Stars and Sprigs progress

Thanks to Janet (Quiltsalott) for pointing me to that video on knotting the silk thread I am making much faster (and much more satisfying) progress on my Sprigs applique blocks. Number 2 was only delayed by Mother Nature. We had rain at 4 inches an hour the other night and my poor house just couldn't hold the water back any longer. Happily, today the sun is shining and hopefully we can start to dry out. I am not complaining because, for us, the bad weather was mostly a nuisance. So many others are dealing with real floods and Texas can only dream of the water we wish we didn't have.

These two Stars blocks are made from the new Dear Jane 2 line of fabric. They are some really wild reproduction fabrics and add just the pop of color I am looking for. I am enjoying this pattern so much. It is fun to finish a block and start poking around in the stash to choose the next fabrics. Thanks, Kim, for designing the vehicle to fully appreciate my complete stash of fabrics.

I'm quilting!

I'm merrily quilting away on the Stars and Sprigs quilt. It's going to take awhile cause I stitch fairly slow. It was a hard decision deciding what to do so without a long winded story, I made the decision to please myself.

I tried out three different things for the center of the stars which all got unpicked before I settled on this. I'm too lazy to mark anything so it's all free motion on my domestic machine with a fair bit of in the ditch thrown in to control the puff.

I'm really loving the texture,  the applique and stars have a lot of poofiness with the help of a wool batting. I'm using Superiors kimono silk thread in white. The combination makes for a softer quilt.

I'm pacing myself to avoid any aches and pains so it'll be awhile before I can show the finish.

Ta-dah!!

Yee ha, the top is finished and it's glorious! The blinkers were the biggest help to get this one done by Christmas.

I do like the green and yellow start twinkling in the top right corner in Australia's colours. Not deliberate, just a happy coincidence.

Thank you Kim for releasing your amazing patterns, this one was a pleasure from the begining.

You should be able to click on the photos for a bigger view. The top is 96" square and I think a bit big for hand quilting so I'll be basting this one up and machine quilting although I'm going to try and not make that too dense so as to keep some softness about it.
Happy cherry, joyous holidays to you all.

The last parts.

It's been a joy ride doing the Stars and Sprigs. I'm very happy to say that I've completed the fourth border and the last two stars that will go on the ends. I'm saving the joining to the rest of the top for another day very soon just so I can make it last that little bit longer. What a happy time I've had sewing this and really the borders were the best part, they're just so exhuberant.

I'll be back when I have the whole top together.

One border to go

I've been away for a few weeks holiday and did find some time to stitch all the colorful bits onto the third border for Stars and Sprigs. Once home, I wasted no time in making another couple of stars and getting it all attached. A glorious moment for sure but I do have to say that my photos aren't too good with it being a grey day here.

 I'm pretty sure I can get the top all done before Christmas and then start thinking about the quilting stage.
Great news too, I'm looking forward to Kim's class for the Flower Garden quilt in February. How exciting!!

I noticed awhile back that someone was wondering how we can link individual's posts together so we can see progress. I thought that was a great idea so I went back on all my posts and clicked on edit then added my name to the lables for post options. Now if you click on my name at the bottom of each post, they all come up grouped together. It's the only way I could come up with but it works.

Ready to begin

Here's my Kaffe/Brandon stash. I received my Stars and Sprigs pattern. The center pile is the background for the applique blocks with the center markings machine stitched as Kim suggested in the pattern. I'm going to use the darker grey for the stems. As much as I loved the darker background choices so many of you made, it just didn't happen in my mind's eye for me. Hope I can find some time to start on the blocks in the next few weeks so I can stitch my way through the holidays and share some blocks!

Stars & Sprigs Closeups

I've been asked to show close ups of the S & S quilt, so here they are. I don't know if you can zoom in on these photos or not, they are of email resolution. I thought I better not put the high resolution images for a post.

This quilt was made about 10 years ago before I knew about Kaffe's fabrics. I used predominantly reproduction fabrics and shirtings for the stars and lots of scrap fabrics for the leaves. I was given a bag of leftovers from the millennium quilts that were being made around that time, there are a couple of Kaffe's paper weight fabrics amongst the hundreds of leaves in the borders and I didn't know they were his!

I've been cutting up a lot of my old shirtings lately and wondered why there are a lot of portions of the cloth that have been carved out, now I remembered that they were cut out for the stars in this quilt. Looked at my old reproduction fabric stash not long ago and most of them are in fairly bright colours. It didn't take much of a jump to the Kaffe fabrics!

Have a look at Janet's version in Kaffe's fabrics, it is stunning. She is on her last borders now.

Enjoy making this quilt, it's really fun! Cheers, Kim McL

That was fast!

My that was fast! I ordered my pattern yesterday and it came today. The pressure is on. I am thinking to maybe alternate working on Roseville and Stars and Sprigs, that way I am doing something different and won't feel overwhelmed. At least that is what I am telling myself!

Prepping

I think I'll have my head down for awhile stitching stems. I thought I might as well prep the last two borders so I could put my brown fabrics away. I've drawn the pattern on the background with washable pens  with the pattern underneath and then used the Elmers washable school glue to attach the stems. If I let the glue dry, I don't need to iron them on and they stay put well enough.

I always cut my backgrounds with a pinking blade that I have in an old rotary cutter and then I never have to deal with stray threads. I wash my applique when it's finished if I've used glue. Prepping this way is easier than using a vinyl overlay for large sections.

Stars and Sprigs border #2

The quilt top is now too big to fit on the design wall so I clipped on some curtain rings for a photo. There's no doubting it, seeing two borders on is a joyful sight for me. I will admit to sewing on that bottom border  upside down which required a little fix me up with the seam ripper.

A few photos just in case you wanted to see the fabrics better.

Just a little distraction

I just couldn't help myself, the Roseville has been like an itch that needed to be scratched. I'm sure a little test block will suffice at this stage.

Background decisions aren't hard, it was between these two spots, the grey is chalk and the other is water spots. I put a few pieces on for auditioning.

Water spots won but the chalk will definitely be for the next quilt on the list. I love spot fabric so much that I even made a whole quilt with all spots and dots which just made me love them more. You can see it here.

I think I should go and stand in the corner, I feel like the kid in class that got caught doing something other than what I should be. 

I put my blinkers back on for the Stars and Sprigs. Happily the stems are now all down for border number two.

Normally I'm a die hard needle turner with a toothpick chaser but I've mixed it up for this quilt. I'm using Floriani stitch and wash tearaway to prep my leaves and buds. It's a fusible and used with a cool iron, I can slit the backs and get the tearaway out after washing. The fusible in it is water soluble but the tearaway has never dissolved away in any tests I've done.

I've used a glue pen to turn the seam allowances down. I wouldn't use this method for anything that wasn't a simple shape or needed super thin points or little curves such as in the Roseville.

After this quilt I think I'll be going back to needleturn because the less prep the better. I like to get to the stitching part as soon as I can.

The next stage

These magic blinkers I have are pretty special to keep someone like me on track with one project. It's a  glorious moment for me to have got the main part of the Stars and Sprigs together. Whooooo hoooo!!

Three borders to go on the journey of many leaves.

The hardest part was getting those last three stars done, especially choosing the colours. I found it really helpful to switch photos to black and white before sewing the blocks together, just to see if my values were working for me. As you know, colour gets all the credit but value does the work.

I'm guessing that Liza will let us all know when the pattern is available and then I can cheer someone else on.

More Stars and Sprigs

Woo hoo!! These are the last three applique blocks for the Stars and Sprigs, they really don't take long to make and I've enjoyed the small blocks that can be done in an evening. These last ones are darkish and more moody in colour but it's what I though looked right.

I'm getting pretty excited about nearing the end of the center part of the quilt so just some more star blocks and I can assemble the last three rows. After that will be another border and then another and then the last one. I feel the end is closer with every stitch.

Who else is going to be making this one when the pattern comes out next month?

A parade of blocks

I'm going great guns on the Stars and Sprigs blocks. I've been getting one a night done and I'm getting closer the the end each week.

I think I'm speeding up when it comes to choosing the fabrics. To keep it interesting I've played around with the colours and values. Some are moody, some are pastel and some are bright and colourful. It's colouring in fun.
cheers, Janet

My current obsession

I have the pattern for the Roseville Album quilt, I just need to clone myself if I want to start stitching it. Maybe I'll weaken when I start seeing the blocks made up by the others.

The only reason I haven't started it yet is because I have some blinkers on so I can focus on getting my other Kim McLean patterns done. I do have a little problem with UFO's.

I've been stitching away on this pattern of Kim's that I've had called Stars and Sprigs that's not available for purchase just yet. I decided to tackle a border before all the blocks are done just to mix it up a bit.

Here's where I'm at right now. Having it up on the wall in the sewing room is very motivating, I love this pattern so much and I'm having too much fun with it to switch projects just yet.

Thanks Pam for hosting this new and exciting blog! I can't wait to see what comes up in terms of fabrics and colours.
Janet