Monday Morning Star Count 2014/9

135 stars.. that's how many are in Merrill's quilt.

 She brought it over this weekend with some fabric and a deal-- if I bind it, I can bring it along for my trunk shows.  I've got a lecture/trunkshow coming up on Tuesday, so it was pretty easy to agree to this idea.
The quilt is for Sabrina, who proudly pointed out fabrics to George.  I, of course, loved seeing the two of them pour over it like true quilters' children.  You can read more about the quilt in Merrill's guest post here.

I am so lucky to get to keep this quilt in my house for a while, it brightens up the whole living room!  We made the quilts simultaneously and even though there are a lot of shared fabrics between the two, they look completely different (to me anyway, what do you think?).  There is a pic of them side by side here.  

For this week's progress report, I have bits and pieces to show.. most of diamond #4 and the start of #5.. 

I may be teaching this pattern at a workshop next weekend, so I need some "in progress" pieces to explain how I assemble the block.  Yeah, that's a bad excuse, but I'm sticking with it..

Please tell me you have all been more productive?

 

Taking Care

How lucky I am, to have so many friends who want to take care of me, to make me comfortable and to spoil me and my children.  In today's post I want to say THANK YOU to all of them (you) for the kind words, emails, fb messages, cards, presents and visits that have filled my recent weeks.

Jack is 6 weeks old today, and I wanted to share a few of the thoughful gifts we have received:
In my last post, I mentioned a new quilt, all the way from Hokkaido, here it is:

 Hand appliqued, embroidered, and hand quilted by the lovely Mrs. Kubota.  xoxo!

We also received a super soft and cuddly crocheted afghan from Merrill:
(need to add the photo later, he's currently sleeping with it!)

(Totally jealous of her crochet skills, I've wanted to make a ripple blanket for years)

and some wonderful stew from Bernadette!

There were also many many cute sleepers, onsies, outfits, and a new stuffed doggy.  Many friends also brought big brother presents for George which were definitely appreciated.

My sister has been here for the past couple days, and her help (round the clock) is a present far more valuable than any gift.  Thanks Lor.  Don't know what we'll do without you.

In other news, I have been quilting as much as possible.  Some by hand, some by machine.  If I can get some photos today, I might have something to show soon..

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..