Lyra Quilt Along - Piecing the Kite-Shaped Star Points

One of my favourite things about hosting these Quilt Alongs is seeing everyone’s fabrics, so when I saw the fabrics Susan in Australia (Granny Smith Quilting) has pulled, I thought, for the second time, and am now acting upon it, that we need a link-up to show off our fabric choices and/or cutting. If you don’t have Instagram or a blog, just email me (click ‘View my complete profile in the sidebar) a photo, and I will happily post them for you!

I thought we’d tackle the more intimidating shape first. I’m sure you’ve found that cutting the kite shapes is a bit of a pain in that they don’t nicely line up along the fabric length. I did update the cutting post with a photo of that step. This results in some weird leftover triangles which is annoying, I know. It’s worth it though for the cool effects they add to your block.

Kite Shapes in Blocks

Geometry is just so cool, but it can make your brain hurt sometimes too! Quilting is so good for our brains isn't it? We do geometry, measurements, and all sorts of calculations. For the Lyra quilt, four kite blocks are in the corners, creating another starburst. I used these same shapes in my very first QAL, Freefall, which was ten years ago. As I said, I love that connection from the first to this current one. Here is the ‘bad boy’ in question:

I’ve made a paper-piecing template for it, which is how we did this block in Freefall. You can get the link to download it here. It’s in Dropbox as well, and again, you do not need a dropbox account to access the file. You'll find a paper-piecing template for the square-in-a-square block in the same PDF.

Lyra Quilt Along - Cutting

This week we are cutting into our fabrics, and I can’t wait to see what beauties you are working with. Just wait until you see Rose's (somethingrosemade) pull—be still my heart! Please don’t be intimidated by the spiky triangles or kite shapes; the way the templates’ seams are angled at the pointy ends makes for perfect alignment. Truly. And Rose gave us all another simplification if square-in-a-square blocks are your nemesis, so be sure to read to the end.

Lisa (Lisa in Port Hope) had mentioned to me last week that a rainbow colour scheme would be an idea, and well, great minds think alike, because that’s where Rose is headed!

What I’ve Been Up To Lately

I’ve been mainly focusing on the quilt along, but I have been doing a little work on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project, the second version of Circadian Rhythm, and putting together a fabric pull for another yoga student who has requested a Positive Flow bag! Here’s a quick look through these projects. I finished up enough snowball blocks in March’s colour which was red.

These are not the same block as January and February, which were dark blue and dark green nine-patches. What am I doing?

Lyra

This quilt is made with a few chunks of Hazel by Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew that I picked up over a sale or maybe two several years ago. It has been patiently waiting for the right quilt, which is this year's Quilt Along quilt. All but two of the seven pieces went into this quilt.

There certainly is lots of movement in this design, and I'm so pleased with how it turned out. It's a block I sketched when I was in the 30 Quilt Designs in 30 Days Challenge in 2017. I drew up four designs using it.

Lyra Quilt Along Kickoff

Welcome to the tenth annual Quilt Along here at mmmquilts! Once again, this free Quilt Along kicks off today, on my birthday, and ends on June 15, what was the birthday of one 'famous Canadian', my dad. I am so glad you are here, reading this post, and I hope that you will join in. This year's quilt along features a smaller quilt, and, as usual, the pace is nice and slow, so it's easily worked in with your regular quilting projects. 

If you are new to my blog, welcome! I hope you'll peruse the tabs up top, maybe check out some of the activities and makes of mine. Be sure to follow me (see the buttons 'Get new posts by email’, Pinterest and Instagram on my sidebar) to be notified of new posts over the next 2.5 months of the quilt along. Feel free to grab the graphic for the QAL and post it on your social media with a link back here so others can find it.

Gratitude and Glimmers #105

Welcome to my post of glimmers (of joy and wonder) and gratitude for the month of March. You can find links to more posts like this one at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

Peace and joy happen, neither in the quietness of the forest, nor out of the accomplishments of the marketplace, but only from within.

--Sadhguru

1. One of the (many) things I love about living in Canada's southernmost town is being in the Carolinian forest, where winters are mild (though this one slapped us hard with more cold and more snow than usual) spring is early. Snowdrops and winter aconite are out as early as the end of February/early March. Snowdrops especially amaze me that their blooms can withstand frosts without so much as a shiver. Here is a lovely little clump of wild crocus that are blooming everywhere down the greenway paths between subdivisions where I walk.

The force of nature is astounding: these little beings push up against a fairly heavy leaf cover; the blooms close during cool grey weather and open, literally blossom, in the sunshine. They make me smile every year on every walk.