Star Cross #2 Finished

Another one off the list!!!  I actually finished this version of Star Cross a few days before the end of the year.  I just didn't brave the cold snowy weather to take pictures.  Oh what a difference 24 hours can make.  I have non snow and snow pictures to show.

If you are looking for a quick easy project to practice ruler work on, this one is a great one.  Geraldine at Living Water Quilter hosted a quilt along for the project, walking you through the steps of quilting it using a straight quilting ruler.  You can find it here.

This time around, I decided to add borders to the mini quilt to make it a bit bigger, 30" square.  I also added hanging tabs to the back, so that it could be used as a wall hanging or possibly a table piece.  It will either be gifted, or donated to the next cause that calls my name.

I still have one more of these to quilt up.  David made a version of the small quilt right before I made this one.  I may try to quilt his a bit differently and may even ask him to draw me up a quilting plan.  But it will have to wait for a little bit, other projects are calling for my attention right now.

If you know someone who is new to quilt blogging or has been thinking about starting one up, please let them know the 2018 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop will be having sign ups starting February 1st.  If you or someone you know has been blogging for less than 3 years, you can sign up (even if you participated last year).  I promise it will be a good time!

If you have been blogging for more than 3 years, I hope you will consider following along and supporting this years new group of quilting peeps.  I think I've made new friends every year thanks to the blog hop, just hopping around and getting to know the bloggers.  Plus there will be prizes...and who doesn't love those??  More info will be coming soon as we are finalize the details for this year's hop.

For now I'm going to celebrate this small UFO victory and prepare for our linky party starting on Saturday.  What will you be working on?  Are you tackling a UFO or WIP?  Are you distracting yourself and completely ignoring them?  I hope to find out just what you are up to this weekend.  So write up a post and feel free to join me.  

Today I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social and Midweek Makers.

Star Cross--A Finish

Star Cross Mini Quilt, oh how I love thee.  From the moment I first laid eyes on Geraldine at Living Waters Quilter's post on Instagram of her finished quilt, I knew I had to make it.  She must have read my mind because just a few days later she announced she would be hosting a QAL for this mini quilt.

This was not a typical QAL per say.  She directed us to the pattern for the block over at the Juki website (you can find it here) so that we could make our blocks.  Then each week she posted a different video and tutorial on quilting the quilt using straight edge rulers.

You can find links to Geraldine's tutorials below.

Week one: making the quilt and gathering supplies
Week two: Straight Line Designs
Week three: Quilting Channels
Week four: Simple Echo and Radiating Designs
Week five: Bordered Crosshatch

If you are new to ruler work, her breakdown videos are an excellent way to start learning.  Rulers are a tool I think every quilter should have in their tool box.  I want all of them!  For this quilt I used my Handi Quilter Straight Edge ruler and quilted on my Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen.  I could have very easily quilted it on my Husqvarna Sapphire using my Westalee ruler foot or marked lines and used a walking foot.

For my quilting threads, typically I go very matchy matchy so everything blends completely in.  This time I decided to liven things up at bit and use a thread that would slightly contrast.

I chose to use Aurfil #2310 Light Beige in the white and tan sections and Aurfil #2605 Grey in the blue sections.  The colors provided just enough contrast to make sure my quilting stood out, but didn't completely overshadow my fabrics.  I love that the 50 wt thread will allow me to travel stitch around my lines several times without looking bulky or thick, just nice clean lines.

This little mini will be headed to my daughter's school for a fundraiser for the arts, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to make another one for myself or at least incorporate these designs into future quilts.

Star Cross is my second QAL finish this year.  You can read about my Quilter's Laundry Day mini here.  So for now it's back to work piecing on the other QAL projects and I'm happy to report I've starting quilting on one of my Meadow Mystery Quilts.  Hopefully, I will have another finish to share with you very soon.

Today I'm linking up with Linky Tuesday, Let's Bee Social and Midweek Makers.

Yup, Another QAL

I'm just gonna put this out here first and get it out of the way...I don't think my 1st quarter quilting list is going to happen, but I'm okay with that.  I can't quite share why yet, but I believe I will get a full pardon (from myself) for not doing them.  More on that later, but for now, what have I been doing?  Keeping up with the QAL's I'm participating in, of course.

First up, is The Children's Library hosted by Pat Sloan.  Last month was The Mother Goose Rhymes block, this month The Curious George block.  You know, that crazy little monkey that was always getting in trouble.  There was no way I could make this block and not pay tribute to The Man in the Yellow Hat.  This block would need some yellow.

Last Friday, Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts, released the second block in her Have A Jolly Little Christmas QAL.

We can't have the Christmas holiday in our neck of the woods without thinking about snow, warm scarves and of course, mittens. After piecing these together, I was afraid there wasn't enough contrast between the mittens and background.

But in the end, I think they will work just fine.  Here they are hanging out with the stocking block.

Next on my to-do list, are two things completely unplanned.  My daughter is part of her school's National Art Honor Society.  In March, the school will host an evening of the arts.  The choir, band and string orchestra will perform and the NAHS will have a silent auction with works of art by the students to raise money for their club.  Jen asked her club leader if it would be okay if her mom donated something quilty for the auction and the teacher thought that would be a wonderful idea.

Since this was also my high school, I agreed with Jen that it would be a way to give back and help.  I decided to quilt up two mini quilts.  I had so much fun piecing and quilting Janyne at Twiggy and Opal's Star Thistle Block when I pattern tested for her, I decided to make another.

And then I stumbled onto this on Instagram....

Geraldine at Living Water Quilter had been teasing posting pictures of her progress quilting with rulers on this fun little mini quilt.  I found myself drooling over all the quilty yumminess stitched within this one.  I actually thought to myself, hey this would be perfect for the fund raiser.  It was like she read my mind, because her next Instagram post was about wanting to host a Quilt Along on how to actually quilt it.   YES!  Almost immediately I said I was on board.

If you pop over to her post about the Star Cross Quilt, you can learn more about how this QAL came to be and get requirements and instructions to piece this easy little pattern and join in as we all quilt this beautiful little quilt together.

My version is ready and waiting to go.

I hope you will join in on this QAL too.  Even if you don't have quilting rulers, I'm pretty sure a walking foot and pre-marked lines will get you through.  I love this idea of a Quilt Along...it really is a quilt along...we are actually discussing the quilting as we go.  When we piece a quilt together shouldn't that really be a Piece Along (PAL?)   But that is a debate we can have on a different day, I suppose.

Until next time, I will be piecing away on my quilt along projects, reading up on all your posts and working behind the scenes on things I can't talk about yet, but I'm dying to share with you.  

Today I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social and Midweek Makers.