Losing a Family Member

Earlier this week, sadly, we lost Suzi.

Buddies

Nothing can describe the sadness of losing a beloved pet.

She was with us for 13+ years and we will miss her dearly.

Give your fur-babies a big hug today.

Deb

Orange You Glad It's September?

I apologize for the pun.  Just couldn't resist!!  The last Saturday of the month so that must mean it's time for me to post my Rainbow Scrap (Stash) Challenge blocks.  Angela over at So Scrappy selected Orange for the month of September.  

Now, I didn't see myself as a quilter with a lot of orange in her stash, but I was pleasantly surprised to see what I did have once I started to pull out fabrics for this month. 

Since I ended up with so many orange fabrics to work with, I made quite a few block segments.  I typically make more than 8 segments and then decide which ones I would like to use for the final blocks.  So here are the final 8 made into my two blocks for September.  They're really orange!  The rest of the blocks will possibly end up in the borders...we'll have to wait and see.

Of course I had help with selections.....  Lucy especially liked this month's color!!! LOL

 Her work is done here.. she has made her choices,

and then finally just got bored with this whole photo shoot! Ha!

Pop on over to  So Scrappy to see the wonderful orange blocks that are being made.  There is lots of inspiration there!!  I think I am really liking orange!

Happy Stitching

Deb

My Liberated Life!

Well... at least my liberated QUILT life. LOL 

So... if I have had so much fun making the Liberated Star blocks... you had to know that it wouldn't be long before I branched out to other patterns. :-)

Here are my liberated geese.  Aren't they fun!  I decided to stick with a gray background for each of the triangle blocks.  I really wanted to showcase the bright fabrics. 

Option 1

I had so much fun in my studio on Sunday creating these - gleefully cutting into my contemporary fabrics and selecting backgrounds from my small stash of grays.  Then I hit a dilemma.  How should I put the rows together?  I thought I knew what I wanted.... but <gasp> when I stepped back from my design wall, I wasn't so convinced. 

Option 2

I thought... "maybe I should just try reversing the row in the middle....."  Hmmmm, still not convinced.

Option 3

Of course, I told myself, "you can always move the rows around to a different order....."  Hmmm.. more pondering.

My husband came downstairs and I recruited his opinion... with the various options. <more pondering.....>

 

So I am putting it out there to any of you that might have an opinion.  1, 2 or 3? I would appreciate any feedback you have... or maybe a whole new suggestion!  It's fun to experiment, so let me know what you think.  I don't even want to explore the border/no border option yet on this little quilt! LOL

 

Happy Stitching!

 

Deb

 

Liberated Stars - Tutorial

I was on vacation this week.  Actually a staycation..  but none the less anytime at home, without the commute and headaches of work is definitely a VACATION.  So I did quite a bit of sewing (of course - duh!) and some entertaining and some general relaxing.  In fact, right now I am sitting on the deck with a bottle, I mean a glass - LOL, of wine.  My last hurrah before work and reality hits tomorrow.  It is a gorgeous late summer day here.

One of the projects I worked on and finished this week was a table runner from the Liberated Star blocks I have been making.  I grabbed 5 blocks, sewed them together and added a piano key type border to each of the long sides. 

 I machine quilted around each block and then big-stitch hand quilted in black cotton around each star and in the center.  I love the colors and motion that all these fabrics create when they come together.

 

A couple of people have asked about these blocks... so here we go - a quick (I hope) tutorial on how they are made.

My blocks are 9" finished.  So to start, I need to cut 8) 3 1/2" squares for my background (the blue fabric pictured here), and 4) 4" squares, cut in half to make 8 triangles (the red print fabric).  I also need  1) 3 1/2" square out of the red fabric for the star center.

Now, here is the fun and liberating part.   Put that triangle at an angle across one of the background fabric squares.  Sew with a 1/4" seam allowance from the edge of the triangle.

Trim away the excess fabric from the corner of the square.  Press the triangle toward the seam allowance.



Add the second triangle on the opposite side of the background square, again using a 1/4" seam allowance.  No matching seams, no right or wrong angle or placement.  Liberating!   I usually string piece these and do the blocks "assembly line style".

Star production line!  It goes really fast.

 



Again, trim and press.

Now I need to trim my blocks down to 3 1/2" square.

With the blocks trimmed, I can now start sewing them into rows with the other 3 1/2" square blocks that I originally cut.

The rows go together easily using a 1/4" seam allowance.  Next, I sew the rows together!

My Liberated Star block is complete!  See how the points of the star vary.

Before I know it, my star block is joined by the other star blocks I was working on!  It's a small constellation! LOL  Can you imagine how fun these would be in pastels or brights for a baby?

You can vary the size - as you can see with the 6" stars I did just for fun!

These were done with 2 1/2" background squares and 3" squares cut diagonally into triangles.

 

They are addictive!!  Right now I am up to 48 blocks!!  I think I need a quilters intervention!

 

Happy Stitching!

 

Deb