Merrill's Stars

Today I'm happy to share with you the EPP star quilt pieced by my good friend Merrill.  She doesn't have a blog, but she's a huge supporter of mine, and my favorite weekly playdate (glad our kids get along, we sure have a lot of quilting to talk about..).
I introduced Merrill to English paper piecing right after I started Travel Quilt #3, and she took to it pretty fast.  Over the past year we'd keep each other motivated and trade diamonds when we got sick of our own stashes.  She added the last star to her top this week, and I asked her to write a post to tell you about it..

Merrill's Stars

I remember the first time I saw Jessica's travel quilt. I was in awe, but thought there was no way I could possibly make anything like it. After all, I had only been quilting for two years. I can barely sew a straight line. Being a new mom, I hadn't sewn in quite a while. And I had never hand pieced anything.

Jessica convinced me to give it a shot. I decided I would make the quilt for my daughter's "big girl' bed - which I figured would give me a few years to finish the quilt. I decided on a bright color scheme with off white stars. I ordered my 1 1/2 inch 60 degree diamond templates and cut my diamonds while I waited for the templates to arrive.

My first hexagon star took me over two hours to complete. At this rate, I thought, I'd probably have to revise my timeframe. Maybe it would be done by the time she went to kindergarten. Luckily, my speed improved.

I basted diamonds and assembled stars whenever I could - during naps, when my husband had Parent-Teacher night at school and during Monday Night Football. If his teams were doing well, I had more sewing time. Because of the Jets, plenty of stars were made during football season. The Mets, however, did not work out so well for me.

One year later, I finished piecing the stars. I've chosen a bright pink fabric for the inside border. Now I just need to learn to applique.

Thank you, Jessica, for convincing me I could do this. It's been a great learning experience with a beautiful result.

No Merrill, thank you. 

Thank you for understanding and encouraging me.  I've searched the internet for like-minded quilting friends and it's really awesome to have a friend in real life (and in my neighborhood!) who appreciates how completely crazy I am about quilting.  Your quilt is beautiful, now let's work on the borders..