Saturday, March 12, 2016

Homework

When Eileen of Eileen in Stitches put out a call for 12" blocks in blues to help her make quilts for her grandparents who had both suffered of injuries and illness, I happened to design this Whirling Star Block.  You can read about the quilt she made, Starry Dreams, here!  I made a couple of these for myself, thinking I might design a quilt eventually.  That was September.  When Angela of So Scrappy announced the colour for January of blues with a hint of purple, I thought this block could be my January one (even though there isn't any hint of purple).

However, the blocks sat...but I did bring them down to Florida with me.
And put them on the design wall.
To, you know, remind me.
Not to neglect them.

Two good friends of mine are in hives this year, and I've hesitated to join for a few reasons.  However, seeing and hearing about their sewing and growing made me think, darn it if I couldn't do my own sewing bee and sew myself two blocks a month, I'd have 24 blocks by the end of the year, in rainbow colours, a pretty sweet quilt. Well, on one of MacGyver's ball game days where he's gone the majority of the day, I decided to whip up (ha ha!) the February and March colours in this block.

Here is February, brown with a bit of pink.  I took a photo of the pre-sewn strip layout and put it into greyscale as the light brown with a hint of pink paisley and the pink batik were so close in value.  It read that the pink was the lightest but now that it's sewn up, my eye is grabbed by it, so I don't know...but I wasn't ripping once the block was sewn!

And March, purples with a hint of yellow.  This pansy fabric is one of my early acquisitions in my quilting life, from (ouch) WalMart (a store I have boycotted for nearly 20 years, but that's another story).  It was the main fabric for Dayna's second bed quilt, and I used the scraps to make a pillow to go with it.  (TBT one of these months for sure). There are just a very few scraps left in the "purple" bag.


Here they all are together.

This is fun! I did follow her colours all last year for my cow blocks (3 more to make there), but I never did link up, so today I am linking up with soscrappy for the first time! And with Scraptastic Tuesday either at Mrs. Sew and Sow or at She Can Quilt.





16 comments:

  1. Sandra, those stars are fabulous! Now that I've joined in on the RSC this year, I am seeing more and more different star blocks that I love. Yours seem to work just great for having the main color of the month, but also opportunities to add in the secondary color. I have not managed to comment on your posts recently, but just wanted you to know I read every one of them, and enjoy them immensely. Especially loved the one where your cat was helping you clean your machine! So funny!

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  2. LOVE, Love, love your Star Blocks with Rail Fence Pinwheel centers!!! Quite a nice collection you've got there.

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  3. Beautiful blocks, great stars. Love them

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  4. I really love those star blocks. The layout is great, and all the texture going on in the background adds an extra "oomph". Twelve moinths of these in rainbow colours will make a fabulous quilt.

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  5. What a great idea of making two blocks per month. It breaks down a large quilt into manageable pieces. They look great.

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  6. welcome! Great job girl! Lots of scraps to love here
    LeeAnna

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  7. Great idea to challenge yourself in this way! Have fun with your two blocks a month and what a pretty detail to add the rail fence centre! Thank you for linking up to #scraptastictuesday

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  8. I really like your block and what a great idea. I have never been in a hive, maybe some day...

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  9. Welcome to RSC. It is an absolutely great way to use up odd bits of fabric and have something wonderful to show for it at the end of the year. Great blocks. I like the centres on the stars.

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  10. So glad you have joined us. Your blocks are unique. The pink strips really shine in the photo. Where did you ever get that architectural b/w print. It's very intriguing. Keep up the good work!

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  11. Love those rainbow star blocks! They're going to look lovely in a quilt!

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  12. I love these! Two blocks a month seems reasonable. I think they are going to make a very pretty quilt.

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  13. I really, really like that block! Show us a whole quilt of them when it's done -- that's a publish-worthy pattern for sure.

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  14. I like your idea of two blocks a month. 24 blocks is a great number for a quilt!

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