Shining in the cold

 Hi everyone. How are you all today? I am happy to say that it is getting slightly warmer and today was full of sunshine. Hurray! There may even be a hint of green out there. Hurray! I was inside most of the day, except for a walk before it warmed up, but thankfully there are windows, and it. was. lovely. Sunshine just makes you happy, you know? 

Today I have a very small top to show, but it's also lovely and somewhat complicated. Here she is (yes, quilts are "she"): 

 

I told you it was really pretty! 

A few months ago, my friend Preeti reviewed a book and made a beautiful quilt from it. Since I had never made a quilt with diamonds, she loaned me the book and I chose this small top to try the technique. Why not challenge myself, you know? 

And it was a challenge, too! The cutting went just fine, and piecing the bigger diamonds was pretty easy, but then the bias edges made putting everything together a bit challenging. Some blocking and a lot of Magic Sizing and it turned out just fine. Next time, sizing (or better, starch) before cutting and piecing would be a good idea. A *lot* of starch would be an even better idea.

This top measures about 23 by 23 right now, which is small but a good way to try out a new technique. I used hand dyes for the colorful fabrics, and I am just thrilled with how it turned out. The tree above is curved, so the top looks a bit distorted, but I am pretty proud of the fact that it turned out both flat and square. And the points match (mostly!). I feel like this is a win! 

And now-- Some of you have noticed that I haven't been posting a lot, and I really owe some of you a thanks for the nice notes I've gotten. The truth is that, apparently, ten months of unrelenting stress is my limit. Something had to give, and the only "optional" thing in my life was stitching time and thus also the blog. Believe me when I say that this has been a real loss for me, but it's saving my mental health. I miss it terribly, and I will post more at the rate that I have for the last six years eventually. Thanks for sticking around and sticking with me through this, and really-- thanks for checking up on me. You can't know how much I appreciate it. (And don't worry, I am still buying plenty of fabric and paging through a lot of patterns and making plans!)

ANYWAY. . .this lovely little quilt is called Cactus Star, and the pattern and templates are in Diamond Star Quilts by Barbara Cline. You can find the book HERE, and read Preeti's review HERE. For now this one little quilt is enough for me, but there are some beautiful quilts in there if you love diamonds.

And just to end on a much happier note, I had some visitors very close to the house, right outside the door to the patio:

Yep, I'm ready for a fence. A little close for comfort!  Hope you are all staying well and healthy. Spring is coming, in more ways than one.

Sharing at Midweek Makers, Finished or Not Friday, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Some brightness in the gray

 Hi everyone! I sincerely hope that all of you are warm and have running water. I know that a lot of the country is quite cold right now, and many of you in Texas are in real crisis. Know that I feel for you, truly. I went to college in Ft. Worth, and I can only imagine the situation. We have been really cold for Maryland, but thankfully we are all good here. I hope things are getting better where you are, too.

On to something happier and much, much lighter-- I finished another quilt. Yay me! Here she is:

 

Yep, we have our share of ice and snow right now, too. This is a baby-sized quilt that finished about 41 by 42. The top was made in 2019 from blocks that I made for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in -gulp!- 2018.  We all know I'm slow on these things, right? But they really do get finished eventually!

 

 I don't know why I waited so long, because this was so darned simple to finish. I straight-line quilted a cross hatch with a walking foot across the blocks in both directions. It was easy, and I like the way the grid is opposite the blocks. And it makes squares like the fabric in the setting triangles, too!

The backing is a fun daisy print on turquoise, so I had to finish it with a bright yellow binding. I almost never use a backing that dark, but it just seemed right for this quilt, and I love how it turned out.

 

When I made these blocks (way back when, sheesh!) I called them hollow 9-patches, and I would make them again in a heartbeat. They are so cute, and all scraps, and they turned into a great quilt for a tiny person. I'm calling this quilt Bright Hollows, but very soon a tiny human will be calling it her own.

 

This quilt is going to a new little girl whose parents have been waiting and trying for her for a very long time. She isn't ours, but she is the granddaughter of good friends, and I know she will be loved and wrapped up in this quilt right after it gets there. I can already picture grandma having a tea party on this quilt, and. . .hold on, there's something in my eye. . .

As I said at the beginning, I hope that all of you are staying warm and dry, and surviving both the cold and the pandemic really well. Hang in there, and know that we're all thinking of you. 

 

 

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Brag About Your Beauties, and Finished or Not Friday.

Stars in snow

 Hello everyone! A new blog post-- what a surprise! Life has been happening around here. Oh, well. The good news is that I have *one* working light in my sewing room now, and I have a new floor in the living area, which was a real adventure. A good story for another time! It does involve a mini jackhammer, though.

Anyway, in these weird circumstances, I finished my Ohio Stars quilt top! Here she is:

 

 

It's winter, it's pretty cold, and there is a lot of snow (for Maryland) on the ground, but she still shines, right? 

 

 

This quilt top is the end of another RSC project from last year. I used Bonnie Hunter's Random Ohio Stars pattern as a guide, and I made one large and two small stars each month.  I used all but four of the smaller ones in this quilt top.

This doesn't really look like a rainbow quilt, but it used a rainbow of scraps. All of this quilt is scraps except for the borders, which was a piece I've had for a while. It's so pretty, but the color is a bit different and it never made its way into a project. Happily, most of the piece got used up in this border, and now there are only a few strings of it left. 

 

I think this is destined to become a donation quilt. It's about 60 by 72, which is a nice size for many different organizations.  We'll see what happens when it makes its way to the top of the pile. Though I have been doing very well at getting tops finished off, so I have some hope for this one, too.

 

I hope you all are staying warm and dry. We are expecting an ice storm later today, which is sure to be exciting, so I think we'll be staying home for most of the day. Winter can be done now, I think. I'm ready for some nice spring weather and some flowers. Though it does have it's moments of beauty, too:

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Linking up with Angela for RSC21 and everyone else on the sidebar>>>>>

And then the lights went out

 Hello everyone! Hey, are you all covered in snow? We are, and it's freaking me out just a little because it's been so long since we've seen it. The snow is also complicating some excitement I've had in the sewing room recently. I have flourescent lights in there-- or I had, at this point-- and I lost two out of three of them one day last week. They just stopped working, which was not welcome at all. We had planned to change out the lights in there to some LED lights anyway, so we called the electrician and he came out and started to switch out the lights. But, you know, "the wires are really old" and "these really aren't wired correctly." Long story short, still no light, and power in only part of the room. The wrong part, of course.

And then came snow. And some other people have electrical problems from the snow. I have hopes that my lights will be all fixed this week, but I really have no basis for that hope. More wishful thinking than anything.

Meanwhile, there are things I should be working on but am not, so here's a very short update. First, there is this little block:

After seeing so many really fun starts on the Stay at Home Round Robin, I decided to jump in and make a smallish donation quilt. I started with this block cut from a panel, which started out at 11 inches. Then I was supposed to add piano keys for the first round, but I was starting late, so why not just use a nice stripe instead?

It worked great, and I even mitered the corners so it looks extra special. This is now about 16-1/2 inches square. The next round is plus blocks, but of course the lights went out before that could happen. I've actually never made a plus block, so I want to have as much light as possible before I try. I see that the next one is up, too, and it's flying geese. Oooh, I actually have an idea for that! 

So that's going along okay, and I'm also working on  the Bokeh quilt along with Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl. Here is my fabric:

 

That's a surprise, isn't it? I almost never use solids. I have a project that I started a long time ago in solids and I'm not sure that I'm going to finish it. We'll see. For this, though, Bernie at Needle and Foot put together some kits for her shop, which included a print for the curved portions. This was a great idea, and I chose a print and some coordinating solids (with Bernie's help on the solids.) I think this is going to look spectacular. I did start cutting after I took this picture, so when there is power again I'll be ready to start on step one of the piecing. You can still join in if you'd like, too!

The only other thing I have right now is these hexies: 

 

In my ongoing repurposing spree, I've dug these out, cut them apart, and finally admitted that they are not going to become anything else. I have enough to make a narrow table runner, which is nice because I happen to have a narrow table just right for these. I'm going to stitch them to a piece of backing by machine and be done with it. Any suggestions for the backing color? I thought I might stitch them about 1/4 inch apart, so the backing will show.

Okay, that's what I have for now! Keep your fingers crossed that everyone who needs it gets their power back so that I can get some lights back. Otherwise I might have to haul the machine up here and settle in at the dining table. Unfortunately, the only person that would annoy is the hubs, and he can be very annoying in return. Or just in general, you know?

Everybody stay warm and dry! 

Sharing at Midweek Makers.