Lemoyne Star Sampler

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you set a deadline for yourself! My class sample for the Lemoyne Star is quilted and bound and off to the quilt shop today--whew!

Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star Sampler (pattern included with the tool).
I changed the border a bit so I could add a little more of the cheddar. Instead of the 4" Rapid Fire Lemoyne Stars in the corners, I substituted 3" stars so the border didn't get too big after adding the inner border. I had to try a couple of fussy cut versions of the stars--fun!

To meet my deadline, I just quilted an overall Cinnamon roll pattern.
It went pretty quickly!

I used my lucky Aurifil # 2150 orange thread and I love the way it looks on this quilt.
I tested several other colors by "puddling" them on the quilt top and the orange won!

Surprisingly, the orange didn't seem to overwhelm the light areas or look too light on the dark areas. Also, my machine loves Aurifil thread--I seem to get a much nicer stitch when I use it.
And I love these little 3" stars!

Susan let me know yesterday that my class was almost full, so to make this sample useful, I may need to teach it a few more times--haha!

Since I almost froze my tootsies off getting a picture this morning, I am going to show both shots--just because!

Focus!

Instead of watching the Super Bowl, I was seeing stars--Lemoyne Stars.
This will be a sample for the Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star class I am teaching later this month at Colorz. I'm dropping it off at the shop as soon as I get borders on it--hopefully by Thursday.
This pattern is included with the ruler and uses every size star you can make with the ruler--3" to 12". 

Even if you only read  a few of my blog posts, you have probably figured out that I have the attention span of a gnat. And that I spend waaaay too much time on my computer.

As I was flitting around the internet one day in December, I came across a post by Carrie Nelson aka Miss Rosie. She showed a block she had designed for the 2014 Aurifil Sew Along hosted by Pat Sloan.

This is Carrie's Block--so cute!

I hadn't done any of the previous blocks, but I really liked Carrie's block and decided to make one.

 Actually, I already had 16 red geese sewn up from a retreat last year. I had made them to demo the Eleanor Burns flying geese ruler. The block went together quickly and I immediately posted it to the Aurifil Flick'r group to show it off.

My block 

Fast forward to mid January--Pat Sloan sent me an email to tell me that my name had been chosen from the photo pool to receive a box of her Aurifil Thread Collection--lucky, lucky me!

Wowzer!
This box of yummy-ness came in the mail last week--they look so pretty all together, I hate to start using them!!

For 2015, instead of blocks, the Aurifil Sew Along will be small quilts designed some of our favorite designers. This is the  January quilt designed by Gudren Erla. I think there's still time to whip one up and be in the running for an awesome box of Aurifil!
Check it out--you can't win if you don't enter!

Some Wooly Slow Stitching

Whew! As much as I failed to keep myself on track, I managed to finish a UFO for January--yay!

Spider Web AKA Fall Out Shelter quilt.
Quilted, bound and labeled--yee-haw!
You can read more about this quilt HERE

I had a hard time deciding on how to quilt this one and what threads I should use.
I ended up using black on all the black areas and a variegated thread for the web blocks. I used a grey/blue in the border. 

It took a while to figure out the best way to do a continuous design, but I finally got a rhythm going. At one point I suddenly ran into a dead end--vegging out again, or so I thought. It turned out that one of the blocks was turned the wrong way.
Drats.
There was no way I was going to fix it at that point--every quilt needs a humility block, right?
See if you can find it in the top photo--kind of a Where's Waldo--haha!

Now that I have my UFO out of the way, I'm doing catch up on the Stitching Society Wool Hexagons......again.....
Linking up with Kathy at Slow Sunday Stitching HERE

A Little of This, A Little of That

I think I am finally recovered from last week's retreat--I even took a nap the day after I got home--something I very rarely indulge in. 

I'm not even sure what I worked on...

I know a made a LOT of half square triangles and turned some of them into pinwheels.

And I made a bunch of these units-- I still have at least this many to make before it will be a quilt top. 

I've been procrastinating since I got home, so instead of working on my UFO for January, I made my Stitching Society project I wanted to have finished before February's meeting. 

This was my first experience attaching a purse frame. After watching a couple YouTube videos, I decided to kind of baste it in place first since I don't have three hands. (Sorry for the blurry photo--I think I need to invest in a macro lens.)

I tried to hide my inside stitches as much as possible--which is pretty much impossible!

Can you see I used beads to attach the frame?
 I saw it on a blog somewhere (so clever!) and muddled my way through-it turned out to be much easier than I anticipated.
Of course, half way through I knocked  my little pot of beads off the table, so ended up working them off of my sticky roller I used to pick them up.
Sigh...

 I picked up my bundle of the new Kim Diehl line last Friday--

Good thing, because I notice my horoscope recommends NO SPENDING this week--yikes!

Have you heard of "food babies"?
I never knew they were a "thing", but for a giggle, check out my niece's blog post from October HERE,

So far this year, I've managed to resist most mysteries, sew a longs, and BOM's, but I'm going to have to jump in on the Buttermilk Basin "Mystery" BOM Sew-A-Long--it's wooly!!

Okay, enough This and That...back to that UFO....

Grow Your Blog!

Thanks for stopping by!

Vicki at 2 Bags Full is again hosting the Grow Your Blog party!
Be sure to hop over to her site HERE for links to hundreds of great blogs.

If you are new to my blog, I'm Karen and I live in Minnesota where we need lots of quilts----perfect for me because I like to make them!

I started my blog as an aid for a group I have at Colorz Quilt Shop. 

Each year the Stitch Therapy group work on a project together. It is so inspiring to see how many versions there can be to one pattern!

Some of our past projects include: 

Honey Bunny's Garden Quilt by Crabapple Hill

This is the quilt that started it all!
(Sadly--it's not quilted yet...)

I made the quilt as a model for the quilt shop--it turned into a class and the class turned into the Stitch Therapy group!

I stitched a second version in Redwork during the class.

At least this one is quilted. 

I had already made Lori Holt's Apron Club, so this was our second project.

The quilt was made before Lori began designing fabric for Riley Blake.
My label is dated 2008, but I may have pieced it before that. 

One year we made lots of small projects from The Green Book.

Another combination of applique and embroidery: Memory Bouquet from the Kansas City Star book Star Quilts II
I'm not sure of the year we did this one.

 

Some of the Stitcher's did their versions in all applique.

I thought adding the dog-tooth border was kind of fun. 

The Wish Quilt.
This pattern was first published in an Australian magazine, which is when I made my version.
I started my blog so I could post updates for my class to help create this quilt-- now a free pattern from Bronwyn Hayes (Red Brolly).

I hate working the satin stitch, so I used colored pencils (and occasionally markers) to fill in those areas.
I know--slacker.....

I also used crystals instead of French Knots. 

Last year we did Simply Red by Kathy Schmitz.
This is Brenda's beautiful blue version. 

I'm not sure if I've forgotten a project or two,

but I can't wait to start Sophie's Garden, our 2015 project.

Thanks again for stopping in--come back soon--there's lots more going on!

A Weekly Update

I think I've finally narrowed the fabric choices for Mrs. Billings.
Really, I just wanted to show off my new metal basket from Decor Steals--sorry!

 I don't think I've shown these Stitching Society hexies yet:

This is one of three Snowflake designs. 

Mr. Flake

Star Snowman

Mittens

I got a little ahead of myself and did the Tomato Pincushion--
I just realized I forgot to put some pins in it!
I still have a few winter designs to stitch up--I'll be working on those today if I finish packing for a quilt retreat that starts tomorrow. 

I'll be working on my Mrs. Billings mitered corners tonight before Downton Abbey starts!
Linking up with Kathy at Slow Sunday Stitching HERE

and WIP's Be Gone  HERE

Mrs. Billings Update

I'm officially hooked--maybe even obsessed! 

This is how Mrs. Billings was on Sunday.
I wasn't happy with the browns, so my pile of rejected pieces is growing fast!

I decided on a more limited palette for this round--and a little more orderly.
I have to confess that I was so excited to see how this would look, and even though I had fully intended to hand piece Mrs. Billing--I sewed this up by machine. Gasp!
It's okay--she says you can in the pattern!

This is the beginnings of the next round--I've added the green back in but I think I will stay away from the browns for now.
I also have a different background fabric for this border. I'm not sure if the background will change with every border, but I won't be using the same fabric throughout--I'm trying to only use stash fabrics!

 A couple of recent additions to the stash:
I won these in a Primitive Gatherings 12 Days of Christmas drawing...

and this little bundle from Benartex was won during their blog hop.

You can only see 5 fabrics from the way the fabrics are folded together like an accordian, but once they were unfolded...

...there were ten fat quarters! Hounds-tooth! Dragonflies! 
I think this was packaged for Sample Spree at Quilt Market because it's marked $15 for 10 fat quarters--
I will be adding these to my Steampunk tub--I think they will fit in with my other chosen fabrics.
We'll see....