Christmas Stars

This quilt has been in my life for 20 years, but until yesterday I couldn’t say that is was complete. I started it as a class at Log Cabin Fabrics. It was a block of the month class that met the first Thursday of the month for either 6 months or a year – I can’t remember. Seems to me we got 2 blocks each month. I opted to hand piece the blocks. I made the decision to hand piece the blocks for a few different reasons.

First, I love to hand piece, second, there are a lot of points in these blocks and I wanted to be sure to have pointy points, third, I love hand piecing!  I loved the fact that I could take the work with me where ever I was, in the car, at a field hockey game or the orthodontics office.  Those places were all part of my life when I started this quilt.  How life has changed.

So you wonder, why if I loved the blocks so much and took them with me just about everywhere, did it take 20 years to complete.  It became a UFO (unfinished object) for a few reasons.  After piecing all of the blocks they were all different sizes, not because I pieced them wrong – the idea was to trim the blocks to all match.  The problem with that was that I would need to cut off my precious points in order to have them all the same size.  They were stuck in a box to wait til later.  I would pull them out a few times a year and try to come up with a solution.

Well after 20 years I have progressed as a quilter and an idea finally came to me.  Add background borders to all of the blocks and them trim them so that all of the points would show and the blocks would all measure 17 1/2″ square.  Next step – put the quilt together – add sashing and borders.

Then it needed to be quilted.  I could not hand quilt it or it would take another 20 years to complete.  I don’t feel skilled enough to quilt it on my sewing machine.  A good friend suggested a long arm quilter that she has worked with.  I packed it up and sent it to Shirley York of Blue Moose Quilting.

Well, Shirley is truly an artist!  The quilting that she did on this quilt is wonderful, whimsical, it “completes” my quilt in a wonderful way.  Here are some pictures to show you how special it is.

Water Wheel Star

Octagon Star

Radiant Feathered Star

St. Louis Star

Mariner’s Compass

Castle Wall

Blazing Star

California Sunset

Interlocking Star

Hearts Design

Flying Swallows

Snow Crystals

If you click the pictures you can see the quilting details a little better.

Happy Quilting and hopefully Happy Spring soon too…

Be Kind…

Faith

that after sitting on a shelf for more years than I want to admit to you need to finish them. I am very excited about this quilt – I started it in the 90’s – it was a block of the month class. Every month on the first Thursday we would meet to learn the newest block. I had decided to hand piece my blocks – most of them are hand pieced, a couple are done by machine.

The problem with the completion of this quilt was that the blocks were all different sizes. The completion instructions were to square them up to the average size of the blocks. Big Problem, some were 15 1/2″ some were 17 1/2″, cutting the larger ones down would have cut off the wonderful points of my stars. The other problem was that I didn’t have a ruler large enough to square them up.

So after careful contemplation I decided to add the backgound fabric to all of the blocks that were too small. I then went to the local glass repair shop and asked them to cut me a piece of plexiglass that was 17.5″ square. I used a Black Sharpie to mark the center lines. I could now use this to be sure that all of my blocks were the same size.

not a great picture but I think you get the idea

I had saved the extra fabric along with the blocks in a tote so that I wouldn’t have to worry about matching fabrics when I finally completed the quilt.  I put the sashing on the quilt and then thought about borders.  Last night I brought it upstairs to preview it on the bed.  Horrors – It is to small – it is long enough but not wide enough.  So back to the stash – AKA fabrics.

Christmas Stars – one border too small

So after digging through the piles of Christmas fabrics that I have – after measuring and figuring and choosing I decided to use the same fabric as the sashing.  It was really the only fabric that looked good and that I had enough of.  I really liked the red border as the final border but now it will be a green.  I will post another picture when it is finished.

So, that is the problem with UFO’s – lesson learned.  Don’t let those quilts sit on the shelf for 20 years.  Pull them out and get working on them or give them away, or make placemats or tote bags to donate to charity.  Or discuss with other quilters what has become your road block.  There is a reason that you started the quilt all those years ago – you loved the pattern or the fabric, you wanted to take the class with your friends, you were interested in learning a new technique.  Something got in the way of the completion of the quilt – you needed a different ruler, the blocks didn’t turn out the way you wanted, you moved and the quilt doesn’t go with anything in your house.  The reasons – or excuses are endless and so is the guilt that we feel every time we stumble upon the pile on the shelf.  So finish it or re-purpose it into something useful for someone else.

All of my beds will have Christmas quilts on them this December.  I have been wanting to accomplish that for many years.

Keep Quilting….

Be Kind…

Faith

Dresden Plate

Once again I have entered a UFO Challenge.  As quilters, many of us have projects that we started many years ago, with the best intentions of finishing them.  Then life gets in the way, or we lose interest, or some wonderful new pattern or fabric or class grabs our attention.  Yes, we can be a very fickle group!

When I started this project I lived in upstate NY in the Helderberg mountains, in this big beautiful Victorian home.

First house – Westerlo, NY 1986

The majority of the colors in the house were burgundy and green – my husbands favorite colors.  They were rich, beautiful colors that reflected the colors of the time that the house was built.  We spent 13 wonderful years living in this home.  But I digress.

The pattern for this quilt was published in American Patchwork & Quilting in April 1996.  I fell in love with it and decided to make it.  The pieces are machine pieced and machine appliqued.  The colors were perfect for the wallpaper and carpet in our bedroom at the time.  Needless to say I have lived in 3 different houses since then and the colors do not go in my bedroom any longer.  BUT… they are Victorian Christmas colors.  So I will use this as a Christmas quilt after it is completed.

one corner

I need to piece the backing and it will be dropped off at the longarm quilter in early February.  I will be dropping off 2 quilts at that point.  The second quilt is made up of hand pieced stars.  It is a sampler quilt so each block is different.  I need to finish up the borders on that one and then I will show you a picture of it.

These are 2 of the 6 quilts on my UFO list.  The prospect of getting these 2 quilts done is very exciting for me.  There is a wonderful feeling when a project that you have been working on for many years is almost done.

So quilters, knitters, crafters – go check out your stash and pull out those UFO’s and get to work.  Get them done  – you will be so happy that you have completed them.  Pat your self on the back and go start another project.

Keep creating…

Be Kind…

Faith