Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
This is my second attempt. The first attempt used a nine patch in the same violet as the four patches and triangles.
I probably would have used a different color for the four patches, but I decided to make it a little different and keep the violet.
Mrs. Lloyd’s Favorite pattern, in case you want to make one of these.
I love this one. It came out really well, I think. I really like the combination of blue and green. I don’t think I have anymore of either, though I have to look in my cool solids box in the Fabric Closet.
In case you want to make one of these, here is the Star Puzzle Pattern.
In EQ7 this block is called Nameless (it’s Barbara Brackman number is 2047). I don’t know if that means that its name is ‘Nameless’ or that it doesn’t have a name. It is possible that the name is just not in EQ, though they are pretty good, so I think that is unlikely. If it doesn’t have a name, that is kind of sad. I think it looks like a prism or a crystal, so that is what I am calling it. I’ll look it up sometime and see.
I am, however, not making as much progress as I wanted. I really wanted to make all 12 blocks over the holiday weekend, so I would be caught up. That isn’t going to happen, though, I have made a dent.
I also have to select the next four blocks to make and I haven’t even begun to think about that.
I have to say that my attempts at choosing fabrics were a bit feeble before I started making blocks. I am using the fabrics from the group I chose early on, but I have been finding that I have to add to them as well. I grabbed that light purple dot for this block and have used it in one other. I also have a batik that I think I will add to the group. I didn’t have enough darks (but I think I knew that), so I have added some darker solids. I don’t want to overwhelm the aquas and light purples, so I am trying to use them judiciously.
This is an excellent exercise in contrasts and in making sure that the stars are crisp.
We are working on on the Oh My Stars quilt-a-long, though it was started awhile ago and everyone else is done!
I have to say that this is not an easy project. I keep cutting and recutting. I have various parts of Sawtooth Stars that didn’t work laying all over my sewing and cutting tables. I don’t know what my problem is. I blame it on the cold.
I was, again, trying to play with the idea of stars within stars. The block in the pattern was not colored this way. The patches around the turquoise star were different than the very largest outside legs. Even though the green print on the largest star is busy, I think it works and I am pleased with the way this one came out.
We are working on on the Oh My Stars quilt-a-long, though it was started awhile ago and everyone else is done!
This block was an unexpected success! I was very pleased with the way it went together (no ripping or recutting) and also with the serendipitous use of fabric. I am out of that blue, which is too bad, because it is a great blue.
3 down 9 to go.
We are working on on the Oh My Stars quilt-a-long, though it was started awhile ago and everyone else is done!
I made this block after finally finishing the Barbershop Quartet. After the drama of that block, this was a breeze and I got on a roll trying to catch up with the blocks.
I was kind of sad about that as as I wanted to work on the back for the FOTY 2012, but it is fine.
I wish I had used a darker print for the smaller Flying Geese, but that will be the reward to the viewer for coming in closer.
We are working on on the Oh My Stars quilt-a-long, though it was started awhile ago and everyone else is done!
This block took me over a week to make. I don’t think it has taken me more than a week to make a block since my first quilt project when I was learning. The first Swoon block, when I was working out the details, may have taken me a week.
I think part of the problem was that I was trying to use the Wing Clipper (some further info about the technique is in the 1/24/2013 blog post) to make the Flying Geese units. That is no problem, except that I didn’t have the finished sizes of the units and had to guess a bit, because I didn’t want to draw out the block to scale and measure. My own fault, definitely. Guessing didn’t work very well for me, so I wasted a lot of fabric and took a lot of time.
I also have a cold and was very tired yesterday, which I am sure didn’t help my thinking very much.
Anyway, the block is done and I like it. I played a bit with the negative space again and think that looks cool. You can see TFQ’s version on Flickr.
This is the second 12″ block I have made for the Star Sampler, which I think really should be called the Sawtooth Star Sampler since we are using all Sawtooth Stars. I think I am now only 10 blocks behind – or maybe 6. I’ll have to see.
The last block I made for this project was Mosaic No.19.
I am behind.
I have 3 blocks to make (due this past week) and four more to make next week. I made one! The easiest one, too.
It plays a bit with negative space. some of the pieces that should be background are colored as foreground and visa-versa. Interesting.
I said the other day that I didn’t think that fabrics with a lot of white would work, but this dot, even though it has white seems to be working fine.
Before I sewed the last two seams together, I noticed this shape.It is the middle of the block, but I thought it was really interesting. It makes me wonder what a quilt using this shape (and perhaps the size, too) would look like.
I have been working on getting the fabrics for the Star Sampler together.
I washed a bunch of new fabrics over the weekend and have added some of them to this group. I have a few more to iron, but will probably add them as well.
It occurs to me that the ones with a lot of white won’t work with the background I have chosen. I want the stars to be crisp and I don’t want the colors of the fabric in the stars to bleed into the background. That might mean taking out that nice graphic dot in the top row.
After I started writing this post, I was doing my Qi Gong practice and looking at the FOTY 2012 top, which was in process on my design wall. I saw some other fabrics, which I thought needed to be added.
I do notice that the group is getting very blue heavy, so I need to use a lot of the non-blue fabrics OR find some more of the purples and greens.
It has taken me some time to get the right fabrics and I think I still have more to add and some to take away. This group has more fabric than the group I posted in December.
Now I need to get off my duff and make some blocks. Enough playing with fabrics!
I was still not quite ready to start this project, but I did need to decide on the background.
These two Sawtooth Stars are 4.5″ each. I used the Philip Jacobs print for the center and a couple of different background possibilities.
I really wanted the leaf print (right) from Simply Color by V&Co to work. I really like that print and wouldn’t mind having yards of it around. It would work with some of the solids I have chosen for the project, but, as you can see, with prints it would be a problem. I want the stars to be crisp and this print, sadly, makes the stars mushy.
I’ll put it on the back.
This conclusion meant that I needed to use the square dot print. I like it very much. It wasn’t what I expected to use, but I think I will like it. I wanted to do some more tests with some of the different fabrics, but the way manufacturers go through fabric lines, I had to get it quick before it was gone. The place I wanted to buy it was out, sadly ($4.20/yd!), but I found the amount I needed and am waiting for it to arrive.
Time flies when you are having fun. I am enjoying musing over possibilities for this project. I didn’t think I would since I like to get sewing quickly, but I am determined to enjoy this fabric selection process and it, as it turns out, is not difficult.
I bought a couple of fabrics last week when most of the network was down at work, except the Internet. I did do work, really, I did – more than others, I think – but at some point, I couldn’t get into my email and there wasn’t any new work coming in. After you clean your desk and read all your piled up magazines, contracts and make a ton of phone calls that have been put off, what else is there to do but buy fabric? 😉
The fabrics came yesterday, which was perfect timing, because I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day and they made me happy. I was able to play a bit and I even washed a couple of the fabrics.
There is always a surprise when I buy multiple fabrics and the turquoise and chocolate dot on white (middle of photo, right) was one of those happy surprises. I really like it and think if it had purple instead of the chocolate, it might be a perfect background for the stars. Still, I like it, but the chocolate does stand out a little more than I would like. I suppose I could add chocolate to the entire piece to add a bit of spark. I’ll have to try some out and see what I think.
I have to make visual decisions visually, so I will make a sample star, as well, before I decide.
Really, there is no shortage of blues at my house, but I seem to crave the calm feeling they project, so I keep buying more. The three blues on white in the middle are also background candidates. I didn’t even buy them with that in mind, but thought of it when I saw them.
I almost bought more of the leafy V&Co print without even trying it. I stopped myself, because I want to make a sample and make sure the leafy blues and greens, don’t bleed into the other fabrics, destroying the crispness of the stars. I do think the leafy print would be a bold choice, because of the leaves.
I think the large dot on the middle left would be a pain. I think the pooling of the color at the bottom (top in the photo) would make it hard to use as a background. I do think it will work as an adjunct fabric for a star. The turquoise squares on white are a more conventional choice and might be a good one to fall back on in a pinch.
I keep thinking of this see-through star from someone else’s quilt in the quilt-a-long Flickr group when I think of the background. I don’t think I want to use a solid, but I do like the effect of looking through the star to the background, so I want to be sure and choose something that will help achieve that effect.
These fabrics all look good together and I think any of them would be fine, really. I think the leafy print looks good with the purples and the greens are similar, too.
At the moment, I am completely ignoring the purples I want, and need, to add. I like that Chicopee purple, but I need something that is a more bluey purple as well, like the background of the Philip Jacobs print. I’ll keep working at the fabric selection.
I have to admit that I thought about completely changing direction and going with pinks. Perhaps I will do two of these at the same time…except that that would mean I would have to pick background fabrics for two quilts.
I started talking about this project in a post a few days ago.
TFQ and I decided we wanted to work on a project together. We will each do our own quilts, but we will do the same pattern.
We thought about Bonnie Hunter’s mystery challenge Easy Street, but decided to do our own project. We will be working on a star sampler along the lines of Oh My Stars. The whole idea is to be able to chat about some project together.
One fun thing we found is that boards on Pinterest can be shared! Who knew? That was fun. I probably could have done that forever, but TFQ moved me along.
At the moment, we are both gathering fabrics. I think TFQ is farther ahead than I am on that front, but I am excited about the fabrics I have picked so far.
Of course, I have a Philip Jacobs fabric. This fabric pulled my color scheme together, sort of. I saw the non-PJ fabrics laying on top of the PJ fabrics and thought they would work together. The solids are from the Chicopee line and the dots are just….dots.
I need more fabrics; I want the piece to be scrappy, but a controlled kind of scrappy. I just haven’t taken the time to look yet. I think I need another purple or violet as well. I know I want a lot more fabrics.
One big problem, for me, is the background. We need about 4.5 yards for the background and I don’t have that much of any fabric. I am not sure what look I want for the background. I thought about one of the dots that I have with a white background. Some of the fabrics I have may be a possibility, but I have to look–I have to make visual decisions visually.