Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Catching Up....Again

When I returned from Asilomar, I had quite a bit of my lone star completed. For the first time EVER, I went with a clear plan in mind. I had my strips cut and knew where I wanted to put them, so I was able to start sewing almost immediately!

Jan Krentz is a wonderful teacher; if you have any interest at all in making a lone star, take a class from her. You won't be sorry!!

 This is a pic of my original diamond design. I made a mock up of it for my pattern and followed it while putting my diamonds together.


A completed diamond, with the fabric in strips next to it for easy assembly. It was supposed to be foolproof and it was...almost. I only had one minor goof that had to be fixed when I got two fabrics out of order. 


When it was completed, I auditioned the black fabric for the background prior to cutting. Then others were getting in on the "try this" phase. Debbie suggested the dots on the center star; I vetoed that suggestion!!


This is what I have so far at home. As you can see, my "Y" seams didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped.  Fortunately, my longarmer knows the old "starch and steam" trick and I think she can quilt those corners just fine! My only other thought, and I'll know this when I have all four braided borders finished, is whether I want another black border on the outside? Or maybe just black binding?  What do you think??


I'm happy with how this is going so far (except I keep staring at those wonky square bits--I bet I end up pulling them off and fixing them!) and I love that my plan of the black diamonds leading out worked as well as I'd hoped. 

When completed (please note: I said "when," not "if"), it will be the first project ever from a class at Empty Spools. I'm hoping this means I'm turning over a new leaf!!

Dory





Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Empty Spools 2015

Today is the last day of class for Session 2 of the Empty Spools Seminars at Asilomar. I will be sad to be packing up, but I'm not going home! From here, I go to Oakland to visit my granddaughter again and then to Sebastopol to see my other step-daughter and my brother!  Fun!!

If I've been paying attention and if my plans don't change, this is what I will be working towards this session.


I'll be in Jan Krentz' Lone Star class.   I actually used my EQ7 program and uploaded photos of my fabrics and then played and played until I came up with something I liked. I made the mock up and cut the strips prior to leaving home.  I didn't sew them though, as I was too afraid I'd change my mind. The best thing...this fabric is ALL in my stash! I didn't buy anything (okay, I didn't buy anything as of the writing of this post)

I'll post a pic of my progress when  return...I know you're all just on pins and needles, right???

Dory