Last Call for Stars for San Bruno

Carol's Block
Carol's Block
More Mom Stars
More Mom Stars

This is the last call for blocks. Your name will be on the label as a contributor if you send me some blocks.

Want to help? The background for this project is that one family we know from school and my husband’s cousin were affected by the September 2010 San Bruno fire. We are making 3 quilts: one for our cousin and his wife, one for my son’s friend and one for the parents of my son’s friend.

I am thrilled at how many people are making a  block or two. Do you want to contribute some blocks?

All star blocks are welcome!

Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique, eg. embroidery, painting, silkscreen, etc)
Block size: 8? finished (8.5? unfinished) or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!

Deadline: End of March, but I can only piece one quilt at a time and all blocks will be used.

Cathy Stars
Cathy Stars
SherriD More Stars
SherriD More Stars

Shown are examples of blocks I have received. Aren’t they great?

Additional Stars for San Bruno

I was also pleased to receive a block from Carol of a Scot in Tennessee. I bet she has the greatest accent!

Carol's Block
Carol's Block

Carol is a contributor to the Creative Prompt Project. She also does color exercises on her blog. I am not sure how often, but every time I look at her blog, I see one. Carol’s block is raw edge applique’. I love the simplicity.

More Mom Stars
More Mom Stars

Mom the Energizer Quilt Bunny brought two more stars over yesterday. She is amazing! these are definitely for the kid quilt. All those food fabrics scream ‘kid.’ Do you like those potato chips?

We now have over 50 blocks!

Want to help? The background for this project is that one family we know from school and my husband’s cousin were affected by the September 2010 San Bruno fire. We are making 3 quilts: one for our cousin and his wife, one for my son’s friend and one for the parents of my son’s friend.

I am thrilled at how many people are making a  block or two. Do you want to contribute some blocks?

All star blocks are welcome!

Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique, eg. embroidery, painting, silkscreen, etc)
Block size: 8? finished (8.5? unfinished) or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!

Deadline: Still TBA, but the end is nearing. I am still thinking it will be around the end of March, though I am not sure I will be ready to piece quilts by then. We will see.

Still…

We can’t do it without you! Please contribute some blocks.

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks very much for your generosity!

More February Stars for San Bruno

Mom and Maureen Stars
Mom and Maureen Stars

Mom has been busy making more stars. She is trying different patterns, which means I never know what to expect from her! On another note, I told her to start showing some of her 19 (!!!) works in progress on her blog. I can’t wait to see what she has started.

The paper pieced block in the upper left hand corner was made by Maureen. It is really a perfect combination of colors. I know Maureen from CQFA. She is wonderful dyer and fabric printer. She does a lot of really good work in fabric manipulation with dyes, paints, etc and is an inspiration and teacher to others in the group in this area.

Mrs. K's handwork
Mrs. K's handwork

Mrs. K came to a party yesterday. She lives 4-5 hours away from me and prepared these reverse appliqued blocks for the drive down the mountain. The stars are reverse applique’ and then she has tied some French knots in each inset of the stars. You can just see them in the photos. I will have to take out some of the basting and trim the backs, but that is ok. I would rather do it when I am ready to sew than have the edges unravel or fray. I know Mrs. K from an online quilt group and we have gotten together several times. She loves handwork and crazy quilting. She taught hearing impaired students for many years in public schools. I really appreciate her effort on these blocks.

Crazy Quilt Cookie
Crazy Quilt Cookie

Mrs. K also made me a cookie. Check it out! I think I need to have a cookie baking and decorating session with Mrs. K!

We now have over 50 blocks!

Want to help? The background for this project is that one family we know from school and my husband’s cousin were affected by the September 2010 San Bruno fire. We are making 3 quilts: one for our cousin and his wife, one for my son’s friend and one for the parents of my son’s friend.

I am thrilled at how many people are making a  block or two. Do you want to contribute some blocks?

All star blocks are welcome!

Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique, eg. embroidery, painting, silkscreen, etc)
Block size: 8? finished (8.5″ unfinished) or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!

Deadline: TBA, probably around the end of March. We can’t do it without you!

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks very much for your generosity!

SIL Stars for San Bruno

Cathy Stars
Cathy Stars

I received these 9 blocks from my SIL on Thursday. I was so excited. We are now at 41 blocks! I didn’t think we would make 30, but people have been so generous. It warms my heart. Now my goal is 60 blocks: 20 for each of the 3 quilts.

As  reminder, one family we know from school and my husband’s cousin were affected by the September 2010 San Bruno fire. We are making 3 quilts: one for our cousin and his wife, one for my son’s friend and one for the parents of my son’s friend.

Want to help? I am thrilled at how many people are making a  block or two. Do you want to contribute some blocks?

All star blocks are welcome!

Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique, eg. embroidery, painting, silkscreen, etc)
Block size: 8″ finished or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!

Deadline: TBA, probably around the end of March. We can’t do it without you!

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks very much for your generosity!

Retreat Stars for San Bruno

I went to a quilt retreat this past weekend and was thrilled to receive 8 more blocks!

Bron's Retreat Stars
Bron’s Retreat Stars

Bron is a star herself and came through with 3 more blocks. These are her best yet, I think! I am fickle, though, because every time she gives me more blocks I like the new ones best.

I like the fabrics she chose. The stars are really bright and cheerful.

I brought some fabric to the retreat to make it easy for people to make blocks. It turns out that I didn’t have much of the really dark blues, which I was hoping to use in the background. I also brought Around the Block to help with the patterns. I thought about reloading Judy Martin’s Star block add-on to EQ7 on my computer, but I didn’t get around to it before I left for the retreat. It ended up not mattering, because people didn’t use the fabric to make blocks anyway!

Diane's Friendship Stars
Diane’s Friendship Stars

Diane also made some pieced and appliqued Friendship Stars. She got up at the crack of dawn yesterday and beavered away on these. I have talked about Diane before. She does wonderful silk painting, but not much piecing beyond borders. I talked about her pear ATCs, which I just love. She said she struggled a bit with the piecing and ended up appliqueing 3 of them. I thought it was very clever! Her blocks are great.

I have been promised some more blocks, so perhaps we are starting to get attention and will have enough to make some nice quilts.

Want to help? I am thrilled at how many people are making a  block or two. Do you want to contribute some blocks?

All star blocks are welcome!

Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique, eg. embroidery, painting, silkscreen, etc)
Block size: 8? finished or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!

Deadline: TBA, probably around the end of March

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks very much for your generosity!

More Mom Stars for San Bruno

Mom Stars
Mom Stars

Just after I wrote the SfSB blog post, Mom arrived with another block (the one on the right). I had forgotten to take a photo of the one she made last week, so here they both are. We are up 26 now!

Want to help? I am thrilled at how many people are making a  block or two. Do you want to contribute some blocks?

All star blocks are welcome!

Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique, eg. embroidery, painting, silkscreen, etc)
Block size: 8″ finished or smaller (frankly, we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!

Deadline: TBA, probably around the end of March

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks very much for your generosity!

25 Stars for San Bruno

Stars for San Bruno Thursday
Stars for San Bruno Thursday

I have been expecting some blocks from Chris and SherriD. I was gratified to find them in my mailbox today! We are getting quite a little collection. We now have 25 blocks. I think 5 more and I could make the 3 quilts. I would like more blocks, because some of the blocks are small, but I could make the quilts with 30 blocks total.

Stars for San Bruno Thursday
Stars for San Bruno Thursday

Chris is the first one to do applique’ and I really like her blocks. They are very friendly looking. I hope I get at least one more applique’ block so each quilt can have one. 7 more would be ideal ;-), then I can put 3 applique’ blocks in each quilt. The background on Chris’ blocks is exactly what I was imagining for this quilt. I met Chris when she came to CQFA and then we met up at the Modern Quilt Guild meeting as well. She has a great blog. She writes very thoughtfully and had some interesting posts about design classes she has taken recently.

SherriD More Stars
SherriD More Stars

SherriD, from the Lazy Quilter blog, has come through with four more blocks. I don’t know why Sherri named her blog the Lazy Quilter, because she doesn’t seem to be lazy to me. Have you seen her U is for Unicorn quilt? WOW! These new blocks mean I can use them as a kind of border on one side of the one of the quilts. This puts Sherri up to a total of 6 blocks (I think). Isn’t she great? I secretly hope she makes more as I think these blocks will look really good in the quilt. 😉

I am planning on bringing my Around the Block book, some dark blue fabric and some yellow fabric so people can make some blocks at an upcoming retreat I am attending. I hope they will take the opportunity to sew.

I am going to get the Young Man to make a block, too. He refuses to sew, but I am thinking he could paint and then I could print the star on fabric. I haven’t done it yet, but it is on my mind. I may assign that task to my mom.

Want to help? I am thrilled at how many people are making a  block or two. Do you want to contribute some blocks?

All star blocks are welcome!

Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique, eg. embroidery, painting, silkscreen, etc)
Block size: 8? finished or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!

Deadline: TBA, probably around the end of March

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks very much for your generosity!

Four More Stars for San Bruno

Virginia
Virginia

Virginia and Jeanne came through with two more blocks each for the Stars for San Bruno Project. We now have 18 star blocks. A good many of them are the same pattern as Virginia’s, which is Friendship Star. I think that is a nice message to send to the people who will get these quilts.

Virginia is a wonderful quiltmaker, bagmaker, teacher, helper with the upcoming show and all around good person. She is such an inspiration.

Jeanne (said the French way)
Jeanne (said the French way)

Jeanne is an awesome colorist. She has been making quilts for a long time and loves fabric and color and scraps. Many, many of her quilts are scrap quilts and go to auctions, the babies of her office and other good causes. She works mostly in tiny block sizes so she mentioned that these blocks seemed like behemoths to her. I love the Sawtooth Star in a Sawtooth Star block. I also love the Pinwheel in the Sawtooth Star block.

Want to help? We now have a total of 18 blocks, which is a thrill. Do you want to contribute some blocks?

All star blocks are welcome!

Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique, eg. embroidery, painting, silkscreen, etc)
Block size: 8? finished or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!

Deadline: TBA, probably around the end of March

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks so much for your generosity!

Additional Stars for San Bruno

Bron & Adrianne Stars
Bron & Adrianne Stars

I went to CQFA and the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild Meetings today (total quilt extravaganza!) and had a great time. As an added bonus, I increased by Stars for San Bruno collection of blocks by 2! The top two are from Bron. She has upped her contribution to 4. Yay and thanks, Bron!

Adrianne is the owner/author of Little Bluebell. She also contributed 2 (the bottom ones) blocks to the SFSB cause. She came to the end of the meeting just to give me the blocks. I met Adrianne at the first meeting that I attended back in December. She told me about attending Market on a press pass. She also made a Flea Market Bag, which inspired me to make mine. Thanks, Adrianne!

We now have a total of 14 blocks, which is a great start. Do you want to contribute some blocks?

All star blocks are welcome!

Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique)
Block size: 8″ finished or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!

Deadline: TBA

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks so much for your generosity!

New Year’s Cornucopia

Reviews

I love my Tivo. It is a relatively cheap date in terms of entertainment and after YEARS of never being able to watch a show all the way through, I finally can. The problem turned out to be, over the holidays, that we watched all of our shows.  We were home a lot, and working on Christmas projects in front of the TV. Many of the shows we like were pre-empted by holiday specials. I was able to watch a lot of Fons & Porter and partially clear out that playlist.

Still I was looking for something else. I am not much for watching YouTube and other videos on the web, but I saw that Laura and Linda Kemshall now have Design Matters TV. I watched one of their free shows where Laura shows how to use photocopies in your sketchbook. I really liked the episode which was called “Those Shoes.”

First, Laura is a very calm presenter.

Second, she talks through the whole process, including tips and tricks about the paint and the process. I am not a confident art journaler and watching this video made me think that I could do what she is doing. I really think that using photocopies is a great idea.

Third, Laura is confident in a way that makes me feel confident that I could do the same thing.

Finally, the show is well produced. I don’t mean shiny and fake, but edited appropriately, no wobbly camera and good information.

There was a project in one of their Thr3fold Journal issues using a photocopied hand on a bag, the Hands on Bag project, and seeing the project with the shoes makes me want to use the shoes on a bag as well. There is a list of shows on their site. I haven’t decided whether to subscribe (cost is about $35 for 3 months). I have renewed my Quilt Out Loud subscription and was given a The Quilt Show subscription. I haven’t watched either. I wish I could watch them on my TV and that they provided a list of shows I could tick off so I didn’t have to start them and stop them when I found I had already watched one.

I also adjusted the Tivo search I have set up for quilts and am now recording Eleanor Burns’ Quilt in a Day program. It doesn’t come on as often as Love of Quilting, so I don’t have as many. The first one I saw was about 2 star blocks from her Victory Quilts book. The stars were Army Star and Hope of Hartford. Army Star has a Sawtooth Star in the center and she showed her quick way of making Flying Geese. I liked her show, which I don’t remember seeing before, because she gives the dimensions, so I can go up to my workroom and make the blocks. I tried the Sawtooth Star bit of the Army Star and found that I couldn’t finish the last bit because I don’t have the specialty Flying Geese ruler Burns uses. I also think the measurements she gave or the Flying Geese must be finished sizes, because they seem too small for a cut piece.

Creativity

Stress has been a constant, and not so welcome, companion for the past few months. I have been seeking ways to reduce my stress and this article on the effects of stress on creativity make me all the more determined to accomplish that goal. I certainly don’t want my creativity affected by work!

Lisa F from C&T publishing has a new blog called “My Blissful Lack of Focus.”  I really like the layout. She talks about her creative adventures for 2011. I wish the CPP were included, but, as yet, I haven’t been able to persuade her to take part. Will YOU take part in the Creative Prompt Project this year?

Color

The Pantone color of the year is Honeysuckle. It just looks like a warm pink to me. You can download palettes for the Adobe Creative Suite application, FB ‘like’ it, tweet it, etc from the above referenced site.

Doing Good

We are making 3 quilts for victims of the San Bruno Pipeline explosion. I have been trying out different quick methods of making Flying Geese with minimal success (see above re: Eleanor Burns).

Eleanor Burns Method
Eleanor Burns Method

I was trying to avoid the bias and get really nice crisp stars, but as you can see, I am a bit stymied in the process due to not having the correct specialty ruler. I have to decide whether to buy that ruler or just try to cut them and see what happens.

Jo Morton Method pt.2
Jo Morton Method pt.2

I saw Jo Morton on Fons & Porter one day and thought I would try her method of making Sawtooth Stars. Of course, Fons & Porter does not include measurements in their show or on their site (mostly), so I went searching for a pattern/directions for the Flying Geese method, which eventually renders a star. I found one called Jamestown that had her method explained. I know that she wants to sell her books, but this was a hard method to find.

The directions were part of a pattern for the whole quilt, so my star didn’t come out the way I needed it to for the San Bruno Stars quilts.

San Bruno Star Wrong
San Bruno Star Wrong

I’ll use it on the back.

Finally yesterday, I dug out my copy of Around the Block and made them the old fashioned way.

Around the Block method
Around the Block method

These look pretty good. I plan to make more and perhaps put them down one side of the quilt. I like them in the on point orientation.

On point orientation
On point orientation

I have to kind of see what other blocks I receive before I can decide how to use them. I also have to make more than 2.  These are 6″ blocks.

I need a lot more blocks, so if you would like to contribute one, three or ten 😉 the parameters are:

Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern)
block size: 8? or less (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!

Deadline: TBA

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks so much for your generosity!

Mom Star for San Bruno

Mom's Star for San Bruno
Mom's Star for San Bruno

The good thing about being off of work for a few days is that I can post things as they occur rather than waiting until I have a spare minute. Mom made this star for the San Bruno quilt this week and I think it will go very well with the others.

All star blocks are welcome!

Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern)
block size: 8? or less (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!

Deadline: TBA

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks so much for your generosity!

If you would like to contribute the parameters are:

Additional Stars for San Bruno

SherriD's Stars
SherriD's Stars

I received these blocks from SherriD yesterday. Aren’t they great? I love the combinations of goldy-yellows and blues she chose for the blocks. They glow.

Sherri told me that she tried a new technique to make the blocks, which is a great idea. It is nice to not have to commit to an entire quilt if you want to try something new.

If you would like to make blocks, too, here are the parameters:

All blocks are welcome!

Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern)
block size: 8? or less (we will work with any size)
remember to sign your block!

Deadline: TBA

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks so much for your generosity!

More Stars for San Bruno

Bron's Stars
Bron's Stars

I mentioned that I went to a party on Sunday. Bron, a CQFAer was kind enough to give me two star blocks for the project. Bron is originally from New Zealand and is the leader of our little band. She keeps us on track at meetings. I was fortunate enough to see some of her work last Sunday. She does beautiful NZ imagery.

If you would like to make a block (or blocks), here are the parameters. All blocks are welcome!

Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern)
block size: 8? or less (we will work with any size)
remember to sign your block!

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks so much for your generosity!

Stars for San Bruno

On September 10, 2010 a gas line exploded and leveled a neighborhood near where we live. It was big news at the time, but the world has moved on. In that neighborhood lived our cousin. His house was not destroyed, but was severely damaged. Also, the Young Man’s school friend lived there. His house was destroyed and he and his father ran for their lives.

Barsha's Star
Barsha's Star

My mom put out a call for blocks that we can make into quilts for these families and we received our first block today. One is promised and one is in the mail.

Barsha taught sewing in a local county for years before she retired. She is a gifted seamstress and I go to her when I need new pants. 😉 I first met her through a local guild. She is also a gifted quiltmaker, teacher and wearables artist. She has a wonderful, light studio and knows how to use a serger.

Thanks, Barsha!

Would you like to help? The parameters are:

Block backround: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern)
block size: 8″ or less (we will work with any size)
remember to sign your block!

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks so much for your generosity!