Quilting and other Things

Last weekend, I went to a guild retreat.  There were 26 of us spending the weekend away enjoying stitching away and chatting.  It was a wonderful weekend and I'm so pleased in everything I accomplished. About five years ago I purchased some fabric to make a one block wonder quilt.  About four years ago one of the guild workshops was a One Block Wonder class with Maggie Butterfield Dickenson.  Two years ago, I finished making all the hexagons for the quilt.  Last year I did very little quilting.  This year I decided the top needed to be finished.  I finally put it up on the design wall several months ago and start to move the blocks around.  I didn't have enough of the original fabric to do a border so decided to include the original fabric in the center of the quilt.  I spent last week sewing columns together then packed everything up to take to the retreat.  I stopped at Len's Mills on the way to look for a fabric to look for a borde...

Today I’m working on stitching star blocks for Common Bride.  The seems are 1.5 inches long and need to stop and start 1/4 inch from the edge so I find them easier to hand piece ... at least until I get to the final corner pieces which can go side to side.  I need 25 of these.  Today I finished 2 more up to  needing the final corner and have two more to work on after my walk Adding outer ring of diamonds Waiting for the outer ring of diamonds I need to cut and mark more diamonds to make the centres and edges.   Many of the four patches have their corners marked but there are still a few handfuls that need their dots.  So that will also be for after my walk so that I can have something in my purse for handwork his week. Inserting four patches Once the four patches are added, more diamonds surround the outside.  I’m using a simple running stitch on the pencil line of the diamond aligning the edges.  Every few stitches I take a ...

I'm still working away at the blocks for Common Bride.  I need 25 of the stars.  I have 8 up to needing corners and 4 more in progress.  The quilt also needs 304 half square triangle blocks.  I've sewn these and split the squares but they need to be pressed and trimmed. My goal will be to get 12 more star blocks up to needing corners and to press and trim at least half of the half square triangles.  The stretch goal will be to get all the stars completed (including corners) and to press and trim all the half square triangles. Linking up with Patty's OMG at Elm Street quilts