Category Archives: 4.5″ LeMoyne Star

Quilt in Waiting

Posted on by

8

While I am still working on the pieced fourth border for Scrappy Star, starting to work with these pieces in earnest is what’s beckoning although it is still quite a ways off. I finally finished cutting all the Winding Ways pieces last week.

They are now nestled in their own box, just waiting until I can devote some serious stitching time to them.

But before that happens I have to not only finish the pieced fourth border for Scrappy Star but also the final pieced fifth and possibly sixth borders for it.

The pieces in this box will be incorporated into those pieced final border(s) for Scrappy Star.

Then there’s the red and white Sunflower/Feathered Star quilt top that is next up on the list to finish as soon as Scrappy Star is done. After Scrappy Star and the Sunflower/Feathered Star tops are done, the Winding Ways blocks are going to be such a wonderful fun stitch.

Some interesting comments yesterday on the topic of pre-washing fabric. It seems like almost all those who left a comment have the same feeling; that it’s the dirt and chemicals that are the bigger concern than the possibility of bleeding.

Mr. Q.O. and Baxter have a game they play. Mr. Q.O. tosses Cappy, Baxter’s favourite toy, on to the windowsill. Baxter races over to grab it and then jumps back on the bed with it in his mouth. But yesterday? Yesterday, on one of the tosses, Cappy landed on the edge of the open window. Baxter apparently sat there for quite some time trying to decide if he’d grab it or not. Finally, he walked away. We rescued Cappy and all was well.

Next Border on Scrappy Star

Posted on by

21

There are three borders on Scrappy Star now. I’m working on the fourth border, which is a pieced border. For it, I need close to 200 QSTs. That’s the majority of them in the picture. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee, I had all of them printed, cut out and ready to stitch.

So what does this have to do with it? On the weekend, I was washing some fabric for various projects. I tend to wash a lot of fabric by hand for numerous reasons, including the fact the washing machines in our laundry room are front loading and lock once the wash cycle begins. So I can’t check the water to see if anything is bleeding.

But that’s not the main reason I wash my fabrics. I want to get rid of the sizing and other chemicals that are in the fabrics. Many of the fabrics we use now are printed offshore and come to North America in large shipping containers, sit in warehouses and then get shipped. And something I’ve noticed a lot lately is that when I wash fabrics, even though they don’t bleed, the water is … well, dirty. It’s the only word for it. There’s a real grey dirty look to the water. After a good wash and rinse, the water is rinsing clear.

I know it’s a never-ending debate in quilting, whether to pre-wash or not, and everyone has their own preference. My choice is to work with fabric that’s clean and as free of chemicals as possible. As a hand piecer, I prefer the softness of fabrics with the sizing washed out. The very few times I’ve worked with unwashed fabrics, I’ve found myself coughing every time I pressed whatever I was making with them. I think that’s the formaldehyde and other chemicals reacting with the heat of the iron that bothers me.

I know I’m opening up a big can of worms here, but what’s your preference and why?

Baxter has no opinion on the subject at all. He’s much too busy guarding the toy basket.

Three Little Stars

Posted on by

5

I couldn’t resist making three little stars with some of the pieces I have left over from the Scrappy Star. I’m not sure what these will end up in or how many more I’ll make, but there’s something about putting together the little 4.5″ LeMoyne Stars that I can’t resist. Maybe I’ll just keep making them until I have enough for a small doll’s quilt or perhaps this is the beginning of yet another large quilt.

I love how perfectly they press. For these little blocks with so many different fabrics, I use either a mustard gold thread or a slate grey one. Somehow both those thread colours work perfectly with all the various fabrics.

Mr. Q.O. captioned this shot of Baxter “Waddaya mean, no cheeseburger?” I think he wants the cheeseburger, not Baxter!

Scrappy Star Squared

Posted on by

9

All four corners are added to the scrappy star. Now it’s a matter of the borders. There will be multiple borders on this, at least two of which are going to be pieced. Right now it measures approximately 36″ square. The final size I’m not sure about yet, but it will tell me when it’s finished.

Most of what I need for the pieced borders is contained in these two boxes. That is, of course, unless I decide to add more pieced borders than I’ve currently got planned.

I haven’t graded the seams on this quilt top. As there are so many little pieces in it which means a lot of seam allowances, I’ll start working on this sometime soon and definitely before the pieced borders get added. As the pieced borders are made, they’re going to be graded right away.

And no, don’t ask — I have no idea how many pieces are in it so far and am almost afraid to check. I have kept detailed notes on the making of this quilt so far and will keep adding to those notes but I’m not looking at the total of the pieces until it’s done.

Baxter loves to get in little hiding spots. Perhaps he thinks that we can’t see him and then will be able to spring out and surprise us?

Pattern Sale

Posted on by

5

As Boxing Day is typically a day of sales here in Canada, I decided to have a Boxing Day sale of my patterns, which can be found here. The patterns contain detailed instructions on piecing with lots of photographs and diagrams, cheat sheets with printing sizes, pressing instructions and quilting suggestions.

Each pattern is marked down from $9 to $5 for this one-day event.  The patterns included are:

Chintz Circles

Pink Ice

Twinklingo Stars

The sale is on until 11:59 p.m. EST tonight and are available on the patterns page of my website.

Baxter, of course, isn’t all that interested in patterns. He’s having much more fun watching things out on the roof garden.

Squaring up the Scrappy Star

Posted on by

9

Two corners of the scrappy star are now squared up. Two more to go and then I can start working on the borders. Some of the pieces for one of the borders are ready and there are boxes containing the other pieces. If I don’t get too distracted by the red and white quilt, this might be finished before the end of January.

As I don’t want this to end up as a square quilt, I’m going to add one border to the top and bottom and then add another border or borders to all 4 sides of it.

Baxter was particularly interested in the quilt rack last night.

Scrappy Star Round 7

Posted on by

15

It’s now at 36 inches. I’ve decided to square it up now as I have a couple of borders planned that will take it to a good-sized lap quilt. The last round of diamonds took 2 evenings of stitching to add.

The back. I am so glad I pressed as I went on this. Pressing the last round took only a few minutes as I had finger-pressed as I stitched, but I can’t imagine how long it would have taken to press the whole thing at one time.

Last week I was put on a medication that initially has made me very groggy and I’m sleeping close to 12 hours at a time. That’s not the point of mentioning this, though. The silver lining has been the dreams! I’ve had many dreams of quilt designs and the dreams have stayed with me long enough that I’ve been able to write them down when I woke up. I’m thinking this is a definite bonus.

Mr. Q.O. captioned this photo, “Well, are you going to just sit there or finish it?”

Stars of Different Points

Posted on by

8

Among the stars I have ready to stitch are a number of LeMoyne Stars in different fabric combinations. They’re from a swap of Inklingo pieces that was done a couple of years ago. While I’m not sure just how many stars I’ll end up with, I don’t plan to add to them unless it’s necessary to get an appropriate number for a small quilt setting.

They take only a second to press.

Another one of the 6-point stars made with 1.5″ diamonds. When they’re all made, I’ll decide how I want to set them.

It rained all day Tuesday and, by the sounds of our forecast, is going to rain all day today. At one point Tuesday it looked like perhaps there was some freezing rain mixed in, but thankfully no snow.

Another photo of Baxter helping as I was putting the binding on the flannel quilt.

One Big Star

Posted on by

17

The scrappy star is still growing. With this latest round of diamonds it’s now almost 32″. Each round is taking longer to add, but I’m determined to get it to around 45″. Then I’ll add some elements to turn it into a rectangular quilt that can be used as a lap quilt. At least that’s the current plan.

It’s also taking longer to press after each round.

Baxter was determined to get in the picture.

Earlier in the day he was watching squirrels playing in the trees out on the roof garden. I think he looks like he’s smiling.

Diamonds, Diamonds and More Diamonds

Posted on by

7

Not a lot of stitching has been done this week, although I now have enough diamonds joined into pairs to start the next round on the scrappy star top. As the scrappy star has grown, I’ve found it easier to put them together into pairs and then, once the placement is figured out, join the pairs into sets for each of the 8 segments.

It’s definitely looking like fall now.

This birch tree has now lost almost all its leaves.

This is a shot of Queen’s Park, a park near our building. Some of the trees still have their gorgeous fall colours.

Baxter was watching me stitch. We think this is his Morris look.