash, which is an added and maybe the only benefit to my hair-brained idea.

Here's the first one.

I started this one yesterday and finished it this afternoon.

It measures 51" x 66".

I think I had better stop doing laundry. Who knows what I will come up with next. :)

edit: since so many of you have asked, I thought I should add that this is not a pattern. It is inspired by Denyse Schmidt, but I pieced it all improvisationally.

setting blocks

Since several of you have asked, I am posting the instructions for the setting blocks for the star quilt along so you can work on them at your leisure. If you are making the quilt as shown, you will need 12 setting blocks.


cut 6 strips 2.5" x the width of fabric from a printed fabric
cut 6 strips 2.5" x the width of fabric from the background fabric

sew together using a quarter inch seam allowance

cut 2 1/2" segments

make four patches
you will need 4 four patches for each setting block, for a total of 48 four patches.

cut 4 squares 4 1/2" for each setting block from the background, for a total of 48 squares
cut 1 square 4 1/2" for each setting block from the printed fabric, for a total of 12 squares

layout as shown

sew together and square up the blocks to 12.5".

I think all those numbers are right. Let me know if you encounter any errors.
Happy quilting!

enough is enough

This afternoon I was sitting here trying to decide what to blog about. Then I thought, boy, I wish I was getting something done around here, quilt wise. I only finished sewing the quilt top together and basted it today. Only. Good grief.

I don't know if I should laugh at myself, cry or to check myself into therapy.

(For those of you who suggest therapy, please be gentle in your comments.)

star quilt along, week 2

Welcome to week 2 of the star quilt along.

Several of you have made the block for week 1 and it ended up measuring less than 12.5". If that happened to you, here are a few things to try.


First, sew a seam and measure it with a ruler. (double click on the image to see it larger.) It should measure exactly 1/4". If the seam is larger, your block will end up too small. Also, you will end up losing the points of your triangles. It does take some practice. When there are so many seams in one block, accuracy really becomes important. (Don't think that I have this perfected, I still have missing points in a few of my stars.)

If your seams are accurate, the next thing to check is your cutting accuracy.

There is an alternative to this. If you really don't want to worry about the accuracy, you can add white borders around your blocks to make them a uniform size and choose to set the block differently than in this particular star quilt. (Something along the lines of this quilt, do you see how the blocks float in the white?) That is one way around it. But I would encourage you to keep trying for the accurately sized block. It does get better with practice.

OK, so on to block 2...

cut one square 6 1/2" from a medium print fabric

cut one square 7 1/4" from the background fabric

cut it on the diagonal (twice) to make 4 quarter square triangles

cut 4 squares 3 1/2" from the background fabric

cut 4 squares 3 7/8" from a darker printed fabric (the contrast is important for the design of the star to stand out)

cut each of those squares in half on the diagonal to make 8 half square triangles

layout as shown



Sew together and square it up so it measures 12.5".

Once you are done, you can add your photos to the flickr group here.

If you have questions, I will attempt to answer them in the comments.

using up every last bit

This morning I sewed up these cards made up of fabric scraps and card stock.

They are so much fun to make.
I love how they use up the skinny strips that are too thin to use for anything else.

These pink ones will be making their way to a good friend who loves pink.


And a new puppy, Daisy, came to live at our house. We love her! Thanks Linda!

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

what's going on

Lots going on here=one very tired mama.

I am working on quilting this quilt for Heather. This is still part of our trade off-babysitting for quilting. She pieced the top. Isn't it fantastic? I love the blues and aquas. It's the same pattern as this quilt.

We have a little girl in our house that turned 2 on Tuesday. She got a cold for her birthday. :(

I have 2 more quilts in the queue which are basted and ready to quilt.

I am doing some summer wardrobe planning for my little girl. Dresses like this. Bloomers that I want to try from this tutorial.

And my husband has been working some crazy long hours, so I've been on single parent duty for a few nights a week lately. Ugh.

What's going on at your house today?

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Also, I added the names to the list for the quilt along. If yours isn't there, please send me an email or leave me a comment to let me know so I can add it. I tried to add each name, but I may have inadvertently missed someone. Thanks to all of you who already signed up and for your enthusiasm.