Design Wall Monday

I had the flu most of the weekend, so I didn't get much sewing done at all. I did sew a little on my Stars Over Texas quilt yesterday and got five diagonal rows sewn totally together and the sixth one sewn, but it's not attached to the first five. I also laid out a few more rows (sloppily!) so I could check out how the fabrics will look next to each other.

I'm really looking forward to getting this top done so I can take it outside to get a good picture. This photo does it NO justice!

As you can see, I roughly laid out the four big stars across the bottom, and then I pinned the set of triangles for the other stars close to where they will be placed. This allows me to make changes if I desire. So far, I'm ok with the fabric choices and think the others will be ok too.

I seriously doubt that I will work on this for at least two or maybe even three days. I have to play catch up from the weekend. :-)

On another note...Over the past month or so, I've been showing snippets of patriotic fabric that I used in a couple of projects. The quilts are done and submitted to the Blank Fabric American Honor Quilt Challenge, so I can show them now.

The rules were pretty straight forward. Make something using the American Honor fabric line by Tana Mueller for Blank Fabric and submit photos by March 31st.

Voting for the winner of the popular web favorite is taking place now, until April 15th. You can vote HERE.

Here are my three submissions:

In Your Debt - 66" x 75"

Heart and Soul - 82" x 82"

Freedom Rings - 37" x 37"

There are some really wonderful projects to see, so take a few minutes and check them out. While you're there, why note vote?

What are you working on today?

Check out Judy L's Patchwork Times

and

Beth's Monday Making

Stars Over Texas Quilt

The last time I posted, I showed the beginning of my Stars Over Texas quilt.

Since this quilt is going to be large (90" x 108") and I don't have enough to space to layout the entire quilt and then play, I just wanted to get comfortable with the lay out process.

Now that's been done, I made a black and white copy of the pattern and used snippets of fabric to decide my layout.

After making a final decision, I glued the snippets in place and even added the binding. This will be right next to me when I start sewing the triangles together. Hopefully that will prevent me from making mistakes.

I really hope to sew today, but I just spent the last 36 hours fighting the flu. YUCK! I finally feel like I'm among the living again, but I'm still weak, so I'm thinking it would be a good idea to wait until tomorrow to start sewing.

Have a great weekend!

Design Wall Monday

Since I've finished up with some "have to do" work, I decided that I wanted to do something new and just because I want to. Yes, I still have things that I HAVE to do, and I'm working on them; but I want to start something new that's been sitting around just waiting to be made.

I decided on the Stars Over Texas quilt. I've had the pattern for quite some time but just never pulled fabric for it. That changed on Friday!

Annie and I were helping out at M & E Quilt Shoppe and we both agreed that Little Ruby line by Bonnie and Camille would look great in the pattern.

I've been cutting the triangles and just couldn't wait to put them up on the wall. Here's what I have so far.

This is by no means where I think these fabrics will end up. I really just wanted to play a little and get comfortable with the lay out process. These are big triangles (7 1/2") and the stars are going to be really big (24" x 27"). I'm laying this out on the diagonal and that can be kind of tricky if you don't pay attention to what you are doing. The final quilt size is 90" x 108" and since the pieces are so big, it should go together pretty quickly. I'll cut the rest of the triangles and then decide fabric placement by using small pieces of scraps and a sketch.

These are all equilateral triangles so I used a 60 degree triangle ruler instead of the template provided with the pattern, which will make cutting go much faster. Don't you just love starting new projects and finding easier and quicker ways to do things?  😄

Annie and I are teaching an umbrella workshop Tuesday so I won't have time to sew again until Wednesday. Yikes! I guess that's not entirely true. I will be doing some hand sewing which allows me to fondle fabric. 😛   

What are you working on today?

Check out Judy L's Patchwork Times

and

Beth's Monday Making