Design Wall Monday

It's the last Design Wall Monday of the year and of course I'm late posting it. :-)

This is my version of Girl's Best Friend by Swirly Girls.

My picture is not great, but I'm using a blue background and a variety of bright batiks for the diamonds. I'm happy with the fabrics and am looking forward to completing this. 

I did finish my second Star Patch Quilt earlier this week; but between the Holidays and a death in the family, I have not had time to post a picture. 

Just so I always which side is the top, I strategically placed a fussy cut square.

In case you missed it, here's my first version of the quilt.

I think that I'd like to make one more version of this quilt - rectangular like my first one, but in red, white, and blue. It will be great for a Quilt of Valor!

What are you working on this week?

Check out the quilters eye candy at 

Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 

and

Beth's Monday Making 

Happy New Year!

Star Patch QAL Backing

My backing is done for my Star Patch quilt! 

Amber Johnson of Gigi's Thimble pieced her backing with more nine patches and I love that. 

I decided to do something a little different. The wind made getting a picture quite difficult, but I think you get it.  :-)

First of all, my quilt top is rectangular instead of square and Amber placed her nine patch blocks through the center of the backing. Knowing that I would never be able to keep the pieced section centered on this quilt, I chose to place it near the top of the backing. 

I know that these blocks do not quite go along with the front of the quilt, but I had eight big half square triangle pieces left over after making the star points. I decided that I wanted to use them instead of setting them aside or throwing them away. 

I was able to cut three 3.75" half square triangles from each of the left over pieces.

There is still quite a bit of fabric left over, so I've cut that into squares and rectangles and put those pieces into their respective scrap containers. 

So you can see the pieced unit a bit better, here's a picture of the backing, folded in half. 

I'm happy with this and look forward to quilting it. 

By the way, I've been working on my square version of this quilt and it's close to being done. I've used up all of the extra nine patch blocks that I made and that makes me happy. I'll post a picture soon.

Star Patch Quilt

I completed my Star Patch quilt top the other day and I'm very happy with it.

I added an extra set of blocks to the top and bottom so I ended up with a rectangular quilt instead of a square one. I've decided to quilt this before trimming the ends so it will be easier to keep my 1/4" points along the edges, and I'm looking forward to seeing this cleaned up and bound.  

I made a lot of extra nine patch blocks (30 to be exact!) so I'm already over half way to making my next one of these quilts. I'm thinking about teaching this as a class, so I'll make a square version next. 😊  

As you can see, I still have a lot of 2" print squares in my tub, and since I have to find something to do with them, it might as well be another Star Patch quilt.

Thanks Amber Johnson @gigis_thimble. What a fun quilt and quilt along! #starpatchqal #gigisthimblepattern

Design Wall - Star Patch QAL

I  know that I'm late for Design Wall  Monday, but late is better than never.

Remember those nine patches I was making for the Star Patch Quilt Along?

I completed the next step of the QAL and made the checkerboard center and the four flying geese/star point units. Isn't it cute how Amber asked us to take a picture of these units? I may have to play around when I'm done with this quilt and make some fun tree blocks.  :-)

I am now in the process of putting the quilt top together. 

I decided that I don't want a square quilt, so I'm adding a row of blocks to the top and bottom. Thinking that I might decide that, I made extra nine patch blocks, so it wasn't a big deal and hasn't slowed down the process at all. 

I really like how this is coming together! 

The fact that absolutely all of the fabrics have come from my stash makes this extra super sweet. WooHoo!

What are you working on this week?

Check out some quilters eye candy at

Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 

and

Beth's Monday Making

Star Patch QAL

Not that I already don't have enough to do, but I joined Amber Johnson's Star Patch Quilt Along. 

I saw the original post back in October and really liked the quilt. I decided that I had too much on my plate to join the QAL, but knew that I'd make the quilt some day. I was just too busy to commit to joining the group at that time. I kept seeing Amber's posts and how beautiful her blocks were, but I stayed strong - until last week. 

I was packing for a retreat and decided to take only one project (Elephant Abstractions by Violet Craft) so I could concentrate on that. Plus, I was one of the facilitators of the retreat and knew that I really would not get as much done as I always hope to.  :-)

Long story short, as I was looking around my sewing room I noticed my tub of 2" squares. Hmmmmm, That's the size used for the nine patch blocks of the Star Patch Quilt. 

Right next to the tub was a large neutral background fabric that had not been put away from a previous project. I took that as a sign that I should start the quilt because it could be a great (and mindless) leader/ender project during the retreat. I packed up some of the 2" squares and the background fabric and off I went.

At the retreat, as I suspected, there were times that I could not work on my project but I wanted to be doing something. I cut the background squares needed and started sewing nine patch units. I decided to go really scrappy with these because I really want to use those squares and I didn't want to have to think much when putting the blocks together. (Remember that I said I wanted a mindless project!)

I finished all 60 of the units last night and am caught up with the QAL group. YAY!

I did give some thought with a handful of the blocks because I had fussy cut the original squares. I placed those pieces in the center of the blocks. I'm glad I did that because I think it will be fun to see them while snuggling with the quilt - almost like a seek and find quilt.  :-)

Since each of these fussy cut centers were used for quilts that I've given away, not only will I enjoy the fabrics, I'll be reminded of the person to whom I gave the original quilt. That's a win/win for me.

I'm toying with the idea of enlarging the quilt and making it rectangular. That will require more nine patch blocks but that won't be a problem, as there are plenty more 2" squares left in the tub. I'll make that decision later. 

Have a great week!