Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

Category Archives: Star-a-day

What’s On My Design Wall

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This week all I’ve accomplished with needle and thread is 3 new stars (which still need pressing). What can I say? Tuesday afternoon I started tearing the office space apart in preparation for a “new desk”.  Well, that and to clean up some broken glass.

I think I’ve finally got all of the glass up and the computers are hooked back up. But there are still boxes to unpack and stuff to put away.  There are boxes are piled up in front of the design wall

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and on the cart.

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Flat surfaces are piled high.

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But the quilting books are now on the bookshelf that I swapped out. The wall hanging will need to be moved.

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Others hung back up.

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I can however say with certainty neither the ironing or cutting boards are piled with stuff. The only decision I have to make now is if this new arrangement is going to work for me.  I’ll try it out for a week and in the meantime, put what I can away.

Hopefully there will be better eye candy through some of the other links over at Patchwork Times.

 

 

Prepping Stars

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Earlier this week the modem took a nose dive off the bookshelf and fell on a just emptied glass, breaking it. Why is this important? Because it means I’ve torn my office/sewing room apart to get behind the desks to clean up the bits and pieces. But moving the big desk will be easier with two people – especially since I want to switch some furniture out, so the final push won’t happen until this weekend.  Meanwhile, I can’t get to the sewing machine so I’ve been working on my Star-a-Day blocks.

Tonight, instead of stitching a block, I prepped stars.  This is some of the fabric I picked back in November. I finally sat still long enough to trace the pieces off and cut them out.  I need to find my alternate square fabric and cut a few squares, but all the star pieces are ready now for 9 more blocks.  At the moment I have 73 stars made.

Life Happens

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I feel like I’ve fallen off the face of the earth. I haven’t, it’s just that “Life Happens”. I tend to keep everything (especially my quilting) going through crises real or imagined and then collapse when it’s all over. The past couple of months have been a whirlwind and it has caught up with me.  Two new cats, two trips, in between DH in the hospital for 3 days (thank goodness(?!) it was during my vacation) with a cat bite and mi$cellaneou$ car/home/yard maintenance that had to be done NOW.

So, I’m slowly getting my act together. The living room got a once over after watching a video of the cats jumping at a feather toy. I’m sitting down and working on the DWR – I’ve got about 5-1/2 rings left to bind, then I’ll add a label, photograph the quilt, wash it and photograph it again. (I’m terrified of the reds bleeding, but I really need to clean it before we sleep under it on a regular basis). Gracie was helping out a couple of nights ago. Last night Butterscotch was keeping an eye on me.

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Earlier this week I’ve finished a few more of the batik blocks – I had pinned the strips to the center before the last trip so this required no brain.  There are 14 more blocks to finish.

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We aren’t going to talk about the Stars or the Alphabet BOM until after Thanksgiving.

In the meantime, I really need to do a bit of housekeeping.  It’s so far behind it’s beginning to bother me.

 

 

 

What’s On My Design Wall

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This weekend I was on call for work, so while I was waiting I finished up a few more blocks for the Batik quilt. I have 21 more blocks to finish then it will be time to start arranging them.  Right now I’m just tossing them up on the wall as I finish them.

I’m also up-to-date on my Star-A-Day blocks. I need to get busy and trace the templates. I only have stars traced to get me through Thursday and 3 of them are not cut out.  The section I’m working on now will have 32 stars in it.

Finally, I’ve rounded the 3rd corner on my DWR. The chart is updated on my sidebar.

Check out what others are working on by visiting Patchwork Times.

61 Stars

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Two months down and 10 to go. I finished the 61st star as the Royals scored 7 runs in the 2nd inning, then I went on to make star # 62, the first one for November and the last of the prepped stars.

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I’ve been digging in my 1-1/2″ strip box for fabrics for my star points and have found these. They still need to be matched up with a background fabric.

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Butterscotch is holding down the rest of the 1-1/2″ strips that I pulled from the box and that need a mate.

Tonight during Game 7, I think I’ll stitch on the DWR. I need want to get the next three rings stitched down by the end of the month. That will leave me with 11 rings and a label to get done by mid-November so I can then get it washed and on the bed by our 29th anniversary on the 29th. Totally do-able. Of course at one time I thought I’d have the quilt finished for our 5th 10th 15th 20th 25th anniversary as well, so who knows.

What’s On My Design Wall

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More stars!

For those of you keeping count, my start date on the stars is September 1st.  That means as of last night I should have 57 stars completed at one Star-A-Day.  As you can see, there are a few extra up on the wall.  The extra stars are because 1 – I prepped a month’s worth of stars in advance and 2 – there was a lot of sitting and waiting going on last week.  One more star (and I just need 3 background pieces attached) and I’ll have all of October’s stars done.

There are a few more rings stitched on the binding, but I’m not sure how many. Maybe later today I’ll have some time to figure that out.

See what others have on their design walls by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

 

What’s On My Design Wall

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At first glance it doesn’t look like anything on my design wall has changed.  But there are more stars on the wall.  I’ve been keeping up with them.  Now that the scraps and magazines are gone through, it’s on to cleaning up the sewing room. I’ve taken 2 steps already.

Yesterday afternoon I  helped a friend baste her king size quilt. We decided the backing really needed pressing, so I had to clear the ironing board off. Some of the stuff ended up on the cutting table, the scraps I had been digging through ended up in a scrap bin, but the large stuff got put away appropriately. The 2nd thing I did was put away the piles of fabric I had pulled out for the Grand Illusion Mystery. I haven’t given up on doing the mystery, I simply need to clear the decks to get a few other things done first.

Linking up to Patchwork Times.  Be sure to go over and see what others are working on.

What’s On My Design Wall

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This week I’ve rearranged the batik blocks to get the stars up on the wall. I have two more stars made which are not pictured, so I’m still on track.

Surprisingly, the Star-A-Day quilt has been taking a big chunk of my time. But hopefully I’m good to go as I’ve prepped the stars for the rest of the month.

The last week of September,  I pulled fabric for the October stars.

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I stacked it all in my star box and couldn’t lift the box with one hand. So, I decided to further refine each kit. Last night I finished kiting up the October stars.

The pieces are traced and cut out, including the setting square.  I’ll explain those tiny squares in a minute.

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They are then stacked up on the setting square.

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I fold the setting square over to contain the pieces.

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And stuff it into a business envelope which I’ve created 3 pockets by stitching through.

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I did this for all of the sets which I’ve not stitched and filled 7 envelopes  for 21 prepped stars.

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I’ve put two envelopes, a few pins, a couple of needles, thread, scissors, a pen and a glue stick into a pencil bag. It takes up much less space on my side table than the star box. The rest of the envelopes are in the star box in the sewing room.

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So, why do I need those 3 tiny squares, a glue stick and pen? I’m keeping a journal of my quilt progress.

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Now that the stars are under control (at least until the end of the month) maybe I can work on a second project — but will it be the batik quilt or one of the Craigslist projects? I’ll tell about those tomorrow.

See what others are working on by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

 

 

 

 

 

What’s On My Design Wall

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My Star-A-Day project is on the wall today.  I’ve been pushing myself to get ‘caught up’ on the stars and last night I finished the 28th star and I was able to assemble the section.  Spending so much time on this quilt to get it going has meant I’ve not worked on anything else. Now that I’ve I’m only working on a single star a day and it has ‘clicked’ and a star is not taking me 2 hours to make, I should have time to work on my other projects. But first I’ll select the fabrics for the next two weeks of stars.

Check out what others have on their design walls by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

 

The Stars Have a Setting Fabric

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This morning I received an e-mail from the LQS.  For Day #1 of their Customer Appreciation Week they were offering 40% off of any one cut of fabric. Very seldom does everything line up — a great sale, the need for a large length of fabric, budget and time.  I ran to the shop during lunch hoping I’d find something that I liked as well as what I showed yesterday or better yet that I’d like even better.

I did.

This is an older April Cornell fabric from the Nostalgia line – pattern # 35122. The creamy soft (very soft) yellow works well with all of the existing star backgrounds and the soft blue print gives just enough interest to the setting squares without becoming the focus point. I love that it is going to give a soft look to the quilt.

Yes, two more stars are done.  I sat in a different chair (no arms), had a bright light and possibly most importantly, wasn’t distracted by the TV. The stars went together much faster. So, I might just catch up by the end of the week and then can start working on other things after making a star.