More on the Star Front

     Well it's still cold and snowy so just the perfect weather for continuing on with the e.p.p. scrappy stars.   I've got these diamonds prepped and lined up ...

     They are ready to join these two stars .

     One day they'll link up and make a pretty quilt.  I need to decide on a background colour soon.  Any thoughts?  I'm linking up to Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts and to the Fresh Sewing Day and Small Blog meet ups at Lily's Quilts. Then I'll link up to the Monday Morning Star Count at Life Under Quilts.

The stars slowly continue

     I sometimes get some hand stitching done in the evenings watching programs with my husband.  For the last two weeks however we've been watching video's of the Swedish Wallender series.  It's pretty hard to concentrate on hand stitching while trying to read English subtitles.  Even though I've read most of the books I still need to read those subtitles to know what's going on.  Consequently I've not gotten a lot done.  That's the excuse for this week at least.  So here you have it one star pieced for the Star quilt .  I made this one in pink to go with the February Rainbow Scrap colour.  Perhaps I will aim for another pink one as this is the last week for pink.

     I'm linking up to Kathy's Quilt's for Slow Sunday Stitching.  I wonder what everyone else has been up to.

Frosty Slow Sundy Stitching

     I think this may be the coldest day we've had this winter.  It's sunny though so I am happy.  This is a perfect day to sit under a quilt and do some hand stitching.  I've started a new English Paper Piecing project.  After seeing so many beautiful star quilts in the link ups to Slow  Sunday  Stitching and The Monday Morning Star Count.  I've decided to try my hand at one.  Here is my first Star.

     That pretty little pile of pink fabrics are diamonds cut and ready for basting on the papers.  These are pink scraps that I'll work in to a star for sharing at Scrap Happy Saturday next week.  Here are some more fabrics I'll work into future stars.

     I'm linking up with the other slow stitchers at Kathy's blog and on Monday I'll link up to the Monday Morning Star Count at Life Under Quilts.  Keep warm everyone.

Scrap Happy Saturday

     Last night my husband had his book club over to diner. That was 10 guys taking over the house and talking books and politics with great gusto.  I took it as an opportunity to get started on some pink scrappy blocks for the Scrap Happy Saturday link up over at So Scrappy, where the colour of the month is pink.
     I managed to get some fabric cut and 3 blocks sewn : a 12 in wonky star block. and two three inch bow tie blocks.  I was inspired to work on bow ties by reading  the Green Cheese Quilting Blog and seeing her lovely pile of bow ties.   She's participating in the Bitty Block Quilt Along at Quilt Makers Magazine.   I'm not sure if I'll make the quilt which is a row quilt.  But it's a fun way to use up some of the smaller scraps.

 Here are the bow ties.

And here is the wonky star.

Happy Valentines Day!

My Hexagon Sewing Kit is Finished

     On this beautiful sunny winter day I am happy to share that I finished the Hexagon Sewing Kit.  I followed the Pattern by Laura Jane Taylor in her book Quilt-opedia.  My hexies were a different size so I altered things slightly.  This was listed as an advanced project.  I'm not an advanced sewist but most of the project was fairly easy for me.  The tricky part was the pocket with the inset zipper on the right side of the last photo.  It's hard to explain but it's a pocket within a pocket sort of.  I made this sewing kit for myself and I'm really happy that I did because I love the traditional Japanese fabrics.  This is my second finish for the 2015 first quarter finish along.  The original post is here.

     I'll be linking up with  Friday Finishes, TGIFF which is hosted this week at Jenn's blog Quarter Inch From the Edge.  I'll also be linking up on Sunday with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching link up and on Monday to the Monday Morning Star Count at Life Under Quilts as these folks watched this project grow from infancy.  Then on Tuesday I'll link up with Leanne at She Can Quilt as she hosts the Scraptastic Tuesday link up with Nicky from Mrs Sew and Sow.  This little sewing case was made from the scraps from this quilt.

February Goal

     I've been trying to finish the Swoon for a while and it was my goal for December.  I didn't get too far so I hope it's o.k. to list a goal for February that was a goal for 2014. I'm also hoping I have better luck this time.   Here's a photo of how far I've gotten.

The sashing to the sides of the blocks is done .  I've got one one row of sashing between the rows done.  Surely I can finish this quilt this month.  Part of the problem is I'm not sure if I should try to quilt it on my little Janome or send it out to be quilted.  If I quilt it, it will be straight lines. I've seen several Swoon quilts on line that are quilted with straight lines and they look quite good. Ah well, I'll have to make up my mind soon.  I'm linking up with the goal setting party at Fibre of All Sorts.

Slow Stitching Binding and more Binding.

     It's been a while since I did any hand work and I haven't linked up with the slow stitchers at Kathy's blog.  I've made up for that in the last week.  I don't work on Fridays and I spent pretty much the whole day slow stitching this binding on this quilt.

     Finishing this quilt was my January goal for a Year of Lovely Finishes and I really wanted to get it done.  I couldn't spread much of the hand stitching to Saturday because I spent most of Saturday at a workshop at our Guild with the talented Maggie VanderWeit.  What fun that was I'll post about it later in the week.  I did meet my January goal  although my body is paying for it now.  If you would like to see the finished quilt and my free motion quilting you can go here.

     I've spent this snowy day today at Meditation Group and walking on an indoor track with my good friend Pauline.  So now I think I'm ready for some more binding.  It's a small project this time.  It should be done in a flash.

     I'm linking up with Kathy and the other hand stitchers at Slow Sunday Stitching.