Gwennie Inspired Medallion QAL - Round 4: Stars

I am really enjoying this Gwennie Inspired Medallion Quilt along! 

Katy at KatyQuilts selected a star theme for the August round of this quilt along.  I happen to love making liberated stars so I was very happy to design, cut and sew 28 6" star blocks for my next border. You can see this process in my blog post here.  And there is also a short tutorial in there about clipping your intersections.

Here is my GIM quilt so far.  I love the sparkle that the stars add to this border.  Some are very defined and others are more low contrast. I think it makes it more interesting.

I tried to use similar fabrics as I used in the log cabin border to keep it cohesive.  Still loving the polka dot setting triangles. Gives your eye a place to rest in the wonky quilt! :-)

I did something slightly different in the four corner blocks.

I added a wonky four-patch in the center.

And made the star points out of two different fabrics.

This one is really low contrast, the star almost disappears.

Now my quilt is waiting for the next round in this quilt along.

I am linking up at the quilt along over at Humble Quilts.  Check out all the wonderful Gwennie Inspired Medallion quilts. I am sure you will be inspired!

Happy Stitching!

Deb

Stars in a Time Warp , Update - Weeks 41 - 45

There are just a couple weeks to go in Barbara Brackman's Stars in a Time Warp Quilt-a-long.  My gosh where did an entire year go??  I am reaching 70 blocks in my collection and wanted to show you the blocks from the last several weeks.

  Week 41 was Neon Novelties.  Hmmm... a challenge indeed.  I checked my stash and didn't find anything like that - although I loved the look that Barbara described in her post.  A black with neon colors.  Really interesting.  

A couple of weeks later I came across this a repro print in a quilt shop.  Not sure it is exactly what is considered a neon print.. but it was as close as I could come!  You can bet I will be on the lookout for Neon Novelties in the future!

Week 42 was Sprigged Muslins.  I chose to use this black and white sprig muslin print in the background of my star block. 

Week 43 looked at Provincial Prints - love these colorful prints!

Week 44 was Early Roller Prints Clouds and Storms.  This is an interesting class of prints that I have never thought of!  But there they were in my stash!  It's amazing what I have learned.

You can see the close up of the swirling storm print in the background of this block. 

Week 45 was Corals and Seaweeds.  The center of my block seems to have coral and/or seaweed.  I definitely will be on the lookout for these reproduction prints in the future. 

Here is a close up of the center of that block.

You can learn more about these styles by visiting Barbara  Brackman's Civil War Quilts blog. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all my US friends!  Tomorrow is my pie baking day. 

Enjoy the holiday with friends, family and lots of blessings!

Happy Stitching!

Deb

Stars In a Time Warp - Update, 7 Weeks of Stars!

Oh boy... I didn't realize I was so far behind in my posting of star block from the Stars in a Time Warp QAL.  Geez!!!  Where does the time go? (No pun intended - wink)  So I will try to do these in order and hopefully you will learn something about these fabrics like I did.... at the very least find them interesting!

Week 34 was Bronze Style Prints.  I chose the golden brown colored fabrics I found in my reproduction fabrics as Barbara suggested.

Week 35 was Cretonne.  Hmmmm.. this was definitely a learning experience as I learned Cretonne was a style of fabric very much like Chintz.  So I not sure I go this one 100% correct but I found  a really pretty floral print to use for my star.

Week 36 was Lancaster Blue and Greek Keys.  Very interesting to see the Greek Key motif used in clothing. However, I didn't have any of this style of fabric in my stash, so I went with the Lancaster Blue.  You can see a good example of this color in the corner squares of my block.

Week 37 - Chocolate and Blue plus Lace Prints.

This chocolate and blue print was recently purchased and I love the look of these two colors together.

The lace print was a complete surprise.  I was actually looking for something else when I found this in my stash.  Don't you just love when something like that happens?? :-)

Week 38 was Black, Gray & Asian Style Design.  I focused on the black fabrics from this week's lesson.  I knew I had plenty of those to choose from.  However, I realized I need to add some black and gray reproductions to my stash. :-)
Week 39 was about Claret Red.  So pretty I had to make two!



Week 40 Barbara inspired us to use Cadet Blue & Celestials.

Again, the Cadet Blue was easy to find in my stash.. lots of grayish blues to choose from there!

And the Celestials are so much fun.  I wish I had more of these, but I think these two fabrics fit the bill perfectly.
Right now I have 66 stars done... and we are going into week 41.  Whew!

Meanwhile, Gracie has decided that the unfinished basket quilt on the back of the couch is a good place to take a snooze....  It will be well broken in by the time I get the binding finished!

Happy Stitching!

Deb

Stars In a Time Warp Update - Lots of Weeks to Show!

Hmmm.. where do I start?  I guess where I left off the last time would be good! LOL  I have been keeping up with making my Stars In A Time Warp blocks, but not with posting them.  It's been almost 2 months.. that's quite a few weeks to cover, so are you ready?  Grab a cup of tea....

You can click on the name of the style of block for more information from Barbara Brackman at Civil War Quilts.  These are all fabrics found in quilts before the 1840's. 

Week 22 - White Ground Chintzes - a cotton furnishing fabric used in upholstery, but also popular for clothing in the 18th & early 19th centuries.  I used this white background floral print for my chintz.  

Week 23 - Blotch Ground Chintzes - backgrounds added to white chintzes to make a different colorway.  

This usually created a halo around the florals in the print.

Week 24 - Fancy Machine Grounds - Chintz with fancy printed backgrounds.  Each of these star have this type of fabric in the stars themselves.

Week 25 - Wood Block Prints - simple figures that were spaced far apart. I tried to find fabrics that represent wood block prints in all the pieces in this block. 

Week 26 - Pillar Prints - I did not have any of these in my stash, nor could I find any in my LQS.  So I skipped this week.

Week 27 - Quercitron & Aborescent Chintzes - I decided on the Quercitron.  This curious yellow was originally printed with quercitron, a fast yellow vegetable dye suitable for printing.  I always thought these yellowish fabrics in my stash were kind of odd.  Now I know why. 

Week 28 - Early Indigo Prints - Large scale blue prints on white backgrounds.  Indigo Blue is of special interest to me since the chemical company that I work for started out making fabric dyes 150 years ago.  And in fact, perfecting Indigo blue dye. 

Week 29 - Lapis Blue  Typically red on a blue background.  I just had to make two of these.  I love this combination of blue and red. 

And of course, just off camera, my quilting assistant. 

So now that I have caught you up on my stars.. it is time to make a new star the this week - Floral Trails.  I know I must have some of these somewhere!

Happy Stitching!

Deb

Stars in a Time Warp Update - Weeks 14 - 18

My, how time has flown (no pun intended).  I truly feel like I have been living in a time warp the past month.  I have, a least, been keeping up with my stars for Stars in a Time Warp quilt along, and now it's time to bring you up to date!

My collection of blocks from weeks # 14 - 18.  I love pairing these Stars in a Time Warp blocks with our antique clocks.  You can click on the title of each week to link back to Civil War Quilts to learn more.

Week 14 was Rainbow or Ombre Prints. You can see the shaded stripes in both of these blocks. 

Week 15 was woven plaids.  While I am sure there are some great wovens out there, they have not made it into my stash.  I decided to skip this week.  I  knew I would make up for is somewhere along the way!

Week 16 was Paisleys.  Paisley adds a nice texture to quilts.  I had quite a variety to chose from as you can see in these two blocks.

Week 17 was Conversation Prints.  Oh boy!  Love these little prints in quilts.  You can see I made 5 blocks using various 'conversationals".  They are described as "prints featuring figures of recognizable objects other than florals and abstract geometrics."  Let's take a closer look at these!

Anchors.

  Both of these fabrics are from Minick and Simpson, from several years ago.

Engraving of a cat drinking out of a tea cup.  LOVE this and have used it in several quilts.

So cute.

Wonderful image of sledding.. or is that a toboggan??

Another unique engraving.  This looks like someone being pushed on a barrel.  

This may be considered a sporting print, a subcategory of conversationals.

The last one is bows and pins.  This is a current fabric from Laundry Basket Quilts.

This week, Week 18 of the quilt along, is California Gold (1850 - 1890's).  Described as an intense gold. 

What an education and I am having so much fun at the same time!

Happy Stitching!

Deb