Seeing Stars

Here is my Friday finish for this week. I Found this great block, as a quilt in the Modern Bee book by Lindsay of Lindsay Sews and Craft Buds. I though it would make a great single block quilt for over the fireplace. Since it was too small for my needs, and finished at only 16 inches, I added a row and a 3 inch white border. I love the result.

 I chose bright colors, red raspberry and a yellow green, for my star points. This is a great block. The directions are very clear and easy to follow and yes, it would be lovely to have a quilt of this. The one in the book is beautiful.

 I never seem to get a day where the time I have and the light I have match up for great pictures. Sorry about that.

 For the quilting, I found the center point and quilted lines radiating out from there to give the illusion of shining stars. This was my hubby's suggestion and I love how it turned out.

 It is subtle, but it does show up. I think I will be making more of these and perhaps a quilt is in my future with this pattern. There are still more in the book I want to make.

 I used the Pearl Bracelets fabric to bind the edges and create a matching defined frame for the quilt.

I had this yard of fabric which I used for the back. I thought it was cool when I bought it, still do, but could never figure out how to use it in a quilt. I am learning through this using of my stash that my fabric buying habits were really all over the place. I am hoping to cure that and buy things I can really use and blend with what I have.  Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Friday.  Have a great weekend.

Mosaic Tiles Quilt Along

So I got this great book for Christmas Modern Bee: 13 Quilts to Make with Friends. I had been perusing all the pages, drooling over the quilts, wondering which ones I could actually make by myself without too much fuss. Then, Lindsay at Craft Buds, whose book it is, posted a Quilt Along with the January quilt which is Mosaic Tiles. The quilt was actually made by Suki Newbold, with the help of her bee mates. This, I thought, is a great place to start. So I did and here, today is my take on the quilt.

 I have to tell you up front, that I am sewing from my stash. I am trying so hard not to buy fabric, although my husband has said I could if it was a very special fabric, or a very important line in quilting world. So far, no purchases for 2014. I had most of a charm pack of Simple Marks Summer, by Malka Dubrawsky. I love the saturated colors of this line and have been trying to come up with a way to use it. I had a couple of yards of City Scenes by Jane Dixon for Andover that I bought to use as a possible backing for a quilt.

I loved how the colors popped against the grey and I loved how the grey was not plain and flat with all the black and white lines. The only thing I didn't have was the red that I wanted for the cross piece. Since I elected to start this project so early, I was able to buy the red, Simple Color, from an earlier line of Malka's. I always get to buy some fabric at the 35% of new year's day anniversary sale at my LQS. So really, I haven't broken my fast since I hadn't started yet at that point.

 I did audition some other reds for this space, but none would do. I decided to make a smaller version of this quilt, since I had less that one full charm pack of the fabric to work with. I ended up making 13 blocks and putting the 13th on the back.

 I used some already cut, extra strips of th City Scenes for the binding. I didn't want to detract from the rest of the quilt.

 I quilted the red cross pieces in straight line 1/2 inch apart, going in the direction of the cross, and turning corners so it started and ended at the edge of the quilt.

 The back is all greys from my stash of leftovers from other projects. There is the 13th block and the rest of the City Scenes.

 Here you can see the quilting. I quilted loops on the rest of the quilt using a lovely reddish orange shade of Auriful.

And here is my label in the bottom corner. I had one warmish day to take pictures outside and I grabbed it, even though the quilt has not been washed yet, so it lacks the crinkly goodness.

One more fun pic before I go. Thanks to Lindsay for putting together a great book. I will definitely be trying some of the other projects in there this year, as I sew my way through my stash.

WIP Wednesday

Here it is, Wednesday again and I am still stitching away from my stash. Proud to say, even though there are a few things I would like to have, I haven't caved yet.  Here is this week's progress:

 This little sweetie is going to be a table topper for a small round table in my living room. All made from charms I collected and pin basted and ready to quilt. The border print is from Malka Dubrasky's line, Stitch in Color. I have been looking for something to do with this for a long time. I even mitered the corners!

 Here is my Flags quilt top. This is from Cheryl Arkison's book A Month of Sundays. I changed the layout to be able to use the fabric I had chosen, even though it wasn't quite enough. I have decide to put a thin row of dots in between each row of flags. Still trying to find my way through this one.

And last, but not least, this is the back of another small quilt. I am pin basting this today. I am not ready to show the front off just yet. This is for the Mosaic Tiles Quilt Along on Craft Buds.  Hope you are having a great week. Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced. Talk to you soon.

Magic Mail Monday

Don't you just love alliteration? Not all of this came this morning, but one did, so I decided to post it all.  Lots of lovely eye candy.

 First up is a collection of fat quarters from Andover Fabrics. It is the Feathers from the Sun Print line by Alison Glass.  I won this from the Craft Buds blog giveaway. Isn't it beautiful?

 Part of the prize was also a print by Alison and two patterns, which I elected to get via PDF files. So generous, right?

 Next, I entered a giveaway for these, but ended up ordering them myself.  It is a fat quarter bundle of the beautiful Squared elements collection by Art Gallery fabrics. So soft and pretty!

 And look at this! Don't these two lines look so pretty together? I might have to consider this a bit.

                             One more shot of the gorgeousness. Can't resist.

 Last, but not least is an 11 fat quarter collection from Fabri Quilt.  I won this giveaway back at the end of April. What with Market and shipping delays, I just received it last week. It is called simply Black and White.

This is my favorite print in the group and I already have a plan for these lovely black and white prints, as soon as I finish the 6 quilts I am currently working on.  Thanks so much to Andover and Alison Glass and also to Fabri Quilt. Free fabric makes my day!