Time for a Quilt

Several years ago, I forget how many, I cut out (well, mostly cut out) a quilt using this pattern from Quilter's Newsletter, January/February 2001. At the top of the page it says it is an intermediate pattern. It looks more advanced to me.

Lately, this unmade quilt, residing in an under bed plastic storage container, has been giving me very dirty looks, implying I should finish her. (Somehow I think of quilts as feminine, don't you?) While it may look rather messy, this is actually fairly well organized. I have each set of pieces in a plastic bag with a note that says how many pieces are needed and cut, along with some extras. As you can see in the magazine, this quilt is full of triangles which are a challenge to sew. Extras are always needed to replace all the poorly sewn pieces, of which I seem to have far too many.

These are the two blocks I'm working on right now. The Rising Star block on the left is completed, with all 20 made and trimmed. Not all of them have that slightly wonky four patch in the center. I need ten more of the star blocks on the right, with six of them getting larger Flying Geese to make an even bigger block. Then I have to make them in the reverse colors. This will take quite a while!

Piecing away! I found that most of the pieces that I had sewn years ago are so sloppy as to be unusable, so I'm redoing almost all of them. Over the years I have become much fussier in my work, which I think is a good thing. Luckily I have so much fabric I don't need to buy any more. I'm sure I also have enough for a backing. The pieces shown above are starched very well, which helps to keep the fabric from stretching while stitching. I didn't starch the pieces years ago when I started this quilt, and I'm sure it contributed to the poor piecing.

This quilt measures 76 1/2 inches by 93 1/2 inches, which will cover a queen sized bed. However, my bed has an extra high mattress, so I will have to make this wider. I can either add another border (easiest option) or add another two vertical rows, which will make it 93 1/2 by 93 1/2. As a rule, I like to make interesting borders, so I'll have to think about it. Luckily, I have plenty of time.

I hope to get quite a bit done today. We have plumbers coming in to fix a leak in the pipes which completely destroyed our new hardwood flooring in the living room. The floor hadn't even been in for two months. Oh well, it's only money, not something actually serious.

Happy Stitching!