Sunday, May 25, 2014

And another one down...

in the hand-quilted tablerunner I'm trying to get finished for Melissa's A Lovely Year of Finishes.  I took this picture outside yesterday afternoon so it is in much better lighting than last night's.  I have 3 star blocks in this runner, and I've finished quilting two.

This is the centre star block, a star in a star--is it called Rising Star?

So this afternoon, another absolutely picture-perfect day of clear blue skies and warm smiling sun, I sat outside and quilted this last block so I could get another daytime picture.

I'm pretty sure this is called Evening Star
The "rays" that I quilted in the ivory triangles just happened.  I'd thought about maybe doing a small triangle inside that triangle, but worried I wouldn't get them all the same size, or perfectly centred.  So I thought, why not just split the triangle in 3, doing 3 lines of quilting, and after I'd got the first 2 done in the centre block, I saw that it looked like rays!  Love it.

So, just the outside border to do now, and I think I'm going to do a simple cable there as the fabric is just so wonderful that I don't want to detract from it.  I actually cannot believe I can see the light at the end of the tunnel to finishing this runner after leaving it sit for so many, many years.  And, it comes as a bit of a shock, but I really love hand-quilting, outside of my very sore left hand pointer and third finger...  However, diaper rash cream to the rescue!
Yep, it's been 25+ years since I've needed it for my babies, but I still buy my fave brand, Penaten, for burns, blisters, splits in fingers or toes, rough calluses, and now, for my two fingers, and it's eased the "ouch" remarkably well already.

What else was I doing this weekend?

I've had this quilt from Sarah's post of Confessions of A Fabric Addict, one of the first quilt blogs I followed with Bloglovin' about Hands2Help on my brain all weekend, so last night, I dug through my almost non-existent greys, and started cutting 4 1/2" squares.  I plan to do another using 6 1/2" squares for a baby quilt.  This first one could be a small baby quilt or a wallhanging.  I plan to give it to our Guild's Boutique for the fundraiser at our quilt show this September.  The best part?  It's all from my scraps and stash!  Love that.

Here it is on the design wall tonight:


I'd hoped to get it pieced before I posted this, but life has happened since supper. . .   I've got the first two columns pieced à la my "Book It!" method.  I'm hoping to link up with Sarah if I'm not too late, for my first linky to her "Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?"


Remember to visit The Bloggers' Quilt Festival!  I have two quilts entered there for the first time.  I'm really starting to have my eyes opened by this huge world of Quilting Blogland, and I'm just loving it!!  So much to do, so many like-minded supportive people, and SO MANY ideas!!!  My two quilts are Seaside Rose, entered into the Large Quilts Category....

Seaside Rose was posted about here and here and here and here, good grief, and here!  She was a lengthy, but oh-so-worth-it creation.

and Hidden in Plaid Sight, entered into the Original Design Category.  There are 650 quilts in all of the categories, and there are some absolutely stunning beauties.
Hidden in Plaid Sight was posted about here and here!

Click the "here" links to read about the two quilts.  The first "here" is the contest entry post that summarizes the quilt.  Click the hot-linked categories in the paragraph above to go directly to the voting page.  You might have to scroll through the many(and get side-tracked!!)  beautiful quilts entered.



2 comments:

  1. Your hand quilting is looking great. You've got a great start on the next quilt. I love the star bursting out of the grey squares background. Thanks for the link to Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Her latest post had a great pineappple block tutorial that is going to keep me busy at some point...

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  2. Oh ya, love the rays!!
    Just sayin', ya, hang onto that diaper cream. In a year or two you'll be needing it for Joe and his Depends BAHAHAHAHA!!!

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