Sunday, February 5, 2023

SAHRR Round 2 and PHD Update

So far this year, every one of the three Project Quilting challenges have been a snap, as in I know exactly what I'm going to do, and I actually stick to it, and they are all done in time. Not so with the Stay At Home Round Robin! It has been a challenge, but in a good way giving my brain some robust exercise, both in the creativity as well as the calculations departments. However, as of Saturday night, her is my round 2 complete. 


I actually did take a couple of in-progress photos so you can see how I arrived here. Thanks to Gail of QuiltingGail, for hosting this as well as the PHD programme.

Stars was the prompt for this round, given to us by Wendy at Pieceful Thoughts. I love stars! The friendship star was given as an example. I stayed with that, though I did contemplate adding one wonky Evening Star to keep the 'crazy' them going. My central block, in case you don't recall, is an extra from a Buggy Barn quilt, 'Coneflower Crazies' I made several years ago. I thought I'd make 4" stars, so I added to frames, the dusky purple on the left and the maroon and black strip across the top row of spools. This gave me a 16.5" x 20.5" centre to work with.

It hit me when I went to cut patches for a friendship star that this block is a 9-patch, 3x3 grid, so making a 4" finished star was not going to happen! Smacks self in forehead. Okay, 4.5" then and that is fine; I can add plain squares or rectangles as I don't need or want to fill the entire round with stars.


When I'd set two of the stars on the corners, and not as cornerstones, because I wanted the unexpected, I came up with the idea of doing a rail fence filler, with maybe some HSTs sprinkled along the rails as if the stars were falling or sprinkling. I soon ditched that idea because it would've been too involved, and besides I'd found the perfect inner rail, leftover fabric from my Trip Around the World (made in 2000) quilt! The sprinkling of leaves in the perfect colours convinced me that this was enough, as did the ever-marching onwards time!

Sadly, I did not have enough of two of the stars background fabrics, but was able to find something in the same tone. Now, big question: are the rails going to extend on either side of the star or is a plain cornerstone going to go there? I tried that (no photo sorry) and nope, didn't like that at all. It detracted from the purposely NOT in the corners stars.

Aha!
Extend the rail over top of the star below it! It meant doing a partial seam which is no big deal at all. The first rail, the dusky purple one, ended up getting moved to the top because I'd wrongly calculated the length for it to extend out over (or under) the star in the next round. It was still an inch too short, so I had to piece in a 1.5" x 4.5" rail. I don't think it'll be noticeable once it's quilted. Did you notice it in the first photo?!


So there's the story of Round 2! Round 3 instructions come out tomorrow. I love this so far! I intended it to be a donation quilt; but we shall see... It now measures 25.5" x 29.5".

Here is my PHD (Projects Half Done) update because one month has come and gone... and nope not one of my twelve got worked on. I lost a week due to a certain design getting accepted and all that the pre-work entails (the fabric should be here this week!), so I hope to do better in February. As in two UFOs getting finished. Here are my charts. I use Pages, a Mac application, so mine look a little different than Gail's.


Although I haven't got my PHD in the two previous years I've participated, I haven't started a project that I have not finished, so there's that. I've just this moment realized there is one more UFO to add to my list of 20, making it 21: an RSC project from omg, I did a search through my blog (which took a bit) and discovered I started this and did it throughout that year, in March 2016. Gulp. That's uh seven (how can that BE?!) years ago. Here's the photo of the first blocks I made thanks to having purchased the book, Kim Schaefer's Cozy Modern Quilts, which has so many great stash quilts in it.

That year Angela picked a main colour with a second 'pop' of colour. March was purple with a pop of yellow. Interesting in that Bella's beloved spider baby, which she still has, is purple, which is why I left it in the photo. All the blocks are made for the quilt; there are no borders; so just what is stopping me? Layout. In rainbow order it would be one loooong quilt, so all it requires is some playing on the design wall. Come on Sandra.

Okay! Off to link up in time at Wendy's!

15 comments:

  1. Very organised & I should have a go at making some written plans for my year. I'm having a very slow start this year to get motivated, so a plan might spur me along. Loving your Stay at Home round robin. Take care & hugs from a cool & wet down under.

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  2. This is just so much fun! I can't tell you how much I think I should pull out my BB books now and make something - hahaha! It's coming along really well!

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  3. I love seeing how your stars turned out with the way you did them, because that is a layout I had pictured for my next border, too. This looks great, Sandra!

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  4. What a clever round! I love how the 'wonkiness' theme is continuing...!

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  5. I didn't notice the additional rail fence that you had to add on until you mentioned it and I scrolled back up to take a look. With so many fun things like Project Quilting and the SAHRR going on, I think it would have been a lot to finish up a UFO, too. It sure seems like 2023 has started off with a lot of fun things, though!

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  6. I really like how you interpreted this round. Adding the rail fence strips really makes the stars pop.

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  7. What a great way to add the stars, and I didn't notice the added piece.

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  8. I like how this is coming together.

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  9. I do like your SAHRR!!! Love the rail fence with the stars ... makes me think of the line (??? is that what it's called?) behind a comet.
    If you are finishing all your new starts for your PHD, that's fantastic!

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  10. I am loving your SAHRR! I have't made a commitment to add the borders yet. Mine needs to be a long horizontal rectangle to become a bench pillow. So I'm procrastinating and waiting for inspiration!

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  11. Looking good, Sandra! About your 2016 RSC quilt in progress... I've only completed ONE block set for the RSC (and I've been participating since 2015!)

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  12. Love how your SAHRR is coming along, Sandra!! It's really cool.

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  13. Your SAHRR is coming along beautifully! The long rail borders really work with the stars. Good luck on your PHD. I've never finished 12 either, but it is good motivation to keep a lot of projects moving.

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  14. Sandra your SAHRR is lovely. As Gail said the rail fence borders reminded me of the tail behind a comet. Great interpretation of the prompt.

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  15. Hi Sandra! I love the star treatment. It's like they are shooting stars, leaving a path of goodness behind them. I hope you're having fun with this. I no longer see the dog face - it looks like a flower now. HAHA! Can't wait to see what you do with the hourglass block. {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne

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