starry skies sampler :: blocks no. 6 to 9

its no secret around here that i have been having trouble keeping up with my self-imposed deadlines, pile of projects to be finished, and my growing toddler girl and growing baby belly. i thought it might be nice gentler to get myself back into the swing of things for the starry sampler quilt by diving into my miscellany scrap bowl.

side note: i have been keeping all of my scraps from this project in their own bowl on the far end of my cutting table. 

it is just so perfect that i don't want to waste a bit of it. 

and i might have a plan or two brewing for all of those scraps.

it was liberating to throw all of those prints together (plus a dot from dsquilts) only thinking a little bit here and there about color palette and composition. i followed this tutorial for sewing wonky stars from the silly boo dilly, only changing the size of my squares from 4.5" to 2.5" resulting in a 6.5" finished star, my smallest yet. these were so quick to sew up that i started looking for more ideas immediately - stitched in color made a block with two different sized wonky stars in one and i love how the offset stars really come together in this mini quilt by fresh lemons.

now that i see these four bitty stars hanging together, i am hoping that i will have plenty of leftovers from this quilt to make some miscellany wonky star pillows or a mini quilt or placemats or...really anything to look at all of the time in my home! don't they look so pretty hanging in our back hall?

now that i feel a bit more back in the game, kick started by how much fun i had making these guys, i am a bit more confident when i say that i will write again very soon. after all, there are seeds sprouting in our dining room and some white cotton that is just screaming to be dyed in the $1 sun tea jars i picked up at the thrift today. that will be happening very soon, but in the meantime why not sew up some of your own wonky stars? or an amish star or a sunshine star or really any other block from the sampler series. i would love to see them!

4 mar 12

i spent my sunday working on some hand quilting for baby boy

and choosing fabric for my new duffle bag.

i'll be writing again on wednesday when i'm done with some new stars

for the starry skies sampler quilt, and hopefully

you'll hear from me a couple of more times this week.

until then, happy monday!

dearest blog readers,

i'm not sure how this happened but life has gotten the better of me this week. i have a sick little girl, an ever growing (and aching) eight and a half month belly, a foot of snow, and family obligations that ate away at any intention i had of getting some quilty or crafty work done this week. i promise promise promise to try to get back into the swing of things for monday.

xoxo
hannah

starry skies sampler :: block no. 5

i must admit, my 'star making' mojo was in a funk this week. between a nasty cold that has lingered past its welcome (not that it had one to begin with) and a botched attempt at a tiny star involving y-seams and an ugly fabric combination, i left the sewing of this newest star block for the very last minute. so in order to restore my faith in my ability to finish this project, i chose to work with my favorite miscellany print from the line and my favorite, basic stash fabric that i always stock up on when at joann fabrics.

my newest addition to the starry skies sampler is the amish star, another block found in 5,500 quilt block designs by maggie malone. although the book has since been returned to the lbrary, i was able to make some quick sketches of a few star blocks that i found the most appealing. yes, the amish star is nothing but squares, rectangles, and some half square triangles. yes, it is a simple nine-patch quilt block, but it is just what i needed to (hopefully) get me back in the swing of things for this sampler quilt.

interested in how the stars are coming together?

side note:

if i bend over far enough, i can almost see my toes

past the giant belly full of baby boy.

i have plans for big things next week. i have plans to get my act together, do some serious piecing, and take a big chunk of work out of this quilt. i have plans to hang this on the wall in a room where i can walk past it every day and smile. 

in the meantime, back to work.

these days i am loving knitting little things

on tiny needles with skinny yarn.

although our little boy will be a spring baby

i can't resist knitting up some booties and

finishing up a log cabin baby blanket.

back to the needles!

see you tomorrow with a new star...