Stars in my eyes...

Completed - the first block of my scrappy star quilt. Approx 30in square. dodgy photo - when I've done the next block I'll take pics during the daytime ;)

I've wanted to attempt a lone-star style block ever since I started dabbling in patchwork.

I found this pattern in the Jelly Roll quilts book and some scrappy strip rolls in my LQS and decided to dive in.

The diamonds came together pretty quickly and I'm quite pleased with my seam allowances and the straightness of my stiching. The colours in the strip rolls worked fairly well and I only substituted one star center with fabric from my stash. I've tried not to overthink the colour placement but there is one set of greens in another star that I'm not happy with - lack of contrast.

Cutting and sewing the background setting triangles has been a bit more of a challenge. The bias seams in the corner squares don't sit quite flat so I'll need to make some adjustments.

Otherwise, I'm happy.

Three more piles of diamonds and two piles of setting triangles are starched and ready to sew.

And on another theme - an early reminder of Father's day......

Here is my little man and my big man - one is mopping and the other is 'helping'. Check out the action the little guy has already. I might need to invest in a real mini mop for him.

And of course the dog has to be part of the action. I think it took three times as long as normal to do the floor this weekend!

Blog-land prize haul

This post is long, long, long overdue.


I was lucky enough to be the winner in two great blog give-aways.



The first was from Miss Kitty Boo Boo (http://misskittybooboo.blogspot.com/) in the Sew Mama Sew giveaway (yep, it's taken me that long to blog).
I won a great set of hair clips and have had to hide them from several of the girls at work so they don't dissappear on me. Thanks very much for these!



The second was from Bec (http://becclarke.blogspot.com/) for the Sewn giveaway.
She sent me a fantastic hand-crafted pendant and two lovely bars of hand-made soap.
The soap is really nice to use and the pendant is a summery, bright colour that is sure to get lots of use.
Thanks Bec, love your work!

Helping Mum in the sewing room...

Who needs toys?

Shopping....

Look what happens when you drop into the local fabric shop while waiting for an appointment!

This strip roll is for a lone-star style quilt. Only got 20 strips to see if I can manage it, and if I like it. If I like the way the first two blocks turn out, I'll be back for more.

And this bright set of FQ is from the Adalucia range, sitting right inside the door just to tempt me. I really didn't need it but just couldn't walk out the door without it! I'm thinking of making a QS quilt with it in a similar design to the one below.

I'll use 10in squares that will give me final blocks of about 9-9.5 in (the ones below are 5.5in) with five fabrics per square. Not sure what to do for sashing and if I should add cornerstones to the sashing. Might use either the first or the third one in the top row for a 10in border, if I can get enough.

I'm a bit hesitant to cut them, in case I don't like the design when I put it together. These colours are way outside my normal style!

The alternatives I have in mind are simple large squares, large squares combined with a four-patch or a stacked-coin style. Any other suggestion would be quite welcome...

This is the design I'm thinking of using as a starting point. This one is only lap-size. The blocks are about 5.5 in, the sashing is 1.5in and the borders are about 6in. it began life as a pack of thirty 6in charm squares. I wanted one fabric in the border but could only get single fat quarters in the same fabrics so I improvised. The creamy looking fabric is actually a goldy-beige and tones quite well. For some reason the camera altered the colours quite a bit.

Well, certainly some sewing in my future - best get cracking.